From: tdonahue@BBN.COM (Tim Donahue)
Newsgroups: rec.autos.sport
Subject: Land Speed Record
Date: 12 Aug 1992 13:06:01 GMT
Organization: Bolt Beranek & Newman Inc.
Distribution: world
Reply-To: tdonahue@BBN.COM (Tim Donahue)
NNTP-Posting-Host: archive.bbn.com

Some folks have asked about Land Speed Record history, so here is some.

The current absolute land speed record, about 633 MPH, is held by
Englishman Richard Noble in the turbojet-powered "Thrust II".  A group
in Australia have been organizing another go with a car very similar in
design and configuration to the "Thrust II".  I don't know what the
status of this is.

Hal Needham's "Budweiser Rocket" probably reached the highest top speed
(reportedly clocked by USAF radar at over 720 MPH), but failed to make a
return run within the 1-hour time limit imposed by the FIA.  Ergo, no
record.

The rocket engine in Gabelich's "The Blue Flame" used liquid natural gas
as a fuel and hydrogen peroxide as an oxidizer.  These were combined in
the presence of a platinum catalyst (a series of plated screens in the
reaction chamber of the engine).  High-pressure steam was the primary
combustion product. Before Noble's success, Gabelich and "The Blue
Flame" held the LSR at 622.407 (639+ one-way).  I believe this was set
in 1970.

The three prinicipal LSR racers in the 1960s were Craig Breedlove, Art
Arfons, and Art's brother Walt Arfons.  Breedlove and Art Arfons swapped
the record several times over the span of three or four years, Breedlove
ending up on top in 1965 at 601+ in the "Spirit of America - Sonic I".
At one point the brother Arfons (and his driver, Tom Green) briefly held
the record at 413 in the jet-powered "Wingfoot Express".  Later the
"Wingfoot" was augmented with surplus JATO (Jet-Assisted-Take-Off)
rockets, but this failed to enable the car to break the existing record.

Depending on how you look at it, the current wheel-driven record is
either still held by the Summers brothers' "Goldenrod", or by longtime
racer Al Teague and his "Spirit of '76".  The "Goldenrod" averaged 407
or so in 1965 and was powered by 4 supercharged Chrysler hemi-head
pushrod engines.  Much time was spent getting the engines to work
together, but they eventually succeeded in making it over 400.

Teague averaged 409 in 1990, failing to exceed the Summers' mark by the
required 1%.  He is credited with the single-engine mark, however, and
managed 432 in one direction.  One of the interesting things about
Teague's attempt was that the car used 31-year-old Firestone LSR tires.
Power was provided by a single supercharged Keith Black 490 CID
(pushrod?) engine, running on some sort of fuel other than gasoline.

Before the Summers brothers, Mickey Thompson went 406 or so one-way in
his "Challenger" in 1960.  The existing mark was about 394, set by Sir
John Cobb way back in 1947.  Cobb's car (the "Railton Mobil Special")
was powered by twin 26+ liter Napier-Railton V12s, these being
supercharged and producing about 1250 HP each.  In the 1930s Cobb,
Eyston, and of course Cambell raised the record about 200 MPH.

Most of this is from the excellent book by Tremayne and Posthumous(sp?),
"Land Speed Record"; some is from memory.

Cheers,
Tim

tdonahue@bbn.com