Speed Record Club

speed on wheels, water and wings

Work in Progress - May 2009

Contents:
BLOODHOUND SSC
Jet Bike
Restored 1954 Austin Healey
Angelic Bulldog Motorcycle
Restoration of Bluebird K7
Doug Herbert 500 mph Wheeldriven Contender
The World’s Fastest Electric Vehicle
British Steam Car

BLOODHOUND SSC

The design team are making steady progress with detailed work on the structures. A mock up has been built which for the first time gives us a feel for the real size of BLOODHOUND SSC and how much – or little – room there is to work around the engines. Engineering Director, John Piper (JP) invited students from the University of the West of England (UWE) to design a cockpit tailoring device – in other words, a fully adjustable, full-size MDF cockpit that we could stretch and squeeze in all directions to fit Andy Green. The job was done to a very high standard in record time and it’s clear that there could be many more elements of basic design which could be done this way...

3 page article in FastFacts 73 and more at www.BLOODHOUNDSSC.com

Jet Bike - Mike Charlton

Mike is aiming to top 350 mph at Bonneville in September this year. The patriotically painted machine will run on solid aluminium wheels. When finished it will pull 8,000 horsepower and use 26 gallons of kerosene to complete one mile at wide-open throttle driving.

Full update in FastFacts73

Restored 1954 Austin Healey

- well three of them to be precise

After the successes of the 1954 speed and endurance attempts by the Donald Healey led factory team a Briton and a Dutchman have used the parts that they have rescued from around the world to recreate the two configurations of the 1954 Healey cars. There will be two versions of the endurance machine that set records up to 24 hours and one version of the straight-line flying speed record car. The Briton, Martyn Corfield, has been testing and developing the normally aspirated endurance specification Healey built by Jeremy Welch on the Millbrook banking. Later this year the attempt will be made on modern British and International records. The Dutchman, Wiet Huidekoper has indicated that he will take his period cars to Bonneville to recreate the scenes on the salt as they occurred in ’54. It is unclear whether his Australian ‘restored’ cars will run at speed, as they lack modern safety features for the salt.

Angelic Bulldog Motorcycle

Website and progress of our former News Editor and his World Record Project

Using the Powertec developed V8 engine driving through a Quaife gearbox the latest British Motorcycle challenger is under construction. The team is led by Gabriel Uttley (our former news editor) and their goal is to make the bid either on Bonneville Salt Flats or on Verneuk Pan, South Africa. The ‘two venue’ option allows the completion of the streamliner at a time of year when it will not be hampered by having only one season of racing to aim for. The engine has been proven in circuit racing and on speed hillclimbs and uses two motorcycle engines with a common crankcase. In the speed record configuration, nitrous oxide injection will be used as a power booster to overcome any altitude power loss.

For more on this project, see www.angelicbulldog.org.uk

Restoration of Bluebird K7

The assembly of Bluebird K7 continues after Gina Campbell located the first rivet to hold the cockpit bulkhead in place. Apart from the corroded engine it is expected that 98% of all recovered material can be used in the restoration.

We will be reporting more on this project in the next issue of FastFacts

Bill Smith's Bluebird Project website is here

Doug Herbert 500 mph Wheeldriven Contender

Drag racer Doug Herbert from the Bonneville family of the same name (you may remember the Herbert & Steen four engined streamliner) has announced his plan to have a car constructed with a 500 mph potential to challenge the Bonneville records for wheel driven cars. Using supercharged piston engines the team will not only be challenging the speeds set by the Burkland car but they hope to exceed the Don Vesco Turbinator speed too.

The World’s Fastest Electric Vehicle

In 2008, Riches Nelson Racing, a veteran land speed racing team based in Dan Diego, CA set a World Speed Record with an electric motorcycle first time out on the El Mirage dry lake bed. This year we are raising the bar - we will attempt to exceed 350 mph by building the fastest electric vehicle on earth. Read all about the project on their new website: www.eracebike.com

British Steam Car

The British Team Car Team report "We have emerged from winter hibernation. The car has coped well with being inactive for a couple of months. This is encouraging news for the weeks that the car and equipment will spend inside containers when we ship to the United States."

Full update in FastFacts 73 and on their website at www.steamcar.co.uk