WEBVTT - The Fastest Car On Earth 0:00:09.039 --> 0:00:11.120 I and welcome to the fast Track. I'm your host, 0:00:11.119 --> 0:00:14.240 Scott Benjamin, and today we've got a topic that is 0:00:14.600 --> 0:00:17.560 something that has just been fascinating to me from the 0:00:17.680 --> 0:00:20.400 very beginning, since I was a really young child. And 0:00:21.040 --> 0:00:22.840 I want to tell you a little bit about that 0:00:22.920 --> 0:00:25.000 in just a moment. But I guess there's a couple 0:00:25.040 --> 0:00:27.120 of kind of housekeeping things that I want to get 0:00:27.120 --> 0:00:29.040 out of the way early on, because you're gonna hear 0:00:29.080 --> 0:00:32.400 some some paper shoveling along the way here. I'm looking 0:00:32.400 --> 0:00:34.319 at a sea of notes in front of me. I've 0:00:34.320 --> 0:00:36.640 got a laptop, I've got my phone going, I've got 0:00:36.680 --> 0:00:39.440 all kinds of things happen here. And I just wanted 0:00:39.479 --> 0:00:40.760 to tell you that if you do hear some of 0:00:40.760 --> 0:00:43.120 that paper shoveling, that is me going through a series 0:00:43.159 --> 0:00:47.520 of notes, are looking for information that um is all 0:00:47.640 --> 0:00:49.800 over the place because there's a lot there's a lot 0:00:49.840 --> 0:00:52.720 of information about today's topic. And and today's topic is, 0:00:52.760 --> 0:00:56.200 by the way, uh, the fastest car on Earth. And 0:00:56.240 --> 0:00:59.200 it's the outright fastest car, the outright record holder, the 0:00:59.280 --> 0:01:02.200 land speed record holder. And I'll give you some history 0:01:02.200 --> 0:01:04.080 about it. I'm going to talk about the car itself, 0:01:04.120 --> 0:01:06.640 the driver, you know, the search for the driver, you 0:01:06.640 --> 0:01:09.200 know how all that happened. And it's something that has 0:01:09.280 --> 0:01:12.120 just fascinated me from the very beginning, because when I 0:01:12.160 --> 0:01:14.959 was a kid, and this goes way way back into 0:01:15.040 --> 0:01:18.400 the mid nineteen seventies, early nineteen seventies. I'll tell you 0:01:18.480 --> 0:01:21.360 how long ago this was. I for Christmas, I wanted 0:01:21.480 --> 0:01:24.920 a gift that was a hard copy version or hardcover 0:01:25.400 --> 0:01:29.440 version of the Guinness Book of World Records, and right 0:01:29.480 --> 0:01:31.160 that right there shows you how long ago this was. 0:01:31.319 --> 0:01:32.959 You can just look that up online now, of course. 0:01:32.959 --> 0:01:35.160 And I did get that as a gift, and one 0:01:35.160 --> 0:01:37.240 of the first things that I flipped to would be 0:01:37.319 --> 0:01:41.479 the automotive records, anything that was, you know, the fastest, 0:01:41.560 --> 0:01:45.839 the longest cars, you know, the most outrageous cars, most expensive, 0:01:45.880 --> 0:01:48.120 whatever it happened to be at the time. But one 0:01:48.120 --> 0:01:51.240 of the things that really piqued my attention was the 0:01:51.280 --> 0:01:54.280 fastest car in the world. Of course, and at the time, uh, 0:01:54.360 --> 0:01:55.720 there was a car that was out there that was 0:01:55.760 --> 0:01:59.160 called the Blue Flame and it was the nineteens. The 0:01:59.200 --> 0:02:02.320 records broken nineteen seventy. But this is a rocket powered 0:02:02.360 --> 0:02:05.480 car and it achieved a speed of about six hundred 0:02:05.520 --> 0:02:08.200 and twenty two miles per hour. And that was again 0:02:08.280 --> 0:02:12.239 back in nineteen seventy. Uh, that's really moving even now. 0:02:12.280 --> 0:02:15.440 That's really really fast for now. But that record held, 0:02:15.520 --> 0:02:19.240 I believe, until about nineteen eighty three. And so you 0:02:19.240 --> 0:02:21.519 can hear this one. That paper shuffling happened right now. 0:02:22.880 --> 0:02:25.800 That record was broken by a guy named Richard Noble, 0:02:25.880 --> 0:02:27.959 or at least he held the record in three I 0:02:28.000 --> 0:02:31.040 should say, in a car called the Thrust two, and 0:02:31.120 --> 0:02:34.600 that achieved about six thirty four miles per hour. So 0:02:34.880 --> 0:02:38.240 we're not talking about a huge, huge increase there. We're 0:02:38.240 --> 0:02:40.799 talking about it like twelve miles per hour was all 0:02:40.919 --> 0:02:44.080 he bested the other record by at that point. And 0:02:44.080 --> 0:02:47.680 then fourteen years later along comes a guy named Andy Green. 0:02:47.919 --> 0:02:51.200 And we'll talk about Andy Green in another section here 0:02:51.240 --> 0:02:53.120 in this show. But you know the search for him 0:02:53.160 --> 0:02:55.200 and who he is and and uh you know why 0:02:55.280 --> 0:02:57.360 he was qualified to drive this vehicle. But he is 0:02:57.440 --> 0:03:01.800 the current outright Lands speed record holder right now for 0:03:02.120 --> 0:03:04.639 the one mile and the one kilometer, the flying mile 0:03:04.680 --> 0:03:07.440 and the flying kilometer. And these are f i A records, 0:03:07.720 --> 0:03:10.799 their official records. They were time by USAC officials. These 0:03:11.120 --> 0:03:14.400 that's the United States Auto Club, and that is the 0:03:14.400 --> 0:03:18.480 the officiating group that makes all of this, um well official, 0:03:18.720 --> 0:03:20.320 uh you know, they're the ones that have to measure 0:03:20.360 --> 0:03:22.680 the record in order to make it, to make it so, 0:03:23.360 --> 0:03:25.600 and of course gain US you know, records this as well. 0:03:25.639 --> 0:03:30.520 But in October of n so that's fourteen years after 0:03:30.639 --> 0:03:33.519 Richard Noble broke the record, um you know, by again 0:03:33.600 --> 0:03:36.520 twelve miles per hour, along comes Andy Green in the 0:03:36.680 --> 0:03:39.760 thrust S s C. And the thrust S SC is 0:03:39.800 --> 0:03:42.160 the vehicle that we will focus on today. But the 0:03:42.240 --> 0:03:45.800 record that he he achieved on that day, or on 0:03:45.880 --> 0:03:48.720 October fifteen, and there were many many runs which I 0:03:48.760 --> 0:03:50.600 guess we'll we'll talk about a little bit, but not 0:03:50.720 --> 0:03:53.240 in depth. We want to talk about the main record 0:03:53.240 --> 0:03:56.680 breaking runs. But the the average speed that he achieved 0:03:57.000 --> 0:04:01.800 on October was seven one hundred and sixty three point 0:04:01.960 --> 0:04:05.840 zero three five miles per hour. That is a supersonic speed. 0:04:05.920 --> 0:04:08.000 So this car was designed with the idea that they 0:04:08.000 --> 0:04:10.720 were going to go supersonic. And it's again that's another 0:04:10.800 --> 0:04:12.640 little something we're gonna touch on here. And you know 0:04:12.680 --> 0:04:14.800 what what it takes to go supersonic in a car. 0:04:15.080 --> 0:04:17.719 It's unbelievable. The the the engineering that has to go 0:04:17.760 --> 0:04:20.000 into this vehicle in order to make this happen. I 0:04:20.000 --> 0:04:22.680 should tell you that the the average I say it's 0:04:22.680 --> 0:04:25.520 the average speed, UH is seven sixty three point zero 0:04:25.560 --> 0:04:27.159 three five. Because you have to make two runs. You 0:04:27.200 --> 0:04:29.800 have to make a run both directions. You know what, 0:04:29.880 --> 0:04:32.159 it's north south east west in this case, I believe 0:04:32.200 --> 0:04:34.640 it was a north south run. So the first run 0:04:35.520 --> 0:04:37.960 was run at seven hundred and fifty nine point three 0:04:38.080 --> 0:04:41.280 three three miles per hour. The second run was seven 0:04:41.360 --> 0:04:44.480 hundred and sixty six point six zero nine. They average 0:04:44.560 --> 0:04:47.000 the two together to get the seven sixty three. Again, 0:04:47.040 --> 0:04:50.400 that is a you start measuring in mock speeds at 0:04:50.400 --> 0:04:54.279 that point, so this is mock point one zero two zero. 0:04:54.440 --> 0:04:58.760 So they just broke the sound barrier in this vehicle, 0:04:58.800 --> 0:05:01.680 which is incredibly impressive for a vehicle. Now this is 0:05:01.720 --> 0:05:04.240 a of course, it's a vehicle that has to be 0:05:05.000 --> 0:05:07.760 um on land when it breaks this. It can't be 0:05:07.800 --> 0:05:11.320 a low flying aircraft, which we'll also discuss. You know, actually, 0:05:11.320 --> 0:05:12.720 you know what, I'm going to talk about that right now, 0:05:12.760 --> 0:05:15.080 because I think this is one of those like fascinating 0:05:15.120 --> 0:05:18.760 little bits of information that comes up. Uh that that 0:05:19.120 --> 0:05:21.239 maybe not a lot of people understand. The car looks 0:05:21.279 --> 0:05:23.800 like a like like a jet. If you look up 0:05:23.839 --> 0:05:26.000 to thrust SSC, which I encourage you to do on 0:05:26.560 --> 0:05:28.960 um you know, just Google, image search or whatever, it's 0:05:29.040 --> 0:05:31.560 very simple to look it up. Um. The car, of course, 0:05:31.560 --> 0:05:34.039 it was designed by math and science. I mean, that's 0:05:34.080 --> 0:05:35.960 that's why it shaped the way it is. But it's 0:05:36.000 --> 0:05:39.280 two enormous engines, which which we'll talk about in a 0:05:39.279 --> 0:05:42.280 bit too, which is the uh the giant Rolls Royce 0:05:42.360 --> 0:05:45.560 jet engines. And then there's like a pencil shape in 0:05:45.600 --> 0:05:47.800 the middle like a fuselage. And it's a very very 0:05:47.800 --> 0:05:49.600 long vehicle. I want to say, it's like fifty four 0:05:49.640 --> 0:05:52.359 ft long. Well, we'll talk about length and in a 0:05:52.400 --> 0:05:54.240 moment as well. Boy, I'm promising a lot. I hope 0:05:54.240 --> 0:05:56.520 I get to all this. I really do. Uh. Well, 0:05:56.680 --> 0:05:59.120 we'll see. I'll do my best to get to everyone 0:05:59.120 --> 0:06:02.080 that I say we'll talk out. But the car itself, 0:06:02.160 --> 0:06:04.200 it looks like it does look like a rocket ship 0:06:04.279 --> 0:06:07.400 on land or or jet on land. And one of 0:06:07.440 --> 0:06:09.960 the fascinating things about this is that the car does 0:06:10.040 --> 0:06:12.359 have to remain in contact with the Earth through the 0:06:12.360 --> 0:06:16.120 whole run through the entire measured mile or measured kilometer 0:06:16.200 --> 0:06:19.160 as it may be that we're going to talk about, Um, 0:06:19.200 --> 0:06:20.560 you know, how they how they get this and how 0:06:20.600 --> 0:06:22.360 long it takes to get up to speed and all that, 0:06:22.400 --> 0:06:25.920 but uh, they do actually look the full distance and 0:06:26.000 --> 0:06:28.920 make sure that you know that the cars leaving a treadmark, 0:06:28.960 --> 0:06:32.240 not treadmarks, but but tire marks on the surface for 0:06:32.320 --> 0:06:36.000 that whole time. Now, one thing that complicated this is 0:06:36.040 --> 0:06:38.560 that you know, and you know other vehicles they're they're 0:06:38.560 --> 0:06:40.320 measuring to make sure that you know it's again, it's 0:06:40.320 --> 0:06:42.160 not like a low flying aircraft. They don't just fly, 0:06:42.440 --> 0:06:44.480 you know, like a foot above the ground for that 0:06:44.560 --> 0:06:47.000 distance because then there isn't the rolling resistance that there 0:06:47.000 --> 0:06:50.240 would be with any uh you terrestrial vehicles. So the 0:06:50.600 --> 0:06:53.040 one thing that complicated all this with with this vehicle 0:06:53.200 --> 0:06:56.719 is that because there was there was a sonic boom 0:06:56.760 --> 0:06:58.800 that was associated with this vehicle. And of course you 0:06:58.800 --> 0:07:01.240 know it's a it's a an arid environment. It was 0:07:01.640 --> 0:07:04.599 the record is broken in the Black Rock Desert in 0:07:05.279 --> 0:07:08.719 Nevada Lass, not Las Vegas, but in Nevada um north 0:07:08.800 --> 0:07:13.000 kind of like the northwest corner of Nevada. And one 0:07:13.040 --> 0:07:15.440 thing that the Sonic Boom did was it's sort of 0:07:16.280 --> 0:07:18.320 not disintegrated, but it kind of it kind of made 0:07:18.320 --> 0:07:21.600 the tire tracks difficult to see. I mean it kind 0:07:21.600 --> 0:07:24.440 of blasted them away as it went over as well. So, um, 0:07:24.480 --> 0:07:26.560 it was difficult for them to to to prove, but 0:07:26.600 --> 0:07:28.760 they did in fact see that there were tire tracks 0:07:28.840 --> 0:07:31.160 the whole way. So I always find that fascinating. And 0:07:31.200 --> 0:07:33.040 I think maybe we can talk about wheels in just 0:07:33.080 --> 0:07:35.760 a moment too, because the wheels are interesting on this car. 0:07:36.680 --> 0:07:41.800 Everything about this vehicle is fascinating. I've been reading some 0:07:41.880 --> 0:07:44.119 of these these websites that are you know, like maybe 0:07:44.560 --> 0:07:48.000 engineering sites or you know sites were they're just fans 0:07:48.000 --> 0:07:51.800 that are just as deeply excited about this as I am. 0:07:51.920 --> 0:07:54.440 And you know they'll they'll talk about these little tiny 0:07:54.520 --> 0:07:57.240 things that make this car different to unique and and 0:07:57.360 --> 0:08:00.160 special in some way. And um, the course it's out 0:08:00.200 --> 0:08:01.760 like any other car that you would see on the road, 0:08:01.760 --> 0:08:04.280 it's it's a lot different. Um. I said that, you know, 0:08:04.280 --> 0:08:07.640 it's powered by jet engines and in fact it's two 0:08:07.720 --> 0:08:11.200 rolls Royce spay Turbofan engines. And initially they were the 0:08:11.560 --> 0:08:14.800 Rolls Royce Spay two two models, and then eventually they 0:08:14.840 --> 0:08:18.200 went up to the Rolls Royce Spay two oh five models. 0:08:18.280 --> 0:08:21.920 And there's a lot of interesting facts about those engines 0:08:22.000 --> 0:08:25.400 and the speeds and you know, the um all kinds 0:08:25.440 --> 0:08:27.160 of things we need to talk about. Um. You know, 0:08:27.200 --> 0:08:29.720 I mentioned just a moment ago that this car did 0:08:29.800 --> 0:08:32.600 break the sound barrier, and one thing that we should 0:08:32.640 --> 0:08:37.040 note here is that the sound barrier varies by by 0:08:37.120 --> 0:08:40.200 altitude and even by temperatures. So, uh, you know, when 0:08:40.200 --> 0:08:42.880 we're talking about the place that this vehicle broke the record, 0:08:42.920 --> 0:08:45.040 I think it was, the altitude is something like and 0:08:45.040 --> 0:08:46.959 I'm trying to remember this off the top of my head, 0:08:47.000 --> 0:08:50.120 but it's like three thousand nine feet above sea level. 0:08:50.559 --> 0:08:53.480 So at sea level, the sound barrier is something like 0:08:53.520 --> 0:08:56.600 seven hundred and sixty one and it has to be 0:08:56.640 --> 0:09:00.600 fifty degrees fahrenheit. So that's how particular that is, right, 0:09:00.679 --> 0:09:03.800 So it changes. So if you go up to between oh, 0:09:03.840 --> 0:09:06.240 I'm going to give you a meters uh measurement here, 0:09:06.320 --> 0:09:07.720 not feet. I don't know why I'm doing that, but 0:09:07.960 --> 0:09:11.440 eleven thousand to twenty thousand meters above sea level, the 0:09:11.480 --> 0:09:14.640 speed drops down to about six hundred and sixty miles 0:09:14.679 --> 0:09:19.520 per hour at negative seventy degrees fahrenheit, So the temperatures 0:09:19.600 --> 0:09:23.080 very greatly, the speeds very that's almost that's almost a 0:09:23.120 --> 0:09:25.960 hundred miles per hour off when you get to a different, 0:09:26.200 --> 0:09:30.000 different altitude, so very specifically for this record, you know, 0:09:30.120 --> 0:09:33.640 at three thousand, nine hundred feet above sea level, when 0:09:34.080 --> 0:09:36.880 you know Andy Andy Green piloted this vehicle at seven 0:09:36.960 --> 0:09:39.400 hundred and sixty three miles per hour. He was breaking 0:09:39.600 --> 0:09:43.040 the speed barrier, the sound barrier, which I think is 0:09:43.240 --> 0:09:46.000 is just fascinating. All that, you know changes, so you know, 0:09:46.000 --> 0:09:49.000 when people try to break this record elsewhere, uh, they're 0:09:49.000 --> 0:09:51.880 gonna have to deal with with stuff like that as well. 0:09:52.240 --> 0:09:57.360 Now this happened again. This happened on October fifteenth, and 0:09:57.400 --> 0:09:59.560 of course there was an official press release that went 0:09:59.600 --> 0:10:01.280 out and I'll read just a little bit of this 0:10:01.360 --> 0:10:04.640 because this is how kind of the world became aware 0:10:04.679 --> 0:10:07.959 of this. It says the World the World Motorsport Council 0:10:08.360 --> 0:10:11.080 hamligated a new world land speed records set by the 0:10:11.080 --> 0:10:13.720 team thrust S sc of Richard Noble, who is the 0:10:13.760 --> 0:10:15.760 owner of the team or the founder of the team, 0:10:15.800 --> 0:10:18.520 along with about three other people by the way, driver 0:10:18.600 --> 0:10:24.200 Andy Green on fifteenth of October at Black Rock Desert, Nevada, USA. 0:10:24.520 --> 0:10:26.800 This is the first time in history that a land 0:10:26.880 --> 0:10:30.160 vehicle has exceeded the speed of sound. The new records 0:10:30.160 --> 0:10:33.520 are as follows, and they give the flying mile and 0:10:33.559 --> 0:10:36.240 the flying kilometer. Of course they measure different ways. Of course, 0:10:36.360 --> 0:10:38.080 this is a British team, and you know here in 0:10:38.080 --> 0:10:41.280 the US we don't necessarily measure kilometers all the time. 0:10:41.320 --> 0:10:43.319 We go with with miles and feet and all that. 0:10:43.640 --> 0:10:46.520 And just for a heads up for everybody out there, 0:10:46.520 --> 0:10:48.520 I mean, this is the we're talking about the difference 0:10:48.679 --> 0:10:50.640 between the metric system and the imperial system. I think 0:10:50.679 --> 0:10:54.800 everybody knows that. But one kilometer is equivalent to about 0:10:54.960 --> 0:10:58.360 zero points six miles, which is about three thousand, two 0:10:58.800 --> 0:11:00.640 eighty feet if you want to break it down that way, 0:11:00.679 --> 0:11:04.280 and one mile, of course um is about five thousand, 0:11:04.360 --> 0:11:06.760 two hundred and eighty feet if you're using the imperial system. 0:11:06.840 --> 0:11:09.760 And the way that they break this down again, the 0:11:09.760 --> 0:11:12.280 flying mile and the flying kilometer, these are the measured 0:11:12.320 --> 0:11:15.000 distances where the actual record is taking place. So you 0:11:15.000 --> 0:11:17.720 know there's a ramp up to speed at full speed. 0:11:17.760 --> 0:11:20.160 They measure it from a starting point a finished point 0:11:20.600 --> 0:11:22.720 and uh, and then there's a slowdown area. And of course, 0:11:22.800 --> 0:11:24.319 you know, the only thing that they really care about 0:11:24.360 --> 0:11:26.440 is that one mile or that one kilometer, and they 0:11:26.440 --> 0:11:29.160 called the flying mile or the flying kilometer. The flying 0:11:29.200 --> 0:11:31.680 mile speed we've already talked about many times, seven hundred 0:11:31.720 --> 0:11:34.920 and sixty three point zero three five miles per hour. 0:11:35.040 --> 0:11:38.480 The flying kilometer again, that shorter distance is about seven 0:11:38.520 --> 0:11:41.160 hundred and sixty point three four three miles per hour, 0:11:41.200 --> 0:11:42.880 so that means he was gaining speed as he was 0:11:42.920 --> 0:11:46.640 going farther and farther. Now, the end of the the 0:11:46.720 --> 0:11:48.319 end of the press release, it's a very short line. 0:11:48.320 --> 0:11:50.720 It just says in setting the record, the sound barrier 0:11:50.760 --> 0:11:53.480 was broken in both the north and south runs. And 0:11:53.520 --> 0:11:57.640 this is from Paris, the eleventh of November, so roughly 0:11:57.679 --> 0:11:59.520 about a month after the you know, to verify all 0:11:59.559 --> 0:12:02.640 the speeds everything, um, I will tell you this. I 0:12:02.679 --> 0:12:06.080 will tell you that I did a quick thing. I 0:12:06.120 --> 0:12:10.880 went to a speed distance time calculator and I inserted 0:12:10.880 --> 0:12:12.959 the numbers and it just gave me a rough number. 0:12:12.960 --> 0:12:16.840 Because the numbers are so large that it doesn't exactly 0:12:17.360 --> 0:12:20.320 give me. It doesn't give me the most detailed number 0:12:20.320 --> 0:12:22.720 that I that I wanted. It's more rounded two seconds. 0:12:22.760 --> 0:12:26.160 But um, I put in the numbers and the speeds 0:12:26.240 --> 0:12:31.120 for the mile, and the the speeds given, and according 0:12:31.160 --> 0:12:34.280 to this this car, this thrust s sc went through 0:12:34.320 --> 0:12:37.760 that one mile uh section, So you know, one mile 0:12:37.800 --> 0:12:41.439 from start to finish, exactly one mile five thousand feet 0:12:42.080 --> 0:12:44.960 in roughly you know, four and a half seconds something 0:12:45.000 --> 0:12:47.320 like that, So a full mile. I mean, I think 0:12:47.360 --> 0:12:50.080 we can all picture what a mile is and imagine 0:12:50.120 --> 0:12:53.080 that going by in about four and a half seconds. 0:12:53.400 --> 0:12:55.760 And the kilometer speed, of course was even even faster 0:12:55.800 --> 0:12:58.080 than that. I think there was about three seconds. Of course, 0:12:58.080 --> 0:13:00.280 that's only just a little bit over half a mile 0:13:00.400 --> 0:13:02.040 in distance really if you want to look at it 0:13:02.080 --> 0:13:04.800 that way. Um, but the kilometer, the flying kilometer was 0:13:04.840 --> 0:13:08.360 done and just over three seconds, so really really fast. 0:13:08.400 --> 0:13:12.080 I mean again, nothing really can relate. You can't really 0:13:12.080 --> 0:13:14.719 relate to anything like that on Earth, so it's it's 0:13:14.720 --> 0:13:16.600 a very difficult thing to relate to. But but just 0:13:16.679 --> 0:13:18.480 picture that the next time you're traveling on the road, 0:13:18.480 --> 0:13:20.360 and you can kind of if maybe you can even 0:13:20.400 --> 0:13:23.640 look ahead a mile and imagine being at that point 0:13:24.280 --> 0:13:26.360 you know, in in four and a half seconds. It's 0:13:26.400 --> 0:13:28.959 just it's a mind blow. It's an astounding record that's 0:13:29.000 --> 0:13:31.560 been broken. And we've got a lot more to cover here. 0:13:31.600 --> 0:13:33.760 We've got, you know, several other topics that I want 0:13:33.760 --> 0:13:36.120 to talk about. In fact, i'd like to talk about, 0:13:36.200 --> 0:13:38.880 you know, getting somebody to drive this thing, somebody who 0:13:38.880 --> 0:13:42.160 can pilot this thing successfully and uh, and the steps 0:13:42.200 --> 0:13:44.160 and processes that they went through to do that. And 0:13:44.600 --> 0:13:46.560 we will do that in just a moment after we 0:13:46.600 --> 0:13:52.720 take a break for a word from our sponsor. And 0:13:52.800 --> 0:13:55.000 we are back and you're listening to the fast Track, 0:13:55.040 --> 0:13:56.920 and I'm your host, Scott Benjamin, and we were just 0:13:56.960 --> 0:13:58.920 before the break saying that we were going to to 0:13:59.080 --> 0:14:02.560 talk a little bit about UM, how they found the driver, 0:14:02.640 --> 0:14:05.240 how they how they selected somebody to drive this uh, 0:14:05.320 --> 0:14:10.240 this incredible machine. UM had such an amazing speed on land. 0:14:10.360 --> 0:14:12.680 And I'm gonna get to that, I promise you I will. 0:14:12.720 --> 0:14:14.079 But there's a couple of things that I think I 0:14:14.360 --> 0:14:16.840 may have kind of skirted over here at the at 0:14:16.840 --> 0:14:20.240 the beginning that I need to go back to. And uh, 0:14:20.280 --> 0:14:22.200 I want to talk about the engines just a little bit, 0:14:22.240 --> 0:14:24.360 and ways we said that it's Rolls Royce Spay two 0:14:24.360 --> 0:14:27.960 oh five turbo jet engines. These things, between the two 0:14:27.960 --> 0:14:31.360 of them produced an approximate one hundred thousand horse power. 0:14:31.400 --> 0:14:33.080 I've seen numbers a little bit higher than that, a 0:14:33.120 --> 0:14:35.200 hundred and ten thousands something like that, but we're talking 0:14:35.200 --> 0:14:38.200 about a ballpark of about a hundred thousand horse power 0:14:38.320 --> 0:14:40.960 between them. And I know that they're typically measured in 0:14:41.080 --> 0:14:43.680 thrust output and all that, but to be honest, for 0:14:43.720 --> 0:14:45.640 a lot of us, it doesn't really make a whole 0:14:45.640 --> 0:14:47.840 lot of sense of exactly what that what that means. 0:14:47.960 --> 0:14:51.720 And um, the reason that they um are have to 0:14:51.720 --> 0:14:54.720 be so powerful is because well, you know, as you 0:14:55.120 --> 0:14:57.240 as you get going faster and faster and faster, and 0:14:57.240 --> 0:14:58.600 we've seen this with you know, some of the other 0:14:58.800 --> 0:15:00.960 land speed record attempt so you know, with with other 0:15:01.040 --> 0:15:04.800 vehicles with piston engine vehicles, with wheel driven cars, and 0:15:04.840 --> 0:15:07.520 that is that the faster you go, the more wind 0:15:07.560 --> 0:15:09.880 resistance there is against you. And and it just it's 0:15:09.960 --> 0:15:12.320 like this this um this give and take, this push 0:15:12.320 --> 0:15:14.680 and pull that happens where you need more power, but 0:15:14.720 --> 0:15:17.320 there's more force coming against you and more power more 0:15:17.360 --> 0:15:19.920 forced against you. And even in a car that shaped 0:15:19.960 --> 0:15:22.160 the way that the thrust SSC is shaped, which is 0:15:22.480 --> 0:15:25.560 very I mean extremely aerodynamic. You wouldn't think you could 0:15:25.600 --> 0:15:27.800 design a vehicle more aerodynamic than this if you were 0:15:27.840 --> 0:15:31.120 to look at it. Um, it's it's unbelievable how much 0:15:31.280 --> 0:15:33.920 pushback there is against this vehicle. I mean, I've seen 0:15:34.000 --> 0:15:36.720 numbers and they like to do you know, comparisons like 0:15:36.760 --> 0:15:39.000 this number of tons that you know, tons of force 0:15:39.080 --> 0:15:41.800 that are against the vehicle and at that speed, you know, 0:15:41.800 --> 0:15:43.480 at the at the high rate of speed that it's 0:15:43.480 --> 0:15:46.840 going seven sixty plus miles per hour, it's something like 0:15:46.880 --> 0:15:49.880 it's got the equivalent of like like pulling three three 0:15:49.920 --> 0:15:52.520 and a half full size elephants behind it or something 0:15:52.560 --> 0:15:53.920 like that. You know, it's like that's the amount of 0:15:53.960 --> 0:15:57.440 drag on the vehicle as it's trying to push itself forward. 0:15:57.520 --> 0:16:00.520 So um, it's it just becomes expon actually more and 0:16:00.640 --> 0:16:03.560 more difficult the faster that you go. And I figured 0:16:03.600 --> 0:16:06.400 I just mentioned that at at this point because we're 0:16:06.400 --> 0:16:09.080 talking about some of the more interesting numbers. I guess 0:16:09.160 --> 0:16:11.720 that go along with us. And at the rear of this, uh, 0:16:11.760 --> 0:16:13.760 this whole thing at the rear of the craft. Um 0:16:13.800 --> 0:16:15.280 and they do call it a craft, not a car. 0:16:15.360 --> 0:16:18.840 That's a craft. Um, the temperatures can be more than 0:16:18.920 --> 0:16:21.160 three hundred degrees celsius and to the rest of us 0:16:21.240 --> 0:16:24.480 using the Imperial system, that is five hundred and seventy 0:16:24.480 --> 0:16:28.160 two degrees Fahrenheits. So it's incredibly hot back there at 0:16:28.160 --> 0:16:30.640 the back. Of course, as you would expect the materials 0:16:30.640 --> 0:16:32.320 that have to be used. You know that all of 0:16:32.360 --> 0:16:34.880 this has to be considered that you don't just melt 0:16:34.920 --> 0:16:36.160 the back end of the vehicle as soon as you 0:16:36.200 --> 0:16:38.280 fire up the engines because they are after burner engines 0:16:38.920 --> 0:16:43.080 um or or jets rather and um. There's also a 0:16:43.160 --> 0:16:44.800 good bit of noise that goes along with this. As 0:16:44.800 --> 0:16:48.640 you might expect, um, the sound levels are just unreal. 0:16:48.720 --> 0:16:51.840 I mean it's a hundred and seventy five deciples at 0:16:51.920 --> 0:16:55.080 at speed, and I'll tell you that the air begins 0:16:55.120 --> 0:16:57.480 to heat up just because of the sound at a 0:16:57.520 --> 0:17:01.160 hundred and seventy four deciples. So it's like, um, I 0:17:01.200 --> 0:17:03.320 think it's the equivalent of if you can imagine this 0:17:03.400 --> 0:17:07.480 a quarter stick of dynamite igniting, only it's a continuous sound. 0:17:07.520 --> 0:17:09.880 It never lets up. There's not like one moment when 0:17:10.200 --> 0:17:13.000 you know it's it's it's intolerable and then it goes away. 0:17:13.040 --> 0:17:17.000 It's like that's a continuous roar at seventy five decibels, 0:17:17.400 --> 0:17:19.800 it's just uh, I think a hundred and sixty three 0:17:19.840 --> 0:17:22.320 you can actually break glass. So you know, it's it's 0:17:22.359 --> 0:17:24.840 just one of those crazy, crazy things. And you know, 0:17:24.880 --> 0:17:26.720 one of the other things that's a little bit nuts 0:17:26.720 --> 0:17:29.480 about this whole thing are the wheels. And you wouldn't 0:17:29.480 --> 0:17:33.719 really consider the wheels to be um as important as 0:17:34.359 --> 0:17:36.560 they are. Maybe that's not the right way to say this, 0:17:36.560 --> 0:17:38.960 because you know, wheels, of course are important, but it's 0:17:39.000 --> 0:17:41.359 not the standard wheels that you're thinking of for an 0:17:41.359 --> 0:17:43.840 automobile as well. Now these are not driven wheels, and 0:17:43.840 --> 0:17:45.600 that's another thing we've got to talk about. But there's 0:17:45.600 --> 0:17:49.399 a lot um the car is not. The engines aren't 0:17:49.480 --> 0:17:51.440 driving the wheels in order to make this go. It's 0:17:51.480 --> 0:17:54.000 simply relying on thrust. The wheels are there to keep 0:17:54.040 --> 0:17:56.800 the vehicle on track, to keep it straight, and you know, 0:17:56.800 --> 0:17:58.960 of course that's a function of the chassis and of 0:17:59.000 --> 0:18:01.320 course of the driver has a huge input into that 0:18:01.359 --> 0:18:05.399 as well, obviously, But the wheels themselves are made of 0:18:06.119 --> 0:18:08.399 not of rubber. Of course they could, they wouldn't stand 0:18:08.880 --> 0:18:11.040 seven hundred and sixty three miles per hour. There's no 0:18:11.080 --> 0:18:13.959 way that they would do it. Because, um, these wheels 0:18:13.960 --> 0:18:17.520 are subjected at speed and when they when they're at 0:18:17.520 --> 0:18:21.800 top speed, they're rotating at eight thousand, five hundred RPMs. 0:18:21.840 --> 0:18:24.960 So the tires are spinning that quickly at seven hundred 0:18:25.000 --> 0:18:27.800 and sixty three miles per hour, and of course that's 0:18:27.840 --> 0:18:30.040 far greater than any kind of you know, rubber or 0:18:30.160 --> 0:18:32.240 carbon fiber or anything like that would stand up to. 0:18:32.720 --> 0:18:36.240 They are made of solid aluminum and it's something called 0:18:36.720 --> 0:18:40.720 L aluminum. I don't know exactly what LN aluminum stands for, 0:18:40.840 --> 0:18:43.760 but there they were forged by a company called h 0:18:43.920 --> 0:18:47.280 d A Forgings, and then they were machined by another company, 0:18:47.280 --> 0:18:50.280 and that's Dunlop Aviation, and they tested them on a 0:18:50.359 --> 0:18:55.240 dynamometer at speeds of up to RPMs. They exceeded what 0:18:55.280 --> 0:18:57.399 they expected to to reach out in the desert, and 0:18:57.440 --> 0:19:00.680 they actually achieved that. It was successful to as obviously, 0:19:01.040 --> 0:19:03.080 but you know, the wheels come along with other things 0:19:03.119 --> 0:19:04.960 as well. That now it's strange enough that they're solid 0:19:05.000 --> 0:19:07.760 aluminum and you can find again, you can find you know, 0:19:07.800 --> 0:19:10.879 google images of this on online. You can find um 0:19:10.920 --> 0:19:14.439 you know. Actually there's a pretty interesting short documentary that 0:19:14.440 --> 0:19:17.440 I'll point you to in just a moment about the wheels, 0:19:17.520 --> 0:19:19.479 just the wheels themselves, in the shape of the wheels, 0:19:19.480 --> 0:19:22.360