BRITISH JET CAR SETS LAND SPEED RECORD; SOUND BARRIER BROKEN IN NEVADA DESERT.Byline: Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. Trailing a huge plume of dust across the desert floor, a British jet-powered car blasted through the sound barrier twice Wednesday, shattering the world land speed record. ``It's been a magic morning,'' said a beaming Richard Noble Richard Noble, OBE (born March 6, 1946, in Edinburgh, Scotland) was a holder of the land speed record between 1983 and 1997, and was the project director of ThrustSSC, the vehicle which currently holds the land speed record, set at Black Rock Desert, Nevada in 1997. . ``It's a hell of an achievement.'' Noble's jet-powered Thrust SSC SSC Secondary School Certificate SSC Standard Systems Center (USAF) SSC State Services Commission (New Zealand) SSC Swedish Space Corporation SSC Salem State College (Massachusetts) took advantage of cool, clear weather for back-to-back runs that pushed the land speed record above Mach 1, the speed of sound. The feat came 50 years and a day after pilot Chuck Yeager  This page is currently protected from editing until disputes have been resolved. first broke the sound barrier in an experimental rocket-powered plane. Noble's car, with Royal Air Force pilot Andy Green Wing Commander Andy D Green OBE BA RAF (born 1962), a British RAF F-4 Phantom and Tornado F3 pilot and Officer Commanding Operations Wing at RAF Wittering, is the current holder of the land speed record and the first person to break the sound barrier on land. at the controls, went 759.333 mph on its first run and 766.609 mph on the second. Under a formula used by the United States Automobile Club The United States Automobile Club (USAC) is an open-wheel auto racing sanctioning body. From 1956 to 1979 the USAC sanctioned the United States National Championship, and from 1956 to 1997 it sanctioned the Indianapolis 500. , which times the runs, the record was set at 763.035. The speed of sound, which varies according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. weather and altitude, was calculated Wednesday morning at 748.111 mph. The record was provisionally set at Mach 1.02. The new mark broke the old record, set by Green just three weeks ago, by nearly 49 mph. The two runs had to be made within an hour of each other for the record to be official. Green made his second dash with about five minutes to spare. When he throttled up for the return trip down the 14-mile course, the dust cloud from his first run still hung over the desert on the crisp, sparkling morning. The sleek, black car broke the sound barrier twice Monday but missed the record books because a problem with a drag parachute delayed the team and it took 61 minutes to start the second run. Noble considered making the record run Tuesday, the 50th anniversary of Yeager's feat. But he opted for the more favorable conditions of early morning Wednesday in the desert 125 miles north of Reno. Noble, 51, set the land speed record on Oct. 4, 1983, at 633.46 mph. Green, 35, broke that mark Sept. 25 with a two-way average speed of 714.144 mph. The Thrust is a massive vehicle, measuring 54 feet long, 12 feet wide and weighing 10.2 tons. It's powered by two 110,000-horsepower Rolls-Royce Spey 205 engines. From a hilltop, five-time land speed record holder American Craig Breedlove, who had hoped be the first to break the sound barrier on land, watched the two sprints. ``It was a beautiful run. You could see the shock waves,'' Breedlove said. His Spirit of America Spirit of America is the trademarked name used by Craig Breedlove for his land speed record-setting vehicles. The Spirit of America was the first of the modern record breaking cars, build within new rules with its three wheel design, narrow stream-lined was the first car to top 400 mph, 500 mph and 600 mph in the mid-1960s, and Breedlove had tried unsuccessfully to beat Noble to a new mark. At the end of Green's two historic runs, his team rejoiced. ``We have achieved what we set out to do,'' Green said. ``We are finished.'' |
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