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At Black Rock, the Goal Is Driving to Break the Sound Barrier

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At Black Rock, the Goal Is Driving to Break the Sound Barrier + + THE BLADE, TOLEDO, OHIO SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2008 SECTION B, PAGE 6 Land speed record holders Craig Breedlove, left, and Rosco McGlashan with Ed Shadle, right, an owner Men of speed and driver of a rocket car. At Black Rock, the goal is driving to break the sound barrier By PHINEAS ANDERSON SPECIAL TO THE BLADE or as long as men have tinkered with automobile engines, they’ve been fascinated with just how fast they can get a car to go. F Henry Ford set the first land speed record in 1904 by driving his Ford Arrow across the frozen Lake St. Clair in Michigan at an average speed of 91.37 mph. Sixty years later, Art Afrons of Akron became the fastest man on land as he guided his jet-powered Green Monster to a world record of 536.75 mph at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. Briton Andy Green set the current record in 1997 at the Black Rock Desert Playa 110 miles north of Reno, Nev., break- ing the sound barrier in Richard Noble’s Thrust Super Sonic Car (SSC) at a speed of 763 mph, an incredible technological and courageous feat. And it continues, this quest to go faster than anyone else by strapping a man in a land-speed machine and hurtling him across the earth at speeds that are almost impossible to comprehend. I was recently invited to an unadvertised test run of the North American Eagle (NAE) at Black Rock. A collaborative effort between Americans and Canadians, the goal is to bring the record back to North America by breaking the 800 mph barrier. While the test run ultimately was beset with numerous problems — ranging from dust storms driven by high winds to mechanical challenges — that made it less than ideal, the experience provided unique insight into the men who drive faster than the speed of sound, which can vary based on air temperature, humidity, and other factors, but it ranges from around 750-770 mph. Black Rock, known as the site for the annual Burning Man Festival, is a 400-square-mile prehistoric lake composed of Above: Steve extremely fine sediments infused with alkali salts. Three to five mile water “puddles” are moved around by the wind in Fossett’s rocket the winter, scourging the surface flat, evaporating, and leav- car sits on the ing a very hard surface in the late spring, summer, and fall. Black Rock No vegetation of any kind grows on the playa. Desert Playa near The NAE team is primarily based in the Seattle area. Ed Reno, Nev. Shadle, co-owner and driver, is 66 and a retired IBM disaster Left: Phineas relief specialist. Keith Zanghi, co-owner and director of opera- Anderson with tions, works at Boeing as a mechanical engineer. They have 38 Fossett’s car. volunteers who are experts in propulsion systems, hydraulics, aerodynamics, deceleration, data acquisition, fabrication, fluid dynamics, and other areas. For the last decade they have worked on weekends, con- verting and testing an old F-104 fighter jet that was in terrible shape into a potential land speed record breaker. This was not an ordinary F-104. While restoring it, they discovered that Chuck Yeager had flown it in the 1950s and its number was 763, the same number as the current land speed record, which they thought was a good omen. This was going to be their 13th test run, the purpose of which included replacing the 350 mph max rubber wheels with 800 mph plus solid alu- minum wheels and testing the magnetic breaking system in which parts do not touch but ions do the work with aluminum rotors. The event also turned out to be a gathering of land speed record holders. Ten of the British team members came over to celebrate the 10th anniversary of their sound barrier-breaking feat on land. American Craig Breedlove, 70, who was the first person to break the 400, 500, and 600 mph barriers, was present. He’d sold his Spirit of America to Steve Fossett, whose team of engineers, headed by Eric Ahlstrom, altered Breedlove’s machine, but it remains aesthetically awe-inspiring. Though Fossett is presumed dead after going missing in a single-engine airplane Sept. 3 in Nevada, the team plans to carry on in his name, hoping to break the 800 mph barrier next summer. A “battle royale” likely will develop between these two American teams. Then there was Rosco McGlashan, who holds the Aus- tralian record at 500 mph (and holds the world record for a rocket powered go-kart at 253 mph). He is building, at the Treasure Island Resort in Las Vegas, his Aussie Invader 5R, a rocket-propelled vehicle he hopes will break 1,000 mph in the not too distant future. So, what drives these men to risk life and limb? At the beginning of the automobile age, Henry Ford believed breaking the record would be great for marketing, showing he had the superior vehicle of his time. For Art Arfons it was the surge of power and speed, but he also said some time ago, “I don’t know how to explain it. It’s really something I don’t understand myself.” Five-time world land speed record holder Breedlove said, “A lot of people probably think I’m crazy to drive a car faster than a 30-30 bullet, just so I can say I hold the world land speed record. ... I drive the way I do because I have the desire to win, to be on top.” Unlike Mr. Arfons, Mr. Breedlove is not motivated by going fast: “Believe it or not, speed really scares the stuffing out of me. I certainly don’t crave it.” But “for a lot of people the motivator is the attraction of PHOTOS BY PHINEAS ANDERSON speed,” Mr. Ahlstrom said. “Going 250 mph is very different than Top: The North American Eagle on a run. Above: Crew members are ready to make adjustments to the Eagle. going 150 mph, and you can imagine what it is like going a lot faster. And then there is ego. But for Steve and for the team, it is doing something that has never been done before, like explora- tion, going into new territory for the first time. The real reason is simply the accomplishment, of crossing the finish line. To break a land speed record is a very complex challenge.” Mr. Shadle said his motivation is the stimulation and challenge of building the fastest man-contained four wheeled vehicle ever. Other NAE team members said it was the pres- tige and excitement of being directly involved with a world record mark. So this year, it will be intriguing to see if the Britons lose the record to one of two Americans, or to an Australian. Whatever the case, it is clear that in many ways they are like a brotherhood, mutually respectful of each other’s efforts and appreciative of the challenge and what it takes to get the task done. Left: Mechanics adjust a 250-pound wheel. Phineas Anderson, retired head of Maumee Valley Country Day School, is a relative by marriage to Ab Jenkins, car endur- Above: One of the staging sites for crew, mechanics, ance world record holder, who popularized the Bonneville Salt and support teams at Black Rock. Flats in the 1920s and 1930s. + + Cyan Magenta Yellow Black 020308_RP5_SUN__B6 1 2/1/2008, 10:21:52 PM.
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