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LAND SPEED RECORD CONTENDERS – USA


five years ago, with four designs using different rocket engine and fuel combinations. But in late 2010 the design evolved into what we see now, thanks to the availability of certain hardware, including its modified Thiokol XLR-99 rocket engine. However, the project is clearly an evolving one, as Stakes’ comment, ‘The design is always in a state of flux due to the availability of better hardware,’ proves. The stated goal is 1000mph and beyond. Sonic Wind is said to be 60-70


per cent complete, and engine tests are planned for Spring 2012. Then, funds permitting, the team hopes to make its record attempt in the summer and autumn of 2013.


Sonic Wind is certainly one


of the slimmer, lighter designs, and is said to weigh in at just 3100kg (6800lb) fuelled up. The steel frame chassis and most


Sonic Wind T


he Sonic Wind project, under team principal and possible driver, Waldo Stakes, started about


of the major parts have been manufactured at Stakes’ ‘Rocket Ranch’ in southern California, mostly by himself and Accurate Arc Inc, California. But many parts have been obtained from surplus NASA and US military supplies, including of course the motor, which is of the type originally used in the North American X-15 aircraft. Other parts come from the Apollo service module, the Saturn 5 rocket, Redstone, Honest John and Corporal missiles and the F-104 Starfighter jet. Rocket engineer, Daniel


Moser of Compositex Inc, Utah, is carrying out the engine design and modification work. The core engine is being mated to a new composite combustion chamber and nozzle designed by Moser, which Stakes says, ‘will make the engine perfectly suited to the altitudes of the venues at which we will be running. It will allow us to run the engine at lower pressures, making it more reliable and safer. It will also run cooler on the methanol


TECH SPEC


Sonic Wind (www.landspeedrecordrocketcar.com)


Length: 47ft (14.3m)


Weight: 6800lb (3090kg) fuelled, 3000lb (1364kg) dry Chassis: fabricated steel


Engine: Thiokol XLR-99 liquid bi-propellant methanol / kerosene throttle-able rocket


Thrust: 26,000-34,000lb (116- 151kN)


Wheels: titanium ring running on hardened steel hubs


Brakes: air brakes; parachutes; surface drag brake


/ LOX (liquid oxygen) mix than it’s original aqueous ammonia / LOX mix. Thrust will be slightly reduced compared to the original motor but it will have a two-stage throttling capability with about 26,000lb of thrust for initial lighting and low throttle, but then it can be wicked up in the


transonic speed range to over 34,000lb of thrust for top speed.’ Stakes is another looking at


reducing the rotational inertia of the wheels by employing an outer rim rotating on a large diameter fixed hub, with titanium rings running around hardened steel hubs, lubricated with water. High-speed braking will be done by air brakes and by deploying reefed supersonic ring slot parachutes, while low-speed braking is via a surface friction drag brake. The vehicle will be brought to a complete stop by pneumatically collapsing the rear suspension so the rear of the car drags on the surface. The team has reduced the


frontal area by half, to just over eight square feet. The vehicle now has a constant slope top side and a better plan form that directs airflow over the body better than before. The team predicts that Sonic Wind LSRV will be even more stable on all axis and generate even more negative lift.


January 2012 • www.racecar-engineering.com 31


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