This page contains a Flash digital edition of a book.
Aussie Invader has a small frontal area and a narrow lower fuselage, designed to deflect shock waves away from the vehicle


Sonic Wind has been designed purely around packaging the driver, engine and fuel tanks, the latter defining the frontal area of the car


In computational form, the shockwaves running over the fuselage of the Aussie Invader are highlighted ahead of the build programme


we can add tunnels, as was done on the JCB Dieselmax, to aerodynamically divert any spray.’ CFD development continues and the shape will evolve to meet the requirements of achieving the 1000mph target speed while, as the team behind it put it, ‘keeping Silver Bullet under complete control.’


Jetblack The New Zealand contender, Jetblack, whose target is simply to break the current outright World Land Speed Record, is akin to Bloodhound in utilising both jet and rocket power but, after that, any resemblance ceases. Indeed, Jetblack’s conceptual shape is unlike any of the other vehicles embarking on the land speed record endeavour, but at this relatively early stage perhaps the images we are seeing now should not be regarded as definitive. The layout features a


relatively wide front track, with


all four wheels enveloped in curvaceous extensions of the main body. But most distinctive of all, Jetblack features a body that widens towards the base, with a sharp lower edge and a flat looking underside. The team’s aerodynamicist,


Richard Roake, explains: ‘Our approach is to minimise the number of shocks and, after that, to make them as weak as possible. Most recently designed


The rear axle of the AI 5R has a leading and trailing fairing with a minimum amount of width to prevent ground-generated pressure from creating lift


done much work on yet.’ Jetblack is now using software


from project partner, XFLOW, for its CFD analysis. This uses a particle based rather than a mesh-based code, and this is proving especially useful in this context. Roake: ‘We have a model that accounts for dust and salt entrainment. It’s a significant part of the drag, probably in the range 11-12 per cent of the total drag at design speed.’ Team founder


“the transonic speed range is typically Mach 0.8 to 1.2 (roughly 600-900mph)”


fighter aircraft incorporate some of this, so it’s not exactly new technology. Shocks do occur under the car, I doubt you can completely get rid of them and I don’t see an advantage in doing so. Yaw sensitivity currently looks low, but it’s an area we haven’t


and project director, Richard Nowland added, ‘Our partnership with XFLOW not only enables full-body aerodynamics, but we can also simulate some of the effects the spray has, and that’s vital for us in understanding as much a we can about our vehicle.’


It’s clear then that CFD is


playing a large role in Jetblack’s early development but, as Richard Roake neatly put it, ‘We will then go on to discover with actual runs what it is that we don’t know, and hopefully fix as we go forward.’


North American Eagle The sole jet engine-only challenger, North American Eagle (NAE), differs from the other contenders in one other important respect – it has already made some meaningful runs. Based on a Lockheed F104 Starfighter airframe, essentially with wings removed and wheels added, including an extra set mid-fuselage, it has clearly been shaped to travel supersonic, so the challenge for this project is to ensure it can safely do the same while running on the ground. Team co-owner and driver, Ed


Shadle: ‘We will have a great deal less pressure build up under our vehicle than Thrust SSC because


January 2012 • www.racecar-engineering.com 69


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100