Boffin named Jubb to fire whopping hybrid thruster

A magnificently handlebar 'tached boffin is is poised to carry out the most potent rocket test firing in Britain for two decades, when he presses the big red button on the hybrid thruster for the Bloodhound SuperSonic Car. Daniel Jubb poses with his hybrid motor. Pic: Bloodhound SSC Daniel Jubb (pictured) will travel to the …

[Tom 38]

That tache is incredible.

[Anonymous Coward]

Awesome

I actually think I have tache envy and I don't even like taches.

[FartingHippo]

Re: Awesome

It's truly magnificent, but he looks like he should be sipping brandy in the drawing room of a London club during the 1880's, rather than partaking in rocketery.

The cad.

[Valerion]

Needs to be said

Luvvly Jubbly

[MIc]

Not the first

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budweiser_Rocket

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Not the first

What is the point of linking to a wiki article that doesn't contain a 'tache or a name that could be considered a vague reference to breasts?

Perhaps in the future, you could use the title "This is incredibly dull, please ignore" to avoid confusion?

[Vic]

Re: Not the first

> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budweiser_Rocket

"Neither the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme nor the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, the official speed record certifying bodies, recognise the record attempt, the speed purported to have been reached or that the vehicle ever attained supersonic speeds"

Vic.

[CarlC]

Re: Not the first

> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budweiser_Rocket

"although no official authority would recognize this achievement as a record"

"While it has been claimed that the Budweiser Rocket did briefly break the sound barrier, it could not gain any official titles"

"According to witnesses no sonic boom was heard."

"Despite an unauthorized written speed certification by the United States Air Force (USAF), there is much debate over the validity of the claim. The USAF states it "never intended to give official sanction to test results, nor to give the appearance of expressing an official view as to the speed attained by the test vehicle"

Nicely verified speed run then........more holes than my string vest

[Hairy Spod]

Re: Not the first

and i think it also had 3 wheels not 4 which I also think makes it ineligible for the land speed title as its currently defined.

[Vladimir Plouzhnikov]

Hard as I try

I cannot understand what is the point behind this land speed record anymore.

All they do is attempting to make an non-working airplane that can burn more fuel than a working one while going slower and being unable to fly at the same time. And it is even more frustrating because all the while there are perfectly serviceable working airplanes available and even routinely used (or used to be used) by the RAF...

OK, it may be fun for the people involved by is that such a great national achievement as they portray it on BBC?

Wouldn't it have been better if they just pointed that big rocket to the sky and launched something to space for a change?

[Ian Johnston]

Re: Hard as I try

Agreed completely. This isn't a car; it's a missile lying on its side.

[Voland's right hand]

Re: Hard as I try

Not even that.

42 years ago the gas marketing association which sponsored the Blue Flame decided to milk its success to the hilt and they refused to finance any further attempts. It was effectively mothballed after its record setting run.

What people forget however is that it was a _TEST_ run for all practical purposes. Due to the engine being worn out during static tests and initial testing it was limited to 50% of its maximum thrust. It achieved 630 _AT_ _HALF_ _ENGINE_ _POWER_...

If it was rebuilt with a new engine and allowed to run full blast... Oh well... if...

[Ramiro]

Re: Hard as I try

At these speeds, doubling the power would most certainly not double the speed (I know you didn't say that, but people might be tempted to do the linear extrapolation ;) considering the air resistance would grow at the very very least quadratically with the speed.

.A less lazy mechanical engineer than I could probably guesstimate the extra speed of the full power run. I'm not saying that their achievement is not amazing, I love things that burn stuff to go really fast, just pointing out that it's not a given that they'd be supersonic at a full power run (you didn't say that either ;)

[Steven Raith]

Re: Hard as I try

There's also the issue that at transonic speeds on the ground, werid things happen aerodyamically that have to be accounted for in the design.

At sub-400mph-ish speeds, it has to handle, effectively, like a car.

At 400mph and above it has to handle like an aeroplane that generates no lift or downforce. If it generates lift, it flips or rolls (as it's never going to be perfectly aerodynamically symmetrical at those speeds - too many variables).

If it generates downforce, at those speeds it digs itself into the ground.

The technical requirements to reach 700+mph in Thrust SSC were staggering (catching slides on opposite lock at 650mph? Major brown pants moment at 70mph....) - this makes that look like a slight challenge.

I find the whole thing fascinating.

[hayseed]

Re: Hard as I try

On the other hand, my understanding is that the engineering on the British team is of a different order of

magnitude altogether - much less "throw it against the wall and see if it will stick" stuff.

[Alan Brown]

Re: Hard as I try

Given that friction (air resistance) rises as the 3rd power of speed, it's likely that full power would have resulted in about an extra 10-20mph, minus any lost to increasing the downforce in order to avoid changing from being a missile on wheels to an actual flying one.

[Essuu]

Re: Hard as I try

The BBC article omits the second part of the Bloodhound SSC goals - namely education. We're running out of engineers as they get old and retire and we're not replacing them fast enough.

The mission statement for Bloodhound SSC states " To confront and overcome the impossible using science, technology, engineering and mathematics. To motivate the next generation to deal with global 21st century challenges"

Inspiring a generation to take up science and engineering is why they're doing it. Read http://bloodhoundssc.com/education.cfm

[MJI]

Re: Hard as I try

I know one of the education team, I have seen a picture of my twins with her at a show.

And you can see the family likeness with my wife.

[Michael Wojcik]

Re: Hard as I try

Inspiring a generation to take up science and engineering is why they're doing it.

That's nice, but I can't help but think that putting Scrapheap Challenge (aka Junkyard Wars) back on the air would be similarly effective, and probably somewhat cheaper. Perhaps the various "robot"-battling shows too. (Though the so-called robots were really just fancy remote-control toys; I never saw any that were even slightly autonomous. How sad.)

[h4rm0ny]

Re: Hard as I try

"Wouldn't it have been better if they just pointed that big rocket to the sky and launched something to space for a change?"

If someone misses a pebble on the track, it probably will.

[phuzz]

Re: Hard as I try

Also, us Brits have had the land speed record since 1983 (and at many times before that), which pisses off certain yanks no end.

And that's why it's worth doing :)

[Mostly_Harmless]

units

"Although the unit (seen below during an October 2009 static test) is capable of of an average thrust of 111kN (25,000lbf) during a 20-second burn, peaking at 122kN (27,500lbf)"

I can't believe the El Reg omitted to express this in the standard unit of measurement for force, namely the Jubb

[Lester Haines]

Re: units

Actually, the Reg standard of force is the Norris.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: units

"Jubb" could be used as the standard measurement for moustaches. Taking that moustache as 1.0 Jubbs; then that dude who sculpts windmills etc. into his moustache would come in at about 1.7 Jubbs.

[perlcat]

Re: units

I like jubbs. Really, I do. What an awesome unit of measure.

[M Gale]

Re: "Actually, the Reg standard of force is the Norris."

Micro, Nano or PicoNorris more usually, no?

[Graham Marsden]

It has to be pointed out...

... (although I'll probably be downvoted into oblivion for this) that it's not really a "car", more a giant rollerskate with a jet engine bolted on top of it!

The fastest car actually driven through its wheels is the Spirit of Rett which achieved an average speed of 414.5mph at Bonneville Salt Flats on September 21st 2010.

[Stoneshop]

I disagree

It's a jet engine with a giant rollerskate strapped underneath.

[Peter2]

Re: I disagree

And the pictures of the Spirit of Rett don't look any more car like, to be fair.

[hayseed]

Re: I disagree

No, it is a standard DRCE - (google) Drag-Racing Competition Engine.

[Robert E A Harvey]

I do like the British

This is magnificent, and completely pointless.

Carry on, lads!

[xperroni]

Re: I do like the British

Speaking of pointlessness...

What's the point of having a driver in those things? At upwards of 1000Km/h, I can't really picture a human doing anything useful in the event of unforeseen problems – heck, I doubt they could even shriek before turning into ashes.

[perlcat]

Re: I do like the British

...because without the immortalisation of a tombstone that reads "death by misadventure", there is no appeal. None at all.

[revoking your man card]

[xperroni]

Re: I do like the British

Yes, because hitting a button and then sitting in place very still until it's over (one way or the other) is the purest ideal of manliness. Sure.

[Vic]

Re: I do like the British

> At upwards of 1000Km/h, I can't really picture a human doing anything useful

Well, he did on the ThrustSSC run.

Vic.

[Peter Simpson 1]

Supersonic Jubb?

<couldn't resist>

I remember being a kid in Melbourne in the 60's while Donald Cambell was tearing up Lake Eyre with Bluebird.

Great fun, and beating the Americans (at least for a while) makes it even more fun!

[squigbobble]

Re: Supersonic Jubb?

We should make it a national mission to beat the Yanks at anything that can be done for 5 figure sum. Anything bigger and HMGov will panic about the potential budget costs (even if it's a private venture) and shut it down.

[Whiznot]

How many cup holders does it have?

[Anonymous Coward]

One. For tea or G&T, depending upon the hour.

[perlcat]

With that 'stache?

Any hour is a good hour for the G&T.

[Warren Sealey]

Stealing von Braun

That name, that 'tache, those skills. Why is this man not working on LOHAN?

[Code Monkey]

Re: Stealing von Braun

... and where's his pipe?

[perlcat]

Re: Stealing von Braun

...as the great Patrick F. McManus says, there's no better way to look intelligent than to smoke a pipe and look contemplative. You can get away with anything that way.

[Gene Cash]

Rocket car

Shouldn't Richard Hammond be driving that?

[Naughtyhorse]

Re: Rocket car

hammond??

he's not even a real hamster you know!

[thenim]

a pint...

To those detractors, we need the brave or foolish few who continue to ask,"what happens if I....?" Without them, we will not be where we are...

Raising a pint (sadly we lack an Ale icon, so larger it is...)

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Raising a pint

Looks like Newcy Brown to me.

[Resound]

Ancilliaries

Did I just read that they're using a 2010 Cosworth Formula 1 engine as the oxidant pump?

[Lester Haines]

Re: Ancilliaries

Yes they are.

[James Pickett]

You have to be impressed by any vehicle that uses a Cosworth V10 for the fuel pump.

As for Hammond, I wouldn't let him anywhere near it...

[Naughtyhorse]

hammond...

i dunno, he _just_ survived a 300mph crash.... 1000 sounds like a great idea.

[Code Monkey]

Re: hammond...

You are a cruel person, Naughtyhorse. Full marks!

[Naughtyhorse]

Re: hammond...

lol ty

[James Pickett]

I wasn't so concerned about his survival - just noting that he managed to crash a dragster, a machine specifically designed to go very fast in a straight line, and which rarely crash when driven properly.