Parnelli led 198 of 200 laps before the bearing broke in 1967, the following year 1968 Graham Hill, Joe Leonard and Art Pollard had 4 wheel drive Lotus's with turbines, Leonard should have won but a fuel pump drive broke on his and Pollards cars within laps of each other. But there were even earlier versions such as the John Zink Trackburner
Not sure all of these are jet powered but certainly fit the theme. These are 3 early GM concept cars for the Firebird. Took these at the GM museum when I went to the Woodward Cruise last year.
The J47 the Caduceus had would only get to 90% rpm, which is only about half power. The Air Force wore it out on the wing of a B36 before they sold it! Had a few stability issues, too, apparently the 1-ton GMC truck torsion bar suspension wasn't up to 300+ MPH. Fancy that. It wasn't much good at 40!
The area rule applies to anything moving through the air at very high speeds, and becomes more critical as it approaches the speed of sound. As for these LSR cars, placement of the wheels and the vertical fin must be pretty much non-negotiable. Maybe they had more flexibility with the fore and aft placement of the cockpit and its attendant bulge in the area. The fuselage, in any case, is pulled taught in a constant diameter tube around the engine in these early LSR cars, similar to what we see in the pre-area rule fighters and other jets. No wasp waist or coke bottle carve out at the cockpit or at the wheels to preserve the area. Economics, unavailability of wind tunnel testing, lack of awareness, whatever, I was just curious as to when and if the area rule has come into play for LSR cars, when it was first considered, and when it was first used. Thanks to those who responded.
Saw the HP rocket car in Mich, US 131 dragstrip, in the 60's. Announcer said the same thing - we were in bleachers behind the starting line. We didn't take the announcer seriously and stayed put. Didn't get bleached hair but the blast pressure blew so much dirt and trash our way we couldn't see anything.
The Caduceus engine was a low hr. Gas fired version that we converted back to JP4 and it was fully capable of 100%. The early handling problems were not due to the GMC suspension but rather due to 300+mph boundary air stalling out on the leward sides of the car causing oscillations. That was fixed when we added the vertical stabilizer that two test pilots from Edwards (Salmon & Armstrong) suggested. I'm quite familiar with the Caduceus bnecause I'm about the last guy left that worked with Doc Ostich on the car. I was the only full time paid guy Doc hired to oversee the construction of the car and runs at Bonneville. Doc even delivered Ray Brocks and my kids free and you can't beat a health plan like that
More information please! BTW the Caduceus is displayed at the National Automobile Museum in Reno and did make a cameo appearance in "The World's Fastest Indian". http://www.oiccam.com/reno/car_museum/racecars/1960_flying_caduceus.shtml
Back home in Toledo, OH, about 1959 we had the bare bones beginning of a drag strip at the airport....One weekend we heard about a dragster due to arrive from Akron, OH, powered with an Allison Aircraft Engine...I filled in for the starting flagman...But later found out that a Flagman was not supposed to be out there, when the Green Monster ran,(to dangerous)... Yes it was Art Arfons and the Green Monster from Akron...I never forgot the engine noise, the tire smoke, the exhaust smoke, and the ground shaking all around me...I'll never forget that run! Our drag strip was baptized that day....
Actually a judge had to make a ruling when it's requested by the family within the 7 year window. The quote from the judge was something like this: "in my entire career I've only granted two exceptions to the 7 year rule and in one of those cases the guy was later found to be alive...".
I'd love to hear more too! Al, if you dont mind posting again. Sounds like a real combination of crew. That must have been fun beyond belief! Got any pictures?
The ultimate problem with the Caduceus turned out to be that the original wind tunnel tests were badly flawed. The GM torsion bar suspension was not the cause of steering oscillations. Our original design included a vertical stabilizer but wind tunnel tests indicated it wasn't needed so we did not include one in the original build. Unfortunately the handling problems above 300 mph were ultimately traced to boundary layer air stalling out on the leward side of the car causing Doc to over correct back & forth. Two, then young & budding, test pilots named Salmon & Armstrong met with us and strongly felt the previously omitted vertical stabilizer was a must, so we fitted a very intricate movable one linked directly to the steering ~ it is still on the car and also shown in the later photos. The J47's we had were good low hr. aviation gas fired high altitude versions which we converted back to JP4. We finally learned that @ a full 100% the engine just couldn't push the car through the air. The goofy W.T. tests had ignored the boundary air build-up around the huge open finned wheels & tires. That left two choices which were both nixed by Firestone because the tires were already over loaded. Enclosing the wheels or further engine enhancements (read afterburner) would have added so much weight it would have been a stupid & dangerous move. Ray Brock & I didn't want to loose our doctor because he was also delivering our kids. Craig had arrived on the scene with his streamlined three wheel Spirit which used the same engine as our, by that time, rather primitive Caduceus had. Doc didn't break the LSR with the first Jet car, but he did build it in true hot rodder fashion. It was assembled mostly out off the shelf parts by his volunteer hot rodding friends (I was his only full time paid "Wrench"). He only had two sponsors, Mobil fueled the Caduceus and Firestone furnished the tires and wheels. Doc paid for everything else out his own pocket even down to the Wendover motel rooms for the crew. Those were exciting times !
Thank you Al.... If ya dont mind me asking, How old are you? and thank you for your dedication as well. Terriffic!
I'm 74 and and not as nimble as I was @ 23 when we started building the car. There were four "lead" players: Doc, Ray Brock, Ak Miller & myself plus a great bunch of really dedicated volunteers. They were all older than me and as far as I know almost all are gone now. In the early 70's the car was still disassembled in Doc's shop because he had tried to convince us to try some kind of rocket assist. In the 70's Doc was not well & Ray had convinced him to give it to Harrah's. Doc was concerned about how he was going to get it all put back together. So the whole crew got together for a surprise birthday party for Doc and reassembled the beast and put it on the trailer bound for Reno. That bunch of guys really knew how to have a good time playing with each other's minds. There were a lot of great times and a million memories. After we parked the Caduceus I joined Chrysler's experimental Turbine Car program in 1963 and roamed the country keeping the 50 car fleet of Turbines on the road & I retired from Mopar in '91
Hey Guys don't forget the Green Mamba. Guess it has a special place in my heart as I was able to help put it back together after the theft. Ted
Hey Kev, In the twenty something years that I've known Doug and been working on the Mamba I've never seen those pictures. Doug is one hell of a down to earth guy and truly holds some history in jet car racing. Thanks foor posting the pictures. He ran the Mamba at a show this past weekend while still recovering from hip surgery. Attached is a link. Ted http://www.karnac.com/floridastocks/
I'm back with a little more info on Ostich's foray into building and running the first jet car at Bonneville.... Now where to start?? Probably first place would to be to set the stage for Wendover and the Bonneville salt flats as it was in the 1959 to 1963 time period, (not exactly the mecca of civilization). Bonneville was a primitive and pretty messed up State Park that you had to make a reservation to run on. Most of us were granted only a week, so time was of the essence unless you were crazy and decided to try to break the record and likely your neck right off the trailer (Athol Graham). If you have never run there, a little explanation might be in order. The salt brine is brought to the surface of the clay during the day via the super hot (often 120+) sunshine and the brine pools over most of the surface which can often prohibit running later in the day. The daytime winds add to the risk too. Overnight the brine subsides and as the surface dries it leaves the salt behind ..... hopefully nice and smooth. The condition of the track is always at the mercey of the weather and the poor salt condition is why almost everyone avoided any major runs in about 1960. The commercial pumping (mining) of the brine to the other side of the highway also made things considerably worse. As you can see, just getting there at the right time with the right stuff was in-itself a major project. Serious runs are usually scheduled to take place just after sun-up when the winds are the lowest and often the winds just didn't die down enough. Records must be no more than 1 Hour apart. In those days there were no good radios nor cell phones so we used army surplus field telephones and stretched our own 10 miles of wires across the salt (Imagine the poor reception due to the salt water conductivity). We had a volunteer sitting on a box every mile to relay what was going on. By this time you have probably driven all night from L.A. and spent most of the first day stringing wire, unloading the car & trucks and changing to race wheels and tires let alone pitching some kind of tents and sun screens.... that pretty well shoots day one. Time out ~~~ My bride (of 52 years) says dinner is ready so I shall return later to take you into day two.
I never heard that about Bonnevilles salt before. It's totally different to OZ's Salt lakes which are many feet deep and hard as rock . This year the races are off because of the much needed rain in Northern Australia. ( the rain falls thousands of miles away,floods the inland channel country and months later arrives in South Australia) . http://www.dlra.org.au/2008.htm
Ostich Jet car.... typical trips to Bonneville continued. Usually on day one we also had a crew walk the course checking for any junk left from the last racers. Days start with 4 AM breakfast at the Stateline Hotel and out on the salt by 4:30 or 5:00. First check the weather all the way down the ten miles of wire to see if runs will be possible. If so then tow the car to the end of the course and do one last check of everything including prachute and extinguisher circuits etc etc. If the weather is good and all systems are go (seldom everything agrees) and we fire the APU ready for a light off. I wiped the salt from Doc's shoes, strap him in the cockpit and close the doors. Brock would then give Doc the high sign and the J47 thundered to life. If all systems weree goDoc would set sail on his ten mile jaunt. The telephone lines would chatter to life....mile one....mile two....mile three etc etc. of course thephone jockys had no way of knowing his actual speed .....nor did Doc except from the peto tube in the car's nose. Doc did know mile per mile where he was because Howard Dixon had set up various 4'x8' plywood easel mile markers painted in various colors. The only guy who knew the actual speed was Ollie Riley of Chrondek who did the timing... You see Doc had gotten into a snit with the santioning "Lords" when they said they wouldn't sanction a Jet car and they refused to provide timing..... So Doc recruited Ollie to do the timing because he made the clocks that the "Lords" always used. Doc told them "If I go 435 mph (that was our target) and then you knotheads can go tell the world it isn't a record"! The plan was always to work your spped up one day at a time. Steve Petrasik and his Firestone analyized the tire face wear (.020 in) and casing growth on every tire after each run and told us when it was time to change all four..... about a two hour job which included wheel bearings etc. As long as everything was progressing smoothly (rarely) the afternoons were spent doing routine maintenance and trying to stay out of the never ending sun. Tom foolery was ever present too ~ Ak Miller ran the Differential bearings out of his homemade Cobra while running clock checks for Ollie and had to set out for SLC for bearings..... some un-named crew menber nailed Ak's diff cover to the salt with big spikes while he was gone..... The salt causes the nails to almost immediately rust and they're nearly impossible to pull back out. Those were routine days inching upward toward the record attempts. Unfortunately if and when a major problem was encountered one just had to pack up and head back to L.A. ..... and in most cases wait until next year to reserve another week on the salt
When Art Arfons set his first world LSR, Craig Breedlove's record had already been broken. The record Art had to beat was the 413 mph record set by Tom Greene in Walt Arfons "Wingfoot Express" jet car.
The Jalopy Journal
