A judge has declared Fossett dead. The Blue Flame was designed to go supersonic, so the designers cared a lot about the area rule. Ostich ran the Flying Caduceus for several years, but by the time the handling issues were resolved still couldn't get it to run over 360. Caduceus was the first jet land speed car. Walt Arfons Green Monster was the first jet dragster. Both cars were built at the same time.
Breedlove's first jet car was eligible for FIM records, not FIA. Breedlove's first three records were FIM, his next two set with the second jet car were FIA.
Breedlove's second jet car used the coke bottle approach. Cars don't have wings (exactly) but they do have wheels.
Rounding off, the records set by Gabelich in The Blue Flame were 622 mph for the mile and 630 mph for the kilo.
First area ruled land speed car was Breedlove's second jet, Spirit of America - Sonic 1, in 1965. Second area ruled land speed car was The Blue Flame rocket in 1970. Thrust 2 and Thrust SSC were not area ruled. Spirit of America/Fossett is (like The Blue Flame) area ruled by sweeping the rear wheels aft of the fuselage.
I think depending on the rear wheel fairings instead of a significant conventional vertical stabilizer is going to bite the Fossett team.
http://www.americanjetcars.com/arfons/art/art38.htm Art Arfons afterburner-equipped J-47 Cyclops jet dragster http://www.americanjetcars.com/arfons/art/art49.htm Cyclops at Bonneville
Damn if that thing doesn't look like it came right out of a 50s science fiction movie. Absolutely perfect proportions. Beautiful.
Here is a link to Bob Tatroe's sons website. Bob Drove for Walt Afrons in the 1960's. http://www.americanjetcars.com/ajchome.html George
Hey guys ... mind if I "camp-on" a bit? I have a new client who owns what he believes to be Romeo Palimedes' "Untouchable IV". He currently has it advertised for sale on eBay. We're in the process of getting the car proeprly identified but it would help if we could obtain "where-and-when" info from other people who either knew the car or saw it run. Thank you.
I read somewhere, that these type of units were commecially available during the 60's and used by exhibition racers, often with the IC engine still installed. Only these were rocket not jet, no air intake just fuel and a pressurized oxidizer. Put the car in neutral push a button instant burnout for most of the 1/4 mile. Sounds alot like the JATO urban myth. Anyone else have any info on these.
Kinda sounds like a Turbonique Drag Axle. Here's what Hot Rod sez about it. http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/chassis/0512_hrdp_turbonique_drag_axle/index.html
Maybe I missed a reference to this jet car from the early '60s, but here's a story. Like many youngsters I had a paper route (well, more than one, but that's a different story). One afternoon I'm peddling through one of the neighborhoods on my route, your typical SoCal tract house area, modest size ranch style houses that were filling the west San Fernando valley at the time. Along side one of the garages I spotted a number of 55 gallon drums with some weird looking "stuff" sticking out of them. Now I was raised to be respectful of others property so I only got as close as the sidewalk, maybe 20 feet away, but I could've sworn they looked a lot like the jet engine models I had assembled. Since the paper was a daily (The Hollywood Citizen News for those of you with sufficient memory) I got to watch the pile change from time to time. Then one day I noticed that a hole had been cut in the garage door. A couple days later the door was open and inside was a guy welding away on some good sized frame structure of round pipe. Turns out it was a guy named Bill Frederick, a butcher in a local grocery meat department. Yep, he was building a jet powered car to run at Bonneville! Right there in that little two car garage! Wow! Turned out the hole in the door was necessary because the car was longer than the garage and had to allow the nose to hang out. Being kind of a shy kid I didn't make a pest of myself, but enjoyed getting occasional glimpses of the progress to completion of the Valkyrie I. Imagine my surprise/excitement when later seeing the car mentioned in Hot Rod! Anyway, it's briefly mentioned in the Fadini site noted earlier. Only ran once at Bonneville in '62, then ended up on the drag circuit where it was eventually destroyed. Frederick went on to build a rocket powered car for Hal Needham, a SOHC powered T Bucket rod that looked like a street driven FED, among many other projects.
A mile off topic, but interesting to see what people do with jets/turbines. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaXwfOGBBsw
The Jalopy Journal
