Can anyone tell me WHY

[Mr Pig]

I am sure I read that Aerodynamics is the limiting factor in such things. Just strapping a bigger engine onto some wheels is not going to do it.

That's right. That's why the American effort failed as they didn't appreciate how much extra power they would need to get the relatively little extra speed.

 

[Over The Hill]

But there are lots of problems you wouldn't think of. Like how you get wheels to rotate along the ground at that speed without melting or getting a jet engine to deal with running at full tilt six-feet off the ground. .

I expect parking is a real bugger too.

 

[Mr Pig]

I expect parking is a real bugger too.

But the plus side is no police car can catch you!

 

[Lazy-Commuter]

Or any path. For me it's not just about engineering. It's about showing people that if they put the work in and refuse to give up then can excel.

To be honest though I am a bit worried. A lot of people have been killed pursuing speed records and I'd hate to see Richard Noble and his team crushed by disaster after their great victories.

Fair point, the first one. I picked on engineering and science due to the nature of the project, but your point is well made.

But there are lots of problems you wouldn't think of. Like how you get wheels to rotate along the ground at that speed without melting or getting a jet engine to deal with running at full tilt six-feet off the ground. Getting the car to stay in contact with the ground without either pressing down too hard or generating lift and taking off.

And how do you stop the thing and turn it around quickly as you've only got a certain time to do the obligatory two runs.

Absolutely. There's ground effect and all sorts of weirdness they're going to need to deal with.

 

[Over The Hill]

A bit from The Times for FM and all those who cannot see the benefit of such projects:

Rather than relying on the traditional drawing board and wind-tunnel testing, almost every aspect of the £15 million project will have been simulated in advance using an array of powerful supercomputers, right down to the thickness of the car’s paint. At 1,000mph an extra layer on one side of the car would be enough to alter its direction and could send it into a tailspin. The Bloodhound project recently surpassed the Met Office in terms of computing power.

Despite the incredible speed the risk of anything going wrong is low, according to Wing Commander Green. In the 111 years of land speed record attempts he points out that there have been fewer fatalities than in an average decade of Formula One. “I’m not saying that this is entirely risk-free, but neither is crossing the road,” he said.
Lord Drayson, the Science Minister, proposed the project in 2006 after struggling to recruit enough engineers while in a ministerial post at the Ministry of Defence. He challenged Richard Noble, Bloodhound’s director, and Wing Commander Green to pursue the landmark project as a way of inspiring the next generation of engineers.

About 25,000 schools in Britain are signed up to the Bloodhound education programme, which uses aspects of the project to explain and demonstrate mathematics, science and engineering. The project also has a growing internet following and a live video from the cockpit will be streamed during the time trial.
“If it gets kids from around the world motivated and we only get to 950mph then it’ll be worth it. If we get to 1,000mph and nobody cares we’ll have failed,” Wing Commander Green said.

So it is developing computer modelling and helping to recruit more much needed engineers without whom we will not be able to make future andvances (perhaps in green energy).

But will FM admit to being wrong and in having a bit of a closed mind on this one?

 

[Flying_Monkey]

But will FM admit to being wrong and in having a bit of a closed mind on this one?

It's not a question of open-mindedness, it is one of ethics and what we think is important. I just think there are better ways of spending the money and using and developing our engineering talent. You could engage just as many people or more and put them to work on developing solutions for things that might actually, I don't know, save people's lives, help repair damaged environments, find new ways of producing power, and so on. These are the great and inspiring challenges of the 21st Century, and instead we are still playing silly boy's games...

 

[Black Sheep]

I'm with yenners and dell on this one, I'm afraid. Not everything is good just because it's British engineering or innovation. Technical innovation matters if it's producing something worthwhile. This is basically a wasteful, entirely pointless and egotistical exercise that basically involved strapping a jet engine onto a chassis and flying it along the ground. Great. That is going to benefit no-one and is environmentally destructive. And any accidental spin-offs could have been achieved by doing something else rather less pointless. I do wish that such great technical minds could do something beneficial...

but it is technology and aerodynamics and engineering that could find its use in aircraft or small personal aircraft, even if only used in none passenger use.

had you been born a few hundred years ago you would be saying the same thing about aircraft and steam trains.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

but it is technology and aerodynamics and engineering that could find its use in aircraft or small personal aircraft, even if only used in none passenger use.

had you been born a few hundred years ago you would be saying the same thing about aircraft and steam trains.

que?

 

[Rhythm Thief]

It's not a question of open-mindedness, it is one of ethics and what we think is important. I just think there are better ways of spending the money and using and developing our engineering talent. You could engage just as many people or more and put them to work on developing solutions for things that might actually, I don't know, save people's lives, help repair damaged environments, find new ways of producing power, and so on. These are the great and inspiring challenges of the 21st Century, and instead we are still playing silly boy's games...

You seem to have accidentally used the word "we" instead of, er, "I" there ...

Surely once we stop doing stuff like this "because we can", we stop being human? It'd be a pretty dull world if everything we did had to have some kind of purpose aside from simply being done for its own sake.

 

[Night Train]

Once upon a time someone invented a computing device. It developed into a machine that was the size of a large room and needed a second large room full of air conditioning plant to keep it cool. It employed an office full of people just to understand the inputs and outputs from it and a nother room full to just keep it working.
"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." - Thomas Watson, Chairman of IBM, 1943.

Earlier, a great steam driven monster was set into motion pulling some open carts on a steel track. the public were invited to buy tickets to ride in and marvel at this fire breathing monstrosity as the press of the day reported that travelling that great speed of 30 miles in an hour would suck the very breath out of a man's lungs.

Even earlier and ape like creature picked up a stick and found it could be used to hit things....

 

[Dave5N]

It's not a question of open-mindedness, it is one of ethics and what we think is important.

About 25,000 schools in Britain are signed up to the Bloodhound education programme, which uses aspects of the project to explain and demonstrate mathematics, science and engineering. The project also has a growing internet following and a live video from the cockpit will be streamed during the time trial.
“If it gets kids from around the world motivated and we only get to 950mph then it’ll be worth it. If we get to 1,000mph and nobody cares we’ll have failed,” Wing Commander Green said.

That seems quite important to me. A lot more important than wasting resources flying people to academic conferences that could all be conducted online.

 

[Over The Hill]

It's not a question of open-mindedness, it is one of ethics and what we think is important. I just think there are better ways of spending the money and using and developing our engineering talent. You could engage just as many people or more and put them to work on developing solutions for things that might actually, I don't know, save people's lives, help repair damaged environments, find new ways of producing power, and so on. These are the great and inspiring challenges of the 21st Century, and instead we are still playing silly boy's games...

If you read your post back you will see it demonstrates your closed mind.

You keep banging on about it being a silly boys game and not worthwhile but ignore the fact that they are (amongst many other things) -
a) pushing the boundaries of computer modelling
developing our understanding of aerodynamics

Now applying just these points to subjects I believe you are keen on and would see as worthwhile, can you not see that this could:
Lead to more fuel-efficient aeroplanes or cars.
With computer modelling, design endless things more efficiently and with less waste.

Perhaps you should add the words "or forward" to the end of your posts.

 

[Mr Pig]

Even earlier and ape like creature picked up a stick and found it could be used to hit things....

Only slightly earlier. 1878 Manchester United were formed.

 

[colly]

It might be a waste of time and money and even eventually someones life, but projects like this provide the magic spark..............inspiration.

Maybe not for the detractors, critics and nay sayers but certainly for would be engineers, designers and those who will eventually go on to design all those useful and worthwhile possibly world saving inventions.