Why dont they have an online donation thing setup so punters can drop them a tenner?
I paid for my name on the fin the first time, might buy something from the shop as Tony suggests.
Why dont they have an online donation thing setup so punters can drop them a tenner?
Just out of interest, is this an RR Avon (Lightning), or an Olympus (Concorde)? Engineering-wise, the latter must be a nightmare to mount and run.
Just out of interest, is this an RR Avon (Lightning), or an Olympus (Concorde)? Engineering-wise, the latter must be a nightmare to mount and run.
What made you think it was either of those dinosaurs?
The website for the whole project is quite open, and the social media feeds are regular updated.
I'm pretty ambivalent about the whole effort tbh. It's all a bit...Clarkson/Partridge.
wut?? It's a world away from that: always had been.
Watch the vids. On planned run profile 6, they've repeatedly taken a new vehicle past 500mph. Safely, repeat-ably, with incredible telemetry and public video explaining what went well, what needs fixing. It's already well inside the top-10 fastest ever LSR attempts, but more often, and that merely in testing. On the jet alone it has potential for 650mph, and that'd put it ahead of Blue Flame, in the top4 fastest ever LSR runs. Watch and wait; and remember this is only a test season - the first attempt with the added rocket is at least a year away.
Think about that a bit more: the whole programme is a work of utter precision, input from many disciplines, and learning & safety first. An object lesson in how such a stupidly-difficult thing (way more difficult than approaching M 1 in an aircraft) should & must be developed; a testament not only to the current project sponsors and team, but the incredible foundation specification, design and fabrication work achieved by the Bloodhound team from the very outset when fronted by Richard Noble.
If nothing else - the education dividend the whole programme has assiduously pursued from inception in terms of the desire to inspire the next generation of Engineers is wonderful.
If anyone thinks such a thing is merely Clarkson/top gear writ large - I despair.
No.
The point is, the pure pursuit of a scientific objective - where is the limit?
Engineering has been a dirty word for a few decades, so anything that creates an interest amongst children for speed, jets, rockets and extremes is a good thing in my book.
engineering a dirty word? really? can you back that up? if so, i am totally with you, but it seems a bit perverse to suggest that rocket-propelled land vehicles are any sort of idealistic goal for the profession in our era of climate catastrophe.