A Great Subject For A Jaguar Club Audience
This was the latest talk in JEC Oxfordshire Region's series of very popular illustrated car talks.
Lawrence Bleasdale is one of 7 'share-owners' of this UK Land Speed Record Car and was joined by Phil, another Member of the ownership syndicate, who kindly operated the AV system.
We were also honoured to have Andrew Hurdle, who originally built and drove the Vampire at Santa Pod, in the early '80s, able to join us to tell us the stories first hand.
The car's subsequent history is perhaps better known, as it was the car Richard Hammiond "took off in" and had a spectacular crash in at nearly 320mph on Elvington Airfield, during filming for the BBC's Top Gear.
Vampire even has significant Jaguar connections, as the rear suspension and brakes are Jaguar, and the afterburner came from a Sepecat Jaguar and the engine from an ex-RAF Red Arrows Folland Gnat !
There's Daimler connections too, with many dragsters using large size engines from this side of the Jaguar business.
We will hold this talk at our usual venue that has a bar, plenty of parking and a large main room. A collection will be taken for the Region’s Charity of the Year, Crohn's and Colitis UK.
A great & generous JEC Turnout
We held this talk at our usual venue - The Bodicote Cricket Club near Banbury - that is run by a great team and which has a bar, plenty of parking and a large main room.
A collection was taken for the Region’s Charity of the Year, Crohn's and Colitis UK, from the attendees supplemented by a donation from the Region's funds.
More than £300 was raised - a great result.
An increcible Story With Images To Match !
UK Drag Racing came over as a sport & entertainment from the USA in the 70s and 80s. Early UK cars were typically powered by Jaguar & Daimler engines with the smallest being 2.5 Litre and rising from there to $.2L and ever more. Indeed, a Mini powered by a Jaguar engine even delivered a 1/4 mile ride in just 9 seconds.
An ultimate monster was, and remains, and 8 Litre V8.
The fuels were and are decidedly different ! Some come at a proce of more than £70 per gallon, with nitrogen, ethanol, methanol and even hydrogen peroxide. Dangerous stuff indeed.
The Use Of Jet Engines Takes It All To Another Level !
The traditional ICE engines brought with them challenges and eye-watering expense. Spark plugs might last seconds. Engine blocks as little as 80 seconds, requiring complete rebuilds after each run.
Adopting Jets changed the game. Andrew and his team bought 5 'used' Rolls Royce Orpheus 101 engines from the Red Arrows for just £2000. These develop 5,600lbs of thrust.
Other jet-powered cars can now enjoy 12,000 horsepower, needed to drive the combustion chamber. Drivers have been known to endure 12G pressures.
Jet cars can consume 172cubic metres of air (that's a Squash Court full !) and 215lbs of fuel per second.
And The UK Land Speed Record & Richard Hammond's Crash ?
The record outside the UK may well be higher, but the 45 years old Vampire will hold the UK record in perpetuity. This because the UK Authorities are no longer prepared to sanction sessions of 2 x 1km record runs on safety grounds.
Interestingly the same Orpheus engine was in the Bluebird K7 so that engine features in both UK land and water speed records.
As to the Richard Hammond accident, Andrew has his views on how it happened - all relating to cross winds requiring steering pressures on the cambered runway that overheated a tyre, causing lift. Crashing at 340 mph in a jet car must itself be a record.
So a Great Evening With a Great Story
That delivered our speakers 'thank you' bottles of Malt Whisky or Argmanac. Well earned indeed.
And now Region Members look forward to visiting OCR Rally in Witney on February 23rd.
