ThrustSSC

ThrustSSC (SuperSonic Car) is a British designed and built jet propelled car developed by Richard Noble and Ron Ayers, which holds the world land speed record. It is powered by two afterburning Rolls-Royce Spey engines, as used in British variants of the F-4 Phantom II. It is 54 ft (16.5 m) long, 12 ft (3.7 m) wide and weighs 10.5 tons.

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On October 15, 1997 in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada USA, driven by Andy Green, ThrustSSC became the first land vehicle to smash the sound barrier, reaching a speed of 1227 km/h (763 mph).

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In 1983 Richard Noble had broken the world land speed record with his earlier car Thrust2, which reached a speed of 1018 km/h (633 mph).

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ThrustSSC and Thrust2 are displayed at the Coventry Transport Museum in Coventry, England.

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After the record breaking ThrustSSC run the World Motor Sport Council released the following message:

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:The World Motor Sport Council homologated the new world land speed records set by the team ThrustSSC of Richard Noble, driver Andy Green, on 15 October 1997 at Black Rock Desert, Nevada (USA).

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:This is the first time in history that a land vehicle has exceeded the speed of sound. The new records are as follows:

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:*Flying mile           1227.985 km/h (763.035 mph)

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:*Flying kilometre   1223.657 km/h (760.343 mph)

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:In setting the record, the sound barrier was broken in both the north and south runs.

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:Paris, 11 November 1997.

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British: The word British has several different uses. See the article on Britain for more details on the development and use of the word Britain....

Jet: :For alternative meanings, see Jet (disambiguation)....

Richard Noble: Richard Noble, OBE (born March 6, 1946) was a holder of the land speed record, and was the project director of the ThrustSSC, which currently holds the land speed record....