Happy New Year everyone! I know I say this every year but I have a feeling 2012 is going to be quite an interesting year. Call me the eternal optimist. Well, 2011 wasn’t so bad after all. This last year we have had the Sonic Wind LSRV project featured in 4 different magazines with five major articles and there are a couple of other things in the works that I am very excited about. I will have to not say too much about these future events until they either do or don’t happen as only time will tell and I don’t want to disappoint anyone, especially myself.
This month I worked on Sonic Wind LSRV’s safety capsule which the driver (currently me) is encased in. It is based on a hardened steel, rounded end capped cylinder that will be wrapped in composite material for strength and abrasion resistance. The driver is suspended in a Kevlar web hammock that is stretched over a 4130 chrome moly steel tube frame. The capsule will be wrapped in fiberglass for added strength and it has its’ own twin supersonic parachutes to slow it to a stop. In the advent of an explosion it will be tossed from the car and deploy its own chutes. Here is a photo of the safety capsule structure under construction.
I have seen capsules designed for a couple of the other LSR cars under construction and they are rectangular in shape. I would like you guys to reconsider that because if the capsule gets tossed and a corner of that box shape catches the ground at speed it will tumble in a bouncing and erratic way. In that scenario the G forces encountered by the driver will probably be excessive to what his body can endure and administered at many different planes relative to the body. No, you want a smooth rounded cylindrical shape for your capsule. One that is more conducive to rolling and sliding as opposed to tumbling and bouncing.
I will use two small supersonic parachutes anchored to the back of our capsule that are on different length Kevlar lines so the capsule will have rear end drag pull from two different directions. This will keep the capsule from rolling and tumbling as much as it would if it were attached to only one parachute.
Many other land speed car designers who have in the past and who are currently building rocket cars have for some reason which I never understood simply placed their driver in a roll cage. I don’t believe that is a good idea because of the constant danger of explosion in using a powerful rocket and if your rocket should ever blow up, it probably won’t be pretty.
Sonic Wind in her final configuration on a full duration burn run will carry 220 gallons (1980 lbs.) of Liquid Oxygen and 230 gallons (1840lbs.) of Methanol. Considering that 1 gallon of simple automotive Gasoline in a confined area, burning in only air has the explosive power of 15 sticks of dynamite or TNT, I think you can do the math here.
This is why I build all my vehicles with the driver encased in a blast proof “safety capsule.” I used to call them “blast capsules” but sponsors shy away from terms like that for some reason. After all nowadays we do live in a politically correct (PC) world. I have always told people that if you want PC go somewhere else as all I can give you is honesty.
I am telling you now that if you are going to build a rocket car powered by a rocket engine of sufficient thrust to push a vehicle to supersonic speed, you must consider building a safety capsule for your driver. If for some reason you don’t think that is a good idea, don’t bother ever asking me to drive it!
All serious LSR design aside, I have a photo here taken by one of the crew of the “Pretty Woman” LSR car which I worked on in the early 1990s of which I was telling you about last month. This is a rear shot of the car. I am in the black Nomex race suit and I am repacking the parachute for the next run. Notice the small Lexan skirts behind the rear wheels that keep the air which has been ducted out from under the car from returning back under the rear of the car. This set up creates a low pressure area or vacuum under the “pumpkin” or rear end of the car and pulls the car onto the track at the same time stabilizing the car directionally.
Here is a photo of another neat vehicle I built in the mid 2000s with the help of John and Karen Brandes. It is an electro magneto anti gravitic interstellar space craft. It is piloted by my four year old grandson astronaut Commander Torger Stachurski. You can see him standing in the cockpit saluting me just before launch. He cut quite the spitting image in his day glow orange spacesuit and helmet, he is nine years old today. Man, they grow up so fast, don’t they?
Here is another interesting photo of me in the Summers brothers “Goldenrod” wheel driven LSR car which set the wheel driven land speed record at 409 miles per hour back in 1965. This photo is circa 1984. I took it using the timer on my 35 mm Cannon camera as I was alone at the time. After taking this photo I struggled for more than an hour trying to get out of that Chinese finger trap of a cockpit again. You can read all about my stupidity that scorching hot California summer day in Harvey Shapiro’s new book about the “Goldenrod” which will be out later in 2012. I wrote the forward for the book in which I tell that funny story.
Lastly, this is a funny photo of Mike Charlton climbing into the cockpit of “Aslan” his General Electric J-85 turbojet powered motorcycle streamliner during a speed record attempt a few years ago. I was honored to work with him and his team on the salt. I just call this photo….”Sometimes you can’t even trust your own helmet!” There is nothing I can I say to follow that……Waldo
Hi Waldo, could I be allowed to respond to your comment on box shaped safety capsules? I would like to say that I agree with you totally and that although we have published images of our driver capsule as a box, it is only meant as a visual aid to assist website viewers with an explanation of what we are aiming to acieve. Our capsule is under design stages at the moment and until we know the exact seating position of the driver (to counter g forces) we will not know how large or what shape the capsule will be. With the assistance of a leading bio mechanics Professor, we hope to be running tests on the Driver this coming year to attain her fitness and then start her on a program to bring her up to a drive ready condition. In the mean time we can make the design changes to our capsule which will constructed in accordance with her requirements. I also agree that a roll cage in totally inadequate for this mass assault on the 1000 mph target and to hear a driver say that in the event of his car rolling over at 1000 mph, and that his cage will save him shows just how different people perceive what will unfold at this speed! With the will of God and a little help from Mother nature, all trials and attempts will run smooth and without consequence, that would be nice!
Thanks Waldo,
Paul Noone
Hello Paul:
The capsule is a good idea and a rectanglular shaped one would work well also if it could be blasted up with a separate rocket system to an altitude where parachutes could lower it to the ground. Problem with that is that the car could be upside down in a fraction of a second and the capsule or ejection seat which is an idea some other LSR guys are entertaining could be blown into the running surface. I picked a cylinder shape because its’ shape will induce the least amount of dynamic forces fed into the driver as it rolls and slides across the salt. Also a Kevlar hammock like seat cannot feed loads into the driver while the Kevlar strapping also protects the back of the driver from being stabbed by cockpit intrusions entering from the back of the capsule. If there is a major explosion, more than likely there is going to be high velocity debri which are like bullets so you want to protect the driver from that also.
If I am lucky enough to finish building and campaign my car before the Silver Bullet gets built. I will share data with your team about my capsule. Currently and realistically it is an unknown until I prove it will work.
My Sonic Wind ice racer also was built with a safety capsule which is made from aluminum and wrapped with ballistic fibreglass. You can’t shoot a .45 calibre bullet through that capsule. That is the kind of strength a capsule needs to have and a sphere or a cylinder is much easier to make strong as opposed to a box or a rectangle.
Another rocket LSR car project has all the components of the car car built into the inside of a large diameter, thick wall steel pipe. The problem with that concept is that if there is a fuel explosion it will clear out that cylinder just like a giant howitzer gun barrel. If this happens the driver will probably be blown to bits. This can be rectified by putting 2 inch thick aluminum hemispherical bulkheads fore and aft of the rollcage and put ports (large diameter round holes covered over with aluminum sheet) in front and behind of the rollcage capsule to relieve explosive pressure. If the tanks should fail in an explosion the aluminum skins over the ports would blow off and relieve the pressure that would otherwise kill the driver. So there is always a way around every problem to keep the driver safer.
Honestly, you want to build your LSR car so that even an 80 year old grandmother can drive it. You don’t need the most fit person it the World behind the wheel. Build it the best you can so anyone can drive it. That is a better car. All the best and good luck to you and your team……Waldo
Hi Waldo,
the idea of a capsule is great! Safety is a must for such a sport!
I am really interested to look more into the capsule design. May I know which reference texts you used for designing the safety capsule for the driver? or any books/articles that may be useful for such a design?
Cheers,
Mike
Mike,
The idea came from me. I have been using cylinder shaped “safety capsules” on my rocket vehicles since the early 1980s. Sorry but I never wrote a book about it yet as I am still building and testing things. Maybe when I get old I will write one if that ever happens but as of now I have no plans for that yet either. But read Racecar Engineering magazine as it has the latest race tub info. Most of the stuff in books is antique info and people tend to shield their good propriotary ideas. My stuff is on this website every month and it is light years ahead of most other stuff. I don’t patent anything because I think ideas should be shared. I don’t have to patent my ideas in order prove to anyone I am smart as I already know that. I have always been the kind of kid that puts all his toys on the floor and shares. I don’t know if that makes me a fool and I am sure to alot of people that is true. But it is the only thing that makes me happy. So I will just go with that. All the best….Waldo
Apparently I missed alot while I was on ” The Big E”! It’s a good thing I did too! As I remember it, I was THE BAD INFLUENCE in your youth. This was confirmed to me every time I rode over to your folk’s house. Your mom went from English to Spanish when she started talking to your dad, while I was standing right there! ” Pablo Diablo es NOOO Bueno!”. Of course she might’ve been referring to how I always cleaned out your fridge…and broke your models… and got you arrested on that bike…and took you camping so we could get drunk… You know, maybe she had a valid point. Give a consolation hug for me. If we did just a couple of the same things now, that we did back at Fighter Town . We’d never see daylight again! I still laugh when I think of you ( a civilian) getting caught using the barrack’s shower and still getting away from the master at arms! I must’ve been on duty that day. With your long hair you kinda stood out alittle back then. Our talk today brought back some memories… Remember towing the TMU-70′s out on the ramps and topping off all the birds?The smell of AvGAS and that cold desert moon casting shadows on all the flight lines? Remeber the squadrons? let me refresh them for you. VF-1, VF-2,VF-121, VF-124, VFP-63, VF-111, VF-114, VC-7(usmc),. I know I missed some, but thats to be expected after almost 40 years. Stay young forever and everyday vertical is a good one!
“I have no idea of what he is talking about and have no recollection what so ever of being involved in such things….Your Honor!”