Rick Kelly To Attempt New Land Speed Record - With Jet-Powered R/C Car

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May 15, 2009
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V8 supercar driver Rick Kelly will attempt to make small-scale automotive history next Wednesday, pushing to break the land-speed record for a jet-powered remote control car.

The 2006 V8 Supercar Championship winner will take to Holden's Lang Lang proving grounds next week with his Red Bull Mojet T40, a hand-built carbonfibre 1:10 scale replica of the outright land speed king, the Thrust SSC.

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Powered by two turbojet engines, the T40 kicks out a modest 40 pounds of thrust and is expected to reach speeds in excess of 150km/h during the record attempt - a scale speed of 1500km/h, or mach 1.2.

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Kelly will follow the T40 in a chase car around the high-speed bowl at Lang Lang, where he will steadily accelerate it up to its maximum speed. While it's not likely to come close to the outright R/C land speed record (which is currently held by a battery-powered wheel-driven car and stands at 216km/h), it should still be the fastest earthbound jet-powered radio controlled car - if all goes to plan, that is.

We'll let you know how it all goes down next Wednesday. In the meantime though, check out the below vid of the full-size Thrust SSC smashing the sound barrier on its record-breaking run.


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Comments

  • Phil C. [reply]
    1 year ago 0 points
    That is a cool project! Good Luck!

    Mind you I was thinking it would need to go something like 300kmh.
  • Jamie [reply]
    1 year ago 0 points
    It'll be the fastest thing he's driven all year.
  • Dave [reply]
    1 year ago 0 points
    Considering the Reynolds number difference between the big SSC and the little one, I wonder if using the same shape was the best idea. For the optimum stability, I'd increase the tail area by about 20%. Nonetheless, I hope it goes like stink on a skunk. Good luck.
  • Bavarian Missile (.)(.) [reply]
    1 year ago 0 points
    quote "It’ll be the fastest thing he’s driven all year."

    hahaha.................
  • brian schroder [reply]
    1 year ago 0 points
    The king of bad sportsmanship and the sook of v8 racing has finally found a toy he can win with!

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