Australian Rosco McGlashan has set himself the target of doing more than 1600 km/h in a rocket-powered car called Aussie Invader 5R. The rocket is capable of producing 62,000 pounds of thrust and the “car” sits on solid aluminium wheels, each weighing 100 kilograms.
This concept is similar to that of previous Land Speed Record (LSR) holder Art Arfons, with his rocket-powered Green Monster.
McGlashan is also racing the current LSR holder Andy Green with his Bloodhound SSC (Super Sonic Car). The British team set the record of 1227 km/h in 1997 at Black Rock Desert in the US. Now they believe they can hit 1,600 km/h as well.
Aussie Invader looking for LSR.
In 1996 McGlashan unofficially broke the record in Aussie Invader 3, hitting 1034 km/h on South Australia’s Lake Gairdner. However, a record run must be set in two directions within an hour, and the second run was ruined by weather, so the speed remains ‘unofficial’.
According to McGlashan, “We’ve got the best people in the world working to get us to the start line and then across the finish line first. It’s a fierce but friendly competition between our British rivals, Bloodhound, but we’re well progressed with our build and will be firing up our rocket next year.” Unfortunately, the British team have already fired up their rocket.
Despite the past two records being set at the Black Rock Desert, McGlashan’s team is scouting around the world for a suitable location, including Birdsville in Queensland and the Kimberly region in Western Australia.
