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The Sonic Wind LSRV (Land Speed Research Vehicle) design is a progression and refinement of the Imagine LSRV vehicle. It is currently under construction and is 57 feet long and 9 feet wide from fin tip to fin tip. It is les than 4 feet tall at its highest point.
It is powered by an XLR-99 rocket engine originally designed and built by Reaction Motors for the famous X-15 rocket aircraft which still holds the official air speed record for aircraft at over 4,500 Miles Per Hour. This speed record was set in 1967. To this day no manned aircraft has officially flown faster than the X-15 and the XLR-99 rocket engine was known as the “Million Horse Power engine” by its creators because in theory it could generate that amount of power. XLR-99 max thrust is between 57,000 and 61,000 lbs. at sea level.
In the history of land speed record racing one finds that many of the most successful drivers and designers chose to find the most powerful aircraft engine of the day and then build an automobile around that engine. Sonic Wind LSRV follows in the footsteps of those designers. The XLR-99 rocket engine is still unmatched in performance of any aircraft to this very day and that is why it was chosen for the power plant for Sonic Wind LSRV. It will be slightly modified in that it will run Methanol alcohol as its fuel instead of the Anhydrous Ammonia it was originally designed for. There are many reasons for this but the most important is ease of refueling and elimination of the toxic fumes which are generated by Ammonia in high concentrations. Liquid Oxygen or LOX will still be used as the oxidizer.
The over all vehicle design is unique in that the fuel, oxidizer and pressureant gas vessels are stressed into the chassis design to aid in over all vehicle structural integrity and rigidity.
There are also subtle aerodynamic changes over the Imagine LSRV design. Even though the vehicle still retains the “Bell” frontal shape that diverts all the air that strikes the vehicle to the top of the vehicle. In the Sonic Wind LSRV design the body changes plan slightly as it goes over a hump in the nose area. This allows us to control shock waves in order to anchor them over the front wheels to aid in negative lift. This allows supersonic body shock waves to be used in roll control as well as the shocks that will radiate downward from the rear bi wedge tail fins.
There is still a rectangular tunnel running the length of the underside of the vehicle that allows air to be vacuumed into the plume of the rocket engine and evacuated from the underside of the car. This design still incorporates an expanding super sonic Ogive air dam under the nose of the vehicle that envelopes the front wheels and expands as necessary if a lifting moment is detected. It is powered by a pneumatic ram for quick and sure deployment. It will also be used as an air brake as it can be deployed so wide as it extends past the body sides and makes all the air on the lower part of the body turbulent increasing drag by a factor of ten.
The wheel designs are unchanged as is their placement. There are 7 - 2” wide ring shaped wheels or “ringels” in the nose and two larger diameter ringels at the rear of the vehicle making it a true three pointer vehicle. A 3 stage reefed 17 foot diameter supersonic parachutes will still be used to slow the vehicle down to where a drag type of brake will bring the vehicle to a complete stop. This is done simply by collapsing the rear suspension by relieving air pressure in the shocks and dropping the rear of the vehicle on the playa. There is a drag plate bolted to the underside of the vehicle and the friction of same will slow and stop the vehicle while giving directional stability at the same time.
Another new feature is the use of a high energy Laser firing from the nose of the vehicle which is used to aim the vehicle at the horizon. This is to aid in directional control and steering precision.
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