American team working towards reclaiming the world LSR... on a shoe-string budget

NYSpeed Automotive
1

the vehical is called “North American Eagle”

and yes, i said shoestring budget, its being built by a gruip of people that cant aford to just go out and write checks for w/e they want, instead they have to rely on creative engineiring and used components to get the job done, hence the use of a f-104 that was about to be melted down and turned into pop cans

An interesting fact about this project is the original F-104 aircraft was flown by Chuck Yeager who first broke the speed of sound in 1947 by reaching Mach 1.0 in the Bell X-1 jet. The tail number of the NAE F-104 is 763, which is the same F-104 flown by Chuck Yeager. What is so siginficant about this you ask? The speed of sound at sea level is 760 mph or Mach 1.0. The NAE tail number 763 signifies 763 mph or Mach 1.02. Many feel this is a very lucky sign! The goal is to achieve a supersonic speed of at least 763 mph (Mach 1.02) to break the land speed record. NAE hopes to reach 800 mph (Mach 1.05) to break the world land speed record for a jet powered car. The high speed test run will take place at Edwards AFB Test Range, and the world record speed run will be on the Black Rock dry lake bed near Gerlach, Nevada in 2006.

about the original engine:

The F-104 was built around the General Electric J79 turbojet engine, fed by side-mounted intakes with fixed inlet scoops and a conical ramp optimized for supersonic speeds. (Unlike some supersonic aircraft, the F-104 does not have variable-geometry inlets.) Its thrust-to-drag ratio was superb, allowing a maximum speed well in excess of Mach 2: the top speed of the Starfighter is limited more by the aluminum structure and the temperature limits of the engine than by thrust or drag (which gives an aerodynamic maximum speed of Mach 2.2). Later models used uprated marks of the J79, improving thrust by almost 30%.

but the above no longer realy applies, as the cars current engine has been heavily modified, and is now capable of 43000 horsepower

the car has already been tested up to 350mph, the limit of the rubber aircraft tires it was fitted with, the baller aluminium units havent been installed yet, as they cant be run on paved surfaces

http://www.sterlingci.com/client_pr.htm

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I watched these guys on TV a few weeks ago, I think it was on discovery If I remember right. :tup: to them I hope they do it.

3

Now that’s hot-rodding. :tup:

4

yell yea it is

best part is, they didnt even know it was Yeagers plane till they got the years of paint stripped off and found the original tail numbers on it

the airframe was riddled with forklift holes also, from being moved around the scrap yard numerous times

they paid $125k (i think) for the airframe, sans engine. im not sure where the first engine came from, but it was fully rebuilt by a company that rebuilds the J79’s for pushing natural gas through pipelines.

the first engine had a damaged data cable that wasnt noticed, causing the engine to dump raw fuel, overheating the blades and resulting in massive internal damage when a piece of heat sheild melted and got sucked through the engine

so the same company took on the task of rebuilding it, they used a second J79 for parts, and i beleive on that one they did a number of upgrades to increase the thrust it generates

the engine and airframe are capable of everything the team wants, the only question is if they can bring it all together and smash the old record.