Sponsored Record Cars Just Miss Out

Sponsored Record Cars Just Miss Out On Friday 7th June 2006, the NSK sponsored Split Second jet car driven by Mark Newby of Primetime Engineering reached a UK record breaking speed of 339mile/h, but, due to front tyre damage sustained during the first pass, the car failed to make the crucial return run in order to secure an FIA approved record. In a double disappointment, the NSK sponsored ABB e=motion electric land speed record car also driven by Mark Newby failed to reach a targeted UK record for an electrically powered vehicle due to an 'electrical fault' that blew several batteries and prevented the car finishing the first run. Colin Fallows, Primetime's Engineering Director and driver of the second Primetime jet car Vampire that on the same day narrowly missed improving his own current UK land speed record of just over 300mile/h commented: 'Stopping Split Second before the second run was tough for Mark and for the sponsors, especially when the record was within sight'. 'We had engineered a new afterburner for Split Second and expected it to do well, now we just need another chance to complete the record attempt safely'. Newby added: 'The electric car is still theoretically capable of breaking the world record in addition to the UK one, we just need to iron out the gremlins that have caused a major disappointment on the day'. 'ABB e=motion was geared-down for the UK record at Fairford because we need a huge stopping distance for the car and space was limited, unfortunately so was the time we had allotted, as we squeezed the record attempt day in during the build-up for the RIAT Air Tattoo'. 'The good news for NSK is that the specialist bearing solution they provided worked perfectly'. NSK supplied a set of specially adapted low friction, high-load bearings for the final drive system of the electric car. The bearings provide an essential link in the innovative transmission system; supporting both the car's weight and harnessing the final drive power to the rear axle. The bearings play an important role supporting high loads at low speed during the early part of the run and then minimising rolling resistance to help ensure the final target speed is achievable. Two standard Super Precision ball bearings were chosen as the basis for the solution, the smaller contact area of the balls compared with rollers providing reduced friction and space within the cage for a nonpressurised oil lubrication system. Providing a consistent level of lubrication was essential to maintain bearing life and to dissipate heat effectively, but had to be achieved without adding the extra weight of a pump and reservoir, or the initial stiffness of more normal grease lubricated sealed type bearings. The bearings are rated for over 10,000 hours use in their normal application of a machine tool spindle, the extreme loading on the back axle meant that the bearing life would be severely reduced, but still more than adequate. To achieve this, NSK engineers reached a compromise by balancing the weight, load, frictional losses and physical size of the space available to achieve the best solution for the purpose. The current FIA world land speed record for a wheel driven electric car is still held by a team in the USA with their car White Lightning at 245mile/h set back in October 1999 at Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats. Ohio State University's competing electric land speed vehicle, the Buckeye Bullet claims to have achieved an 'international record' of 271mile/h and a 'national record' of 314mile/h, neither of which is FIA approved. FIA requires an officially timed average speed taken from two passes in opposing directions within the hour. Final words go to Malcolm Pittwood, the organiser on the day and Manager of the Primetime team: 'ABB e=motion is designed to achieve 300mile/h within its normal operating envelope and is capable of more, while still meeting FIA guidelines'. 'To achieve the final target speed, the team require a longer running space than is available in the UK and technical problems aside, which will be solved, we are still actively looking for a suitable venue for a future outright world record attempt'