ThrustSSC
title: "ThrustSSC" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["jet-land-speed-record-cars", "1997-in-science", "1997-in-the-united-states", "black-rock-desert", "collection-of-the-coventry-transport-museum", "1997-in-sports-in-nevada", "streamliner-cars"] topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ThrustSSC" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::data[format=table title="Infobox automobile"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| image | Thrust SSC at Coventry Transport Museum.jpg |
| caption | Thrust SSC at the Coventry Transport Museum, where it is part of the permanent collection. |
| name | Thrust SSC |
| manufacturer | SSC Programme Limited |
| predecessor | Thrust2 |
| successor | Bloodhound LSR |
| class | Land Speed Record vehicle |
| engine | two Rolls-Royce Spey turbofan:- |
| Rolls-Royce Spey 202 | |
| length | 16.5 m |
| width | 3.7 m |
| weight | 10.6 tonnes |
| designer | Richard Noble, Glynne Bowsher, Ron Ayers, Jeremy Bliss and Reece Liebenberg |
| sp | uk |
| :: |
| image = Thrust SSC at Coventry Transport Museum.jpg | caption = Thrust SSC at the Coventry Transport Museum, where it is part of the permanent collection. | name = Thrust SSC | manufacturer = SSC Programme Limited | aka = | production = | assembly = | predecessor = Thrust2 | successor = Bloodhound LSR | class = Land Speed Record vehicle | body_style = | layout = | platform = | engine = two Rolls-Royce Spey turbofan:- Rolls-Royce Spey 202 | transmission = | wheelbase = | length = 16.5 m | width = 3.7 m | height = | weight = 10.6 tonnes | related = | designer = Richard Noble, Glynne Bowsher, Ron Ayers, Jeremy Bliss and Reece Liebenberg | sp = uk
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/thrustssc.team.750pix.jpg" caption="The team with ThrustSSC"] ::
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/Thrust_SSC_Wide_shot.jpg" caption="ThrustSSC on display in the [[Coventry Transport Museum]]'s Landspeed Gallery" alt=""] ::
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ad/Side_view_of_Thrust_SSC.jpg" caption="Side view of Thrust SSC showing its branding and marks at [[Coventry Transport Museum" alt=""] ::
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/Jets_off_the_ThrustSSC_supersonic_car_-geograph.org.uk-_1431049.jpg" caption="One of the Rolls-Royce engines in the [[Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum"] ::
ThrustSSC, Thrust SSC or Thrust SuperSonic Car is a British jet car developed by Richard Noble, Glynne Bowsher, Ron Ayers, and Jeremy Bliss. Thrust SSC holds the world land speed record, set on 15 October 1997, and piloted by Andy Green, when it achieved a speed of 1228 km/h and it became the first and only land vehicle to officially break the sound barrier. It was developed in Coventry.
Alongside Thrust2, Thrust SSC was displayed in the "Spirit of Speed Gallery" of the Coventry Transport Museum in Coventry, England. As part of the Museum's redevelopment project both cars were relocated by specialist haulier to the new Biffa Award Land Speed Record Gallery which opened in 2015.
The car is 16.50 m long and 3.7 m wide and has a curb weight of 10.6 tons. It had a reported thrust of 223 kN (approximately 50,000 pounds force) at some operating conditions. Jet engines are not designed to operate at peak airspeed while still in ground effect; a proper estimate would need to take this into account.
Details
The jet was driven by Royal Air Force fighter pilot Wing Commander Andy Green in the Black Rock Desert in the US state of Nevada. It was powered by two afterburning Rolls-Royce Spey turbofan engines, as used in the British version of the F-4 Phantom II jet fighter. The twin engines developed a net thrust of 223 kN (50,000 lbf) at the measured record speed of 341 metres per second, burning around 18 litres/second (4.0 Imperial gallons/s or 4.8 US gallons/s) of fuel. This was about 4850 L/100 km.
After the record was set, the World Motor Sport Council released the following message: :The World Motor Sport Council homologated the new world land speed records set by the team ThrustSSC of Richard Noble, driver Andy Green, on 15 October 1997 at Black Rock Desert, Nevada (USA). This is the first time in history that a land vehicle has exceeded the speed of sound. The new records are as follows: :*Flying mile 1227.985 km/h :*Flying kilometre 1223.657 km/h :In setting the record, the sound barrier was broken in both the north and south runs. ::::Paris, 11 November 1997.
Legacy
In 1983 Richard Noble had broken the world land speed record with his earlier car Thrust2, which reached a speed of 1,019 km/h. The date of Andy Green's record came 50 years and one day after Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in Earth's atmosphere, with the Bell X-1 research rocket plane on 14 October 1947.
Both Thrust SSC and Thrust2 are displayed at the Coventry Transport Museum in Coventry, England. Visitors can ride a 4D motion simulator depicting a computer-generated animation of the record-breaking run from the perspective of Green.
Several teams are competing to break the record, including the Bloodhound LSR project, launched in 2008, and previously the North American Eagle Project, from 2004 until the project's abandonment after a fatal crash in 2019.
Richard Noble's Orange–Intel dispute
In June 2012, a television advertisement for the Orange San Diego mobile phone, containing an Intel processor, was broadcast on British television and featured a fast car in computer-generated imagery. Richard Noble claimed that the car was a representation of Thrust SSC and thus these companies had used his intellectual property without permission, putting the future of the Bloodhound LSR project in doubt. The Advertising Standards Authority rejected the Bloodhound team's complaint, claiming that intellectual property disputes were not in its remit. According to BBC News technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones, Intel and Orange responded that their production team had researched different styles of "superfast vehicles" and developed their own Orange-branded landspeed car, and that the advertisement and phone were not connected to Noble or Bloodhound LSR.
Notes
References
- Richard Noble: Thrust: The Remarkable Story of One Man's Quest for Speed, Hardcover: Partridge, 1998, ; Paperback: Bantam, 1999,
References
- "ThrustSSC team".
- Michelle, Walker. "Thrust SSC takes to the road".
- "The ThrustSSC Story".
- Gill, Kathy. "First supersonic flight in rocket-powered research plane".
- [https://www.transport-museum.com/visiting/biffa_award_land_speed_record_exhibition.aspx Coventry Transport Museum – Landspeed Gallery]
- [http://www.bloodhoundssc.com/news/noble-green-and-team-target-1000mph-record Noble, Green and Team Target 1,000mph Record]. Bloodhound Ssc (23 October 2008).
- "Rocket Man: Land-Speed Racer Pushes 1,000 MpH Barrier".
- [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18607081 BBC News – Orange, Intel, and a fast car furore]. BBC. (27 June 2012).
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