In the Henry Ford museum I noticed this strange looking vehicle that was about a foot and a half tall and about 15 feet long. I wondered what this golden machine was doing in the museum. I read the description next to the car to learn that this car, known as the, “Goldenrod” held the land speed record from 1965-1991. This got me wondering what the land speed record is today.
In 1991 the “Spirit of ’76” just barely edged out the “Goldenrod” with a blazing speed of 409.99 mph. The Goldenrod previously held the record at 409.28mph. That record was broken in 2008 by the “411 Streamliner” with a speed of 415.9mph. However that car was supercharged, therefore putting it in a different class.
However, the fastest land speed ever achieved (in a different class) was accomplished in 1997 with a speed of 763mph. Andy Green with his Bloodhound SSC will look to break this record with a goal of reaching at least 1,000 mph. The UK designed car will be tested in South Africa within the next two years. Other than his goal of breaking the land speed record, Andy Green hopes to influence children to look for jobs that entail science and engineering.
http://www.euronews.com/2014/04/30/on-the-fast-track-to-a-land-speed-record/
http://www.hotrod.com/featuredvehicles/hrdp_0505_summers_brothers_goldenrod/
I remember when I saw this I started to think about what the cut off for a “car” really is. Although it is very impressive engineering, the goldenrod does not really offer any benefit to us as consumers. I would even argue that it fits into a market with things more like jets and rockets than personal automobiles.
Though there may not be much of a place in the consumer markets for something like the “goldenrod” or the Bloodhound SSC, I think these machines may play an important role in advertising and marketing science to young children. This type of technology and accomplishment may not sway anyone in their teen years, but perhaps some the young kids sitting in their rooms play fighting will catch a glimpse of a car going a thousand miles per hour and be steered towards science and engineering.