Fastest "real" car

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EricPolymath
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Re: Fastest "real" car

#11 Post by EricPolymath » Tue Aug 04, 2015 10:43 am

OFFS!!!!! Here we go again! Page 6 of the September edition - apparently Donald Campbell's land speed record still stands!

Does anyone at PC check their facts?

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JPB
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Re: Fastest "real" car

#12 Post by JPB » Tue Aug 04, 2015 11:50 am

It does. Please explain why you believe that this isn't the case. Preferably with no more than one gratuitous screamer and/or upper case character per word.
J
"Home is where you park it", so the saying goes. That may yet come true.. :oops:

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Luxobarge
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Re: Fastest "real" car

#13 Post by Luxobarge » Tue Aug 04, 2015 1:26 pm

JPB wrote:It does. Please explain why you believe that this isn't the case. Preferably with no more than one gratuitous screamer and/or upper case character per word.
Explained here:

http://practicallyclassics.phpbbhosts.c ... f=7&t=6148

And I suspect he's right. I'm another one that can't stand sloppy journalism, if Eric chooses to get emotional over it then that's all right with me.
Some people are like Slinkies - they serve no useful purpose, but they still bring a smile to your face when you push them downstairs.

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TerryG
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Re: Fastest "real" car

#14 Post by TerryG » Tue Aug 04, 2015 1:34 pm

Not to be a pedant *cough* but having just checked my handy Guinness book of world records 2015, The land speed record for a wheel driven car has been held by Donald Campbell since 17th July 1964.
As it is printed in a book written by the organisation responsible for world records, I am inclined to believe it.
Guinness records website is pants but it is available on Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_speed_record
Understeer: when you hit the wall with the front of the car.
Oversteer: when you hit the wall with the back of the car.
Horsepower: how fast you hit the wall.
Torque: how far you take the wall with you.

rich.
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Re: Fastest "real" car

#15 Post by rich. » Thu Aug 06, 2015 2:04 pm

mk 3 escort van... :lol:

EricPolymath
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Re: Fastest "real" car

#16 Post by EricPolymath » Sun Aug 09, 2015 10:36 pm

TerryG wrote: As it is printed in a book written by the organisation responsible for world records, I am inclined to believe it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_speed_record
The FIA is the governing body responsible for automotive land speed records (except for motorbikes where it's the FIM). So I'll go by what they say.

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JPB
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Re: Fastest "real" car

#17 Post by JPB » Mon Aug 10, 2015 7:34 am

TerryG wrote:Not to be a pedant *cough* but having just checked my handy Guinness book of world records 2015, The land speed record for a wheel driven car has been held by Donald Campbell since 17th July 1964.
As it is printed in a book written by the organisation responsible for world records, I am inclined to believe it.
Guinness records website is pants but it is available on Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_speed_record
That makes sense, maybe because I'm a pedant too?
Rich's post is, IMHO, open to debate because, as anyone knows, it's not the Escort, it's the Astramax that was famously proved to be the fastest car in the world by VBH, on the Anglesey circuit in the early '90s. Or was it Steve Berry? I get that pair mixed up sometimes.
J
"Home is where you park it", so the saying goes. That may yet come true.. :oops:

EricPolymath
Posts: 32
Joined: Wed Oct 09, 2013 5:35 pm

Re: Fastest "real" car

#18 Post by EricPolymath » Mon Aug 10, 2015 9:57 am

TerryG wrote:Not to be a pedant *cough* but having just checked my handy Guinness book of world records 2015, The land speed record for a wheel driven car has been held by Donald Campbell since 17th July 1964.
As it is printed in a book written by the organisation responsible for world records, I am inclined to believe it.
Guinness records website is pants but it is available on Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_speed_record
I have found a copy of the 2000 edition of the Guinness Book of Records lurking on my bookshelves. I had completely forgotten about it and I must say that it seems a very dumbed-down version of the publication that I fondly remember from my youth!

Looking at the relevant page for speed records it has a bizarrely inconsistent approach in that under "Fastest Land Speed" it cites the land speed record set by Thrust SSC at 763 mph but under "Highest Speed Reached by a Rocket Car" it cites the average speed over a run in one direction achieved by the Blue Flame and under "Highest Speed Reached in a Wheel Driven Car" it cites the highest peak speed reached by Speed-o-Motive. If they are interested in the actual fastest speed achieved by each class of vehicle rather than any land speed record then at least for the sake of consistency they should state that Thrust SSC achieved a peak speed 771 mph on one of its runs?

Anyway surely the strangest inconsistency is that in 2000 they are quoting the achievements of Al Teague in Speed-o-Motive yet by 2015 they have forgotten about him!?

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