old377guy
Charter Member
very well said
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World Water Speed Record
- Thread starter Pete B
- Start date
very well said
) frameable.....
Ratickle
Founding Member / Super Moderator
I was reading about some of the other undertakings of man, and the comments difference between positive and negative with the same message.
Negative, if you attempt this you are likely to fail.
Positive, if you try this during your attempt, you have a better chance of success.
Is that the simplest version?
Negative, if you attempt this you are likely to fail.
Positive, if you try this during your attempt, you have a better chance of success.
Is that the simplest version?
We've been attracted to water records for a long time. First it was the gasoline engine powered radio controlled model boat record. We were the first to set a record of over 100 mph in 2003 and our record of 109+ mph set in 2004 still stands. Next it was the full size electric power record. We felt that was the only technically interesting record that was low enough no one would die in the attempt. We set the APBA and UIM records in 2008. Even though we wanted them over 100 mph the 98+ mph speed was almost twice the previous world record. The propeller driven record would also be interesting. Dan Ellison, a former model boat designer, has built drag boats that easily exceed the current record. A turbine would be more reliable for sustained (if you can call the time to go a kilometer twice sustained) power. Devils Lake might be a little small as well, even for a drag boat. All the pieces are there, it only takes money and lots of dedication.
Lohring Miller
Lohring Miller
Ratickle
Founding Member / Super Moderator
There are two or three other record attempts in the works currently. One, Nigel Macknight, inspired by Britain's guts-and-glory past, hopes to reclaim the record with Quicksilver. I've really enjoyed some of Warby's comments about the attempts to be coming up. This one is an example.
Quicksilver will have no active aerodynamic controls. "In my book, if it has aerodynamic controls, it's an airplane skimming along the water, not a boat," is what Macknight says. "Where do you draw the line?" Quicksilver will have four hydraulically activated planing surfaces attached to load cells via a computer that will measure the weight of the machine on the water, changing the position of the planing surfaces to adjust the boat's pitch.
In addition, the flight-control surfaces will be moving dozens of times a second. Macknight believes the planing surfaces can't move fast enough. "Water is just too variable," he says. "Waves, ripples, spray, the boat's overpressure - it's like a nonlinear cobblestone road that is changing so quickly you'd always be several cycles behind, so our planing surfaces will move just 10 to 15 times during a run."
A host of sensors - 86 on Quicksilver - are key to success. These indicators will measure the crafts' parameters during every run and feed data to laptops on shore. "We'll take the boat to a target speed and look at the loads, and if everything is OK and it's behaving like it's supposed to, we can bump the speed up 10 knots," says Dixon Smith. That way, if something starts to go wrong, they can stop.
Ken Warby; "They better have some awful smart people programming those computers," he says. "When you look down that lake, you better have all your homework done, because your chances are 50-50 - and you better be in the right 50 percent. And you better be doing it for the right reasons. If I blow through the trap at 400 and nobody even knows about it, that's OK," he says. "I do it for myself, because I know I've built a better mousetrap."
Wicks; "What Warby did was amazing, but the era of brute force and guts is over."
Quicksilver will have no active aerodynamic controls. "In my book, if it has aerodynamic controls, it's an airplane skimming along the water, not a boat," is what Macknight says. "Where do you draw the line?" Quicksilver will have four hydraulically activated planing surfaces attached to load cells via a computer that will measure the weight of the machine on the water, changing the position of the planing surfaces to adjust the boat's pitch.
In addition, the flight-control surfaces will be moving dozens of times a second. Macknight believes the planing surfaces can't move fast enough. "Water is just too variable," he says. "Waves, ripples, spray, the boat's overpressure - it's like a nonlinear cobblestone road that is changing so quickly you'd always be several cycles behind, so our planing surfaces will move just 10 to 15 times during a run."
A host of sensors - 86 on Quicksilver - are key to success. These indicators will measure the crafts' parameters during every run and feed data to laptops on shore. "We'll take the boat to a target speed and look at the loads, and if everything is OK and it's behaving like it's supposed to, we can bump the speed up 10 knots," says Dixon Smith. That way, if something starts to go wrong, they can stop.
Ken Warby; "They better have some awful smart people programming those computers," he says. "When you look down that lake, you better have all your homework done, because your chances are 50-50 - and you better be in the right 50 percent. And you better be doing it for the right reasons. If I blow through the trap at 400 and nobody even knows about it, that's OK," he says. "I do it for myself, because I know I've built a better mousetrap."
Wicks; "What Warby did was amazing, but the era of brute force and guts is over."
Ratickle
Founding Member / Super Moderator
Sounds like something Warby would say....
SteveDavid
Icon / Competitor
This was Ken Dryden driving the Elam sponsored Unlimited in Seattle. This happened during testing the morning prior to the race. The boat did not blow over, but rose in the air, stalled and came back hard and flat on the front center sponson. When the boat landed the center sponson snapped where his legs were and Ken suffered severe breakage of both legs. Today he's fine, went on to crew chief the PICO Unlimited when it won a number of races under Fred Lelands ownership.
Ratickle
Founding Member / Super Moderator
That was definitely a hard hit.
Ken Dryden takes the U-4 Miss Elam Plus out for a qualifying attempt at the 1994 Texaco Cup at Seafair. While doing about 130 down the starightaway. Elam lifted and launched way up their before slamming down into Lk. Washington. The boat was a radical 4 point hull built by Glen Davis in 1989. It ran T-53 Lycoming turbine motor. Ken Dryden was seriously hurt after this incident and is fortunate to be alive.
A couple of different angles from back then.
T2x
Icon/Charter Member
That is a very unusual "near" flip.....It looks like the air pressure on the back half of the hull and underside of the stabilizer wing reversed the rotation in mid air...... interesting....but still very dangerous. Once you reach critical attack angle (varies based on speed and hull design) the situation has already been taken out of your hands. At record speeds with the huge thrust and acceleration, you will rarely be able to "drive" out of trouble, so your only hope is your safety capsule. If Daniel is truly considering that size window canopy and field of vision (as shown in his mock up photo), I am very concerned that he has compromised the structural integrity of his cockpit completely. If it were me, I would use a very small eye slit made of polycarbonate with at least the strength and thickness of the surrounding coccoon ( think egg shaped 3"+ thick carbon fiber "bulb" with chrome moly tube internal skeleton) and install video screens for side and aft vision.....
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