The fastest car in the world

Faster! Even faster! Yet! Although, it would seem, where else. Leading automobile companies of the world are fighting for the creation of a car, the name of which will be added: "This is the fastest car in the world!". Competition for the maximum speed of its four-wheeled product is also a competition for prestige. It does not matter that a man at the wheel of a super-high-speed car has not driven for a long time, but almost flies it. It does not matter that the reflexes of such a driver should be no worse than that of the pilots of modern fighters. It does not matter that the surrounding landscape with full gas merges into an indiscernible colorful strip. What are we talking about, when so much is put at stake!

Hand on heart, to the slogans appearing almost every week "The fastest car in the world is created!" Do not take it seriously. As soon as you read the text of the news - it immediately becomes clear: it is about another and not too good-quality forgery of loud advertising. Elegant, stylish contours of the new car - not yet a guarantee of super-acceleration and super-speed.

Although everything is relative. Time goes by, and the old breathtaking figures seem good-humored. In something that happened this way, it's hard to believe. As, for example, the fact that the first car from the speed of 100 km / h reached an electric car - at the very end of the XIX century! Less than forty years, and the new owner of the title "fastest car" raced along the track five times faster. Until now, no mass-produced car has approached this indicator. With great difficulty, the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport was officially able to fix 431 km / h.

It's hard to say why high-speed cars are needed on highways. They have already caught up and overtaken the jet planes that are dispersing along the runway. A little more - and the car ceases to be so, turns into ... whom? A land fighter? A land rocket?

In October 1997, the British Thrust SSC was taken to a specially created 21-kilometer track, laid in the Nevada desert of Black Rock. The fastest car in the history of mankind, equipped with two turbofan engines, looked like a polished black arrow in advertising stickers. It was not driven by a driver at all, nor even by a professional rider, but the fighter pilot of the Royal Air Force of Great Britain Andy Green. The record, set by Thrust SSC in just 30 seconds of flight, shocked the imagination: controlled ground transportation broke the sound barrier for the first time in history , reaching 1,228 km / h! Since the moment when Chuck Yeager first deduced his X-1 for 1 Mach, exactly 50 years and one day passed.

Honoredly taking his 30 seconds of fame, Thrust SSC is now a museum exhibit: he was accommodated by the Transport Museum in Coventry. Meanwhile, engineers are preparing for the first test a new fastest car and again supersonic - Bloodhound SSC. In order to achieve the projected speed of 1609 km / h, three engines were installed at once, including the Eurojet EJ200 from the Eurofighter Typhoon fighter. No less surprising is the fact that the wheel of the car again sits Andy Green - aged, but not losing a single drop of his courage. The current 2013 is indicated in the plans of the Bloodhound SSC team as the beginning of his tests. Looking forward to a new record?