In the autumn of 1997, at the Black Rock Desert in Nevada USA, British RAF pilot Andy Green set a new Land Speed Record in Thrust SSC, and then promptly broke it again (setting a speed which is still unbeaten). Here are some of the key facts and figures about the record-breaking car.

Above: Thrust SSC, the Land Speed Record breaking car driven by Andy Green, on display at the Transport Museum in Coventry, UK

The Records

15 October 1997 – the date on which Andy Green and Thrust SSC set a new (and still current) World Land Speed Record, at Black Rock Desert in Nevada.

763.035 mph – the record-breaking speed averaged over the 2 runs of the measured mile (1227.986 km/h).

Did You Know?

Thrust SSC is the first Land Speed Record car to break the sound barrier, and did so on both the north and south runs.

25 September 1997 – the date Andy Green first beat the existing record, set by Thrust SSC project director Richard Noble in Thrust 2.

714.144 mph – the record breaking speed set that day (1149.303 km/h), the first record set above 700 mph.

13 years – the length of time that Richard Noble’s previous record had stood (13 years, 11 months, 21 days).

11,267,163 – the number of visits to the official Thrust SSC website in it’s peak week.

The Car

2 – the number of power units used in the car, after-burning Rolls-Royce Spey jet engines (the same as found in the British F-4 Phantom II jet fighter).

5:1 – the power to weight ratio of each of the two Rolls Royce Spey 202 jet engines (weighing 1,856 kg and outputing 20,500 lbf of thrust).

50,000 lbf – the amount of thrust generated by the car, measured in pound-force, a standardised value for acceleration (223 kN – kilonewtons).

110,000 bhp – Thrust SSC’s power output, measured in brake horsepower (82 MW – Megawatts).

Did You Know?

Thrust SSC broke the sound-barrier almost exactly 50 years (+ 1 day) after US pilot Chuck Yeager first broke the sound barrier in Earth’s atmosphere, flying the Bell X-1 research rocket plane (October 14 1947).

4 mpg – the approximate volume of fuel burned per second, measured in Imperial gallons per mile (18 litres or 4.8 US gallons).

0.5 mpg – Thrust SSC’s equivalent fuel consumption, measured in Imperial gallons per mile (5.5 L/km, or 0.4 US mpg).

4 seconds – the estimated time to accelerate from 0-100 mph (161 km/h).

16 seconds – the estimated time to go from 0-600 mph (1000 km/h).

Did You Know?

The ‘SSC’ used in the name Thrust SSC stands for ‘SuperSonic Car’.

54 ft – the length of Thrust SSC (16.5 m).

12 ft – the width of the car (3.66 m).

7 ft – the height of the car (2.14 m).

Did You Know?

Thrust SSC is the first and only Land Speed Record car to have used rear-wheel steering.

10.5 tonnes – the weight of Thrust SSC.

Above: Andy Green, Richard Noble and the Thrust SSC team pose with the car at the Black Rock Desert in Nevada. Image credit: Andrew Graves.

The Driver

30 July 1962 – the date that Andy Green was born, in in Atherstone, Warwickshire.

1998 – the year Green was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).

14 June 2009 – the date Green competed in the Elise Trophy at Snetterton, his first experience of circuit racing.