Landspeed car on Travel Channel

[Aerlys]

OK, so I'm new to the forum, and already I'm bragging about my kids. Well, not really, since my son didn't really have anything to do with this.

Our oldest is part of Ed Shadle's team that is developing the North American Eagle. In case you don't know, this is a military fighter jet, sans wings, that is being turned into a jet car to break the land speed record. With luck, they will break the female land speed record this fall, with Jesse Combs as the driver. 

The Eagle is going to be featured on the Travel Channel on F'ing Fast on Tuesday, August 20, 2013 at 10:PM EST.  I'm not sure about the forum's policy on posting links, but you can see footage on the Travel Channel's website. Of course, you can always look at the NAE's website for their own videos and stuff.

I'm very excited about this exposure, since the team is all volunteer, and can use all the sponsors it can get. These guys have put a lot of their own time, money, and energy into this project, and they have been wonderful mentors to all the young people who volunteer with them. My son has learned way more working with them than he would in any classroom. I can't tell you how thrilled he was when his got his name painted on the Eagle with the rest of the team after "proving" himself.

Anyway, for those of you with cable, maybe you can take a peek. (OK, the name of the show is obnoxious... and I'm not sure how much time they will actually have on the show, in a world of 15-second sound bytes.)  I can say that the power of this thing is incredible, and if I was in the driver's seat, I'd have to bring 12 changes of underwear!

  Thanks for looking!
≈≈≈≈≈Aerlys≈≈≈≈≈

[AnnieUK]

That's great. It sounds like a wonderful opportunity for your son.

I'm in the UK, without Sky or any of those modern fripperies, but maybe if it turns up on YouTube at a later date I can take a look.

[Evie]

I miss the Travel Channel!  *sigh*  I don't even have local TV channels anymore, much less cable or satellite channels.   We just have Netflix and a DVD player at the moment.

It's OK to post links to the Forum (or at least people have been doing so for years, including myself, so I sure hope it's OK!), just make sure to keep them here in the Off Topic section unless it's a link that actually is on-topic for some other area of the board.  And just make sure the content is reasonably family-appropriate.  Not necessarily kindergarten-suitable, but just speaking for my own personal guidelines when it comes to posting anything to the Forum, if something is so violent or racy that I'd be uncomfortable with my teenagers seeing it, I can't imagine any reason I'd feel a need to post a link to it here.   

[DesertRose]

Yes, it is entirely cool to post links to the forum, so long as they are not sexually explicit or ridiculously violent or full of profanity, none of which I've seen since we started making people prove they're real people before allowing posting privileges. 

[Evie]

I'm not real.  I'm just a figment of Bynw's imagination.

[Aerlys]

Yes, it is entirely cool to post links to the forum, so long as they are not sexually explicit or ridiculously violent or full of profanity

Oh, heavens! I wouldn't do that. Besides, the only demotion left after Middens Maintenance Engineer would be Moat-Dweller Sustenance, and I'm not that strong a swimmer!

That said, the link to the North American Eagle is www.landspeed.com and there are numerous videos on YouTube. Engine test vids don't convey just how powerful those engines are! (BTW, the Eagle is anchored down for the engine test.) Not sure what they were going to show on Fing Fast tonight. We don't have cable, either, just videos...if we have time to watch!

[Aerlys]

Argh, sorry. Messed up the quote...been a while!

[DesertRose]

It's all good.

I didn't figure you would post any links of the sort that are not permitted on this board.  I'm just saying, with my weird sense of humor, that links are in fact permitted. 

[Aerlys]

I've had to be very, very careful not to say anything until officially posted on their website, but the North American Eagle has made new milestones!

(OK, I am going to use the word "official" a lot, because I need to be very clear.)

DH and DS1 were able to go down to southern Oregon the end of September/early October for the NAE team's two-week test runs. During that time, Jessi Combs piloted the Eagle to about 440 mph, earning her the title, "Fastest Woman on Four Wheels." Previously, the FIA's fastest officially-recorded land speed attained by a woman was 308.506 mph by Lee Breedlove in 1965.

Since I know I'll get in hot water with Ed Shadle if I don't say this, I must add the disclaimer that, technically, there is no specifically female land speed record according to the FIA . As far as anything official goes, the world land speed record is the fastest speed driven, regardless of the pilot's gender. So, by official FIA standard, the NAE still needs to break the current 763 mph world land speed record set on October 15, 1997 by the British. However, the fact that this bunch of ordinary men has achieved this much is something to be proud of.

I should also add that I am not a team member, and I am not privy to the FIA's standing with these numbers, and I am not claiming that the NAE team has received any official recognition so far.  As far as I know, this information is correct, but will defer to Ed Shadle and the FIA if I made any misstatement. (I need to say this, because there are always yahoos out there who like to make wild claims, and Ed has had to deal with enough of that already.)

Lots more info, videos, and tidbits can be found on their website, www.landspeed.com

A bubblegum cigar to the one who can guess which one is my kid. 

[Evie]

Really cool!  Will have to check out the videos when I'm at home.  My DH would probably be interested in seeing them too.