V8 supercar driver Rick Kelly will attempt to make small-scale automotive history next Wednesday, pushing to break the land-speed record for a jet-powered remote control car.
The 2006 V8 Supercar Championship winner will take to Holden’s Lang Lang proving grounds next week with his Red Bull Mojet T40, a hand-built carbonfibre 1:10 scale replica of the outright land speed king, the Thrust SSC.
Powered by two turbojet engines, the T40 kicks out a modest 40 pounds of thrust and is expected to reach speeds in excess of 150km/h during the record attempt - a scale speed of 1500km/h, or mach 1.2.
Kelly will follow the T40 in a chase car around the high-speed bowl at Lang Lang, where he will steadily accelerate it up to its maximum speed. While it’s not likely to come close to the outright R/C land speed record (which is currently held by a battery-powered wheel-driven car and stands at 216km/h), it should still be the fastest earthbound jet-powered radio controlled car - if all goes to plan, that is.
We’ll let you know how it all goes down next Wednesday. In the meantime though, check out the below vid of the full-size Thrust SSC smashing the sound barrier on its record-breaking run.
