The next time Craig Breedloveencounters Ed Shadle, I’m betting hedoesn’t walk away, but approaches Shadlewith an outstretched, congratulatory hand.
Back in 1997, when Nevada’s Black Rockwas all about setting the world land speedrecord Shadle introduced himself toBreedlove mentioning his world landspeed project.
According to Shadle, Breedlovereplied, “Never heard of you,” then turnedaround and walked off. Shadle shrugged itoff and enjoyed the rest of his time watch-ing the Brits propel the world mark pastMach One.
The following year he and partnerKeith Zanghi simultaneously hit upon theidea of using a clipped wing fighter jet astheir land locked record machine to con-front ThrustSSC’s 763 mph, 1.02 Machmark. NAE’s goal is 800 MPH, or Mach1.05! I spent a couple days with the teamwhile they were performing low-speed testruns with the North American Eagle jeton southern California’s El Mirage drylake, home of the SCTA annual pointschase since 1937.
When you want something badenough, the lack of money merely inducesastonishing creativity. A few “gender ben-der” challenges are expected when youtake a military fighter capable of Mach 2.3(1,600MPH) and make a racecar out of it.Starting life as a Lockheed F104 Starfight-er, Zanghi and Shadle, who didn’t havecubic cash for engineering development,figured if you started with a proven Machmasher the job would go easier.
As if ANY world record attemptcould EVER be deemed “easy,” but let’snot forget how many servicemen camehome from WWII with crazy dreams ofusing drop tanks for race car bodies.Today, the belly tank lakester is a venera-ble icon of the sport.
During the refurb, they found theplane’s original tailfin designation wasFG-763 giving their “junker jet” immedi-ate pedigree status. A squadron oflegendary test pilots had flown this bird,including Scott Crossfield, Joe Engle, PeteKnight, Bill Dana and an upstart namedYeager. Eerily the current world recordstands at 763MPH. When Andy Greennailed that speed average, he did so 50years to the day that Yeager flew superson-ic. Make of that what you will.
This outing found the team testingparachutes and steering, as well as givingteam members a chance to develop anoperational work flow. Everyone main-tained a good attitude even through thefreak rainstorm that dumped an inch ofrain in 20 minutes turning the lakebedinto a gooey mud hole with the consisten-cy of wheel grease. Filthy and wet, theystayed positive and made a party out of the
problem – including the ninnies whostayed dry in the trailer!
A tip of the brim goes to crew chief“Big” Bill Eckberg who, despite a painfulfoot injury, traveled down for the testsdirecting operations from the trailer withhis foot up on ice. That’s the kind of guyyou want on your side in a fight. TheEagle is in good hands with Al VonHollen’s jet engine smarts. Team memberBernard McVay, who is a welding and fab-rication pro, is a strong link, as is Ed’s sonCameron Shadle, who looked after dad aswell as the car.
My only criticism is that the teammust learn to take better care of them-selves and their driver. When Shadle wasstrapped in performing a static test, thereshould have been a shade umbrella overhim as the cockpit is slow-cooking crock-pot — lid up or down. Also, the crewchose to sort out a minor problem on theplaya rather than tow back to the pit, plusthey neglected to erect temporary shadefor the working crew. Hey boys, dump themacho mindset, conserve your energy andfocusing ability, you’ll need every erg.Contact the NAE if you want to be theofficial “shade sponsor” and donate theabove items: www.landspeed.com
THE GO AND THE WHOA
The NAE’s J79 produces a staggeringamount of energy per square foot and ismore than capable of propelling Shadlepast Green’s record. It is also powerfulenough to ingest an adult standing within28 feet of its inlet ducts instantly creatinghuman tartar. Power that demands respect24/7/365.
For instance, team members knowthey can’t have any loose items in theirpockets when the bird is running becausethe induction force will suck whatever
they forget to stash right into the inletsthrough the compressor, combustionchamber and past the turbine bladesdestroying the engine in seconds.
The motorsports mascots of ingenu-ity, land speed racers rarely have moneyfor wind tunnel testing, so the NAE teamwill be checking out every component andsystem under real world conditions – aka“seat of the pants” evaluations.
Some things have great reliability,like Ed Drumheller’s parachute systemdesign that mimics those used on Apollo,Gemini and Mercury space missions. Oth-er tasks are daunting. More than 30 yearshad elapsed since the frame had been fit-ted with an engine. And let’s not forget
about tires.NAE wheels will spin past 8,000
RPM as Ed throttles up to glory. Thesevery special go-fast disks require precisionmachining within 1/4 the thickness of ahuman strand of hair. Because the teensymetal molecules pull apart as the wheelspins, its diameter grows. Aluminum, evenforged, stretches, so it is critical that theyield strength be greater than the maxstretch.
Taking on that task is Canadian SteveGreen, owner of Eagle Machine inAbbotsford, British Columbia(www.eaglemachine.ca). Green is also aMotorcycle Technical Inspector for theSouthern California Timing Association(SCTA) and Bonneville 200MPH Clubmember. Involved since 1995, he has beenresponsible for numerous components onthe car.
“We’ll need 34-inch high strengthforged aluminum wheels and highstrength means more notch sensitivity,”revealed Green,” We are working withrotating mass engineers who understandthe need to avoid cracks at all cost. Ithought a thin titanium tire would miti-gate crack propagation. Titanium is notonly very hard and tough, but very light— about 10 times less notch sensitive thanaluminum.”
The engineers agreed. Oncemachined, the wheels will be cooled withnitrogen to induce shrinkage and then atitanium ring will be dropped on – thesame method used to make wagon wheelsmore than a century ago. “The titaniumtire will also give us additional hoopstrength, ” Green concluded.
The problem is getting the forgings.Green can machine the wheels and evenmake the forging dies at his shop in Cana-da, but NAE needs a foundry to helpsqueeze the 6al4v (64) material into shape.Easy stuff if you have cash. Anybody upfor squeezing a couple chunks of “64” forNAE?
If it were not for the help of theCanadians, the NAE project certainlywould not have gotten as far along as ithas. I salute the efforts of our northernneighbors for their resolute dedication tothe project, but I am at the same timedejected by the lack of help from theUSA. This nation has the brains, ability,and more than enough financial potential.Why then does it ignore the pinnacle ofmotorsports?
“Americans don’t care about the
world land speed record,” flatly statedSteve Garcia, a quality control engineer,life-long racer and exceptional modelbuilder, “They don’t care about theincredible science problems you have to
The Eagle That Would Be King
14 � September.2006
solve, they just want to be entertained bymindless motorsports. That’s whyNASCAR is so popular — but to me it’sjust the world wrestling federation onwheels.”
Garcia, who mainlines Cheez-Whizright out of the can, has an uncanny abilityto quickly hone in on perspective. Couldthis be why NAE has been struggling toobtain their goals in the land of supposedplenty? If the NAE was benefit of a frac-tion of what corporate America pours intoother race car teams, the world recordmight ALREADY have changed hands.
From what I saw out on El Mirage,the NAE project earned my respect, and isto be congratulated for getting this faralong on its own, and deserves to catch abreak. They possess not only the ability,but the all-important tenacity to get thejob done.
For an old jet head like me, hearing aJ79 spool up is melodious music, JerryLamb’s magnetic brakes got a “gollywow!” out of me. No pistons, no calipers,no overheating. Steve Green first createda solid model of Lamb’s concept followedby a three-month development period tofabricate a working prototype for the rearwheels.
Prepare to be dazzled. The magneticbrakes are non-friction. Inboard of eachrear wheel, mounted in stainless steelbrackets is special magnetized bar of rareearth Neodymium Iron Boron Magnets.Each magnet exerts a force that can lift a650 lb block of steel and there are 29magnets per disk.
When Shadle depresses the brakepedal these magnets will be moved closeto, but will not touch, an aluminum rotormounted on the inside of the wheel hub.As the magnets approach the rotor, eddycurrents are created, a magnetic resistanceflux that exerts a braking force on thespinning aluminum rotor by quickly turn-ing kinetic energy into heat. The closerthe two plates come together, the strongerthe braking force. Tests show the heatbuild is less than 300 F.
“We are very, very happy and can’tbelieve how simple it is,” Green enthused,“The system reacts in microseconds — asfast as electricity. The beauty of this sys-tem are the self-regulating forces, as thewheel slows down, the magnetic attractiondissipates so there is no chance for human
www.good-guys.com � 15
error.” Check out Lamb’s concept foryourself : www.magna-force.com.
Shadle and Zanghi have bankrolledmost of the financial burden themselves.Green and others like him, have con-tributed passionately with time and talenton a variety of levels. Nevertheless, NAE isfar short of what’s required to mount a vig-orous record challenge despitedemonstrating an incredible return on allinvestments thus far. I’m hoping they canstay the course, but how much patienceand perseverance can be expected?
“If there is enough disillusionment,”Shadle frankly admitted, “It can get to you.Ken and I support each other in times likethat. Then we have team member support.We have such incredible skill levels on thisteam. Hanging around with any of them
for a day it like attending a technical semi-nar where you’ll learn a lot if you justshut-up and listen.”Shadle and Zanghi are resilient guys with
a big dream – just like most land speed rac-ers – ordinary people poised to doextraordinary things. If they were to catcha break, acquire some hard cash sponsor-ship, the show ought to be exceptional.Until then, says Shadle, with his race faceon, “We’ll just keep working at it.”
Note: Photojournalist Louise Ann Noeth isthe authoress of the award-winning book,“Bonneville: The Fastest Place on Earth,” acomplete historical review of the first 50 yearsof land speed racing now in its 6th printing.For more details and to order, go to: www.land-speedproductions.biz.
P.O. Box 411-1299 M-75 South Boyne City, Michigan 49712
TraditionalClassic WhiteVintageAll American
There’s A Classic To Please Every Taste
5 YearWarranty!
5 YearWarranty!
Even If WeHave To
Create One JustTo Please You
Call Your Dealer For Our
Complete Line OfGauges As Well
As Custom Design Services.SilverHot RodWhite HotG/Stock
CLASSICINSTRUMENTSCLASSIC
800.937.3403 www.classicinstruments.com
