For Britain and the Hell of It

I don't know about the kilometre.

We'll find out from our learned friend here. Regrettably, we didn't get that, but this one suits me fine.

Richard, many, many congratulations. Was it all worth it? Oh, God, yes!

It's just beginning to sink in why did you do it in the first place?

Eh, well, I suppose for Britain

The bald facts are these: that on the Black Rock Desert of Nevada

on Tuesday, October 4th, 1983,

Rolls-Royce Avon-powered jet car,

inspired and driven by Twickenham

By making two trans-sonic runs

held by Californian Gary Gabelich

and brought the record back

who had backed the £1.5m project

But this, the third attempt, had again been plagued by problems,

climatic, mechanical and financial.

could be the last. In the end, all sponsors expect results.

by Count Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat in his electric-powered Jeantaud.

than the cycling record of the time,

but it launched the odyssey of the fastest men on Earth.

Sir Malcolm Campbell, often heard as editor of British Movietone News,

has attained this amazing velocity

The timing gear is ticking over as the car enters the measured mile.

and later his son, Donald, provided the inspiration for Richard Noble.

It is their mantle that, in a dream held since the age of six,

the world's land speed record

There's something about running for

that...to me, is unbeatable,

to describe, except that it's you

and the technology and your team

and doing something together and being a part of history.

All dreams have their beginnings and for Noble it was Thrust 1,

designed and built by himself

but by 1977 she was rolling.

Noble started again and this time, with designer John Ackroyd,

Ladies and gentlemen, good morning and welcome to Project Thrust.

Noble had harnessed the funds,

of some of Britain's top companies and the services of their best

We all need a lift at the moment. If we can do this for Britain,

Yet how naive the British had been

There had seemed endless reasons for confidence. Noble steamrollered his way through all the sceptics

who said he would not make it even

land speed record car ever built, is a truly formidable machine

It is built to full aerospace standards and, in that sense,

the second cockpit used initially

going from standstill to record speeds and back to a standstill

but, in the years since Gabelich had set his record, had deteriorated,

From the moment of its first

The salt clung to and solidified on the rims and each run meant hours of work cleaning them again.

At 250mph, centrifugal force threw the salt off the wheels

But still she weaved uneasily

But already it had become apparent that the carefully-graded track

Thrust could not run back down If she did, she would veer wildly

with the first signs of bad weather.

Was it simply too big? Too heavy?

brought it all together, but now,

of having to drive the beast mainly of his own creation,

It was a doubt aired almost shamefacedly by some of his team in quiet, foot-shuffling moments

they waited for the wind to drop

Keep rolling. Keep rolling.

Noble hit 392 miles per hour

as the fastest Briton was now his.

Well done. That means we came out of the measured mile about 450, then.

but to pack up and go home.

early December, the team resolved

Clear the area! All personnel apart from Greenham fire crew.

Bodywork, suspension, engine.

Noble had miscalculated, kept his foot down a fraction too long.

Instead of the planned 230mph,

seconds, the project had travelled

How are you? I'm all right. How's the car? A little bit bent.

the disparate team Noble had forged

After removing the engine at Greenham Common, the mangled car

at Fishbourne, Isle of Wight.

With a speed and determination which they rebuilt it in under 12 weeks.

It was at Bonneville, ready to run,

fascinations about record-breaking

is it has every kind of challenge you could imagine. The appalling financial challenge for the project,

keeping it going, keeping people paid, keeping momentum going.

To give an example of that, the amount we spend each year

That puts a tremendous strain on us all. You've got that aspect,

you've got the fun of getting the fascinating personalities

And keeping them on the job!

And then you've got the management

which is, as Ken has found, a very interesting situation.

You've got a mix here of people

and people who are doing this for the fun of it. They've given up holidays or taken unpaid leave

I believe in the olden days

you had someone like Sir Malcolm Campbell, who paid for everything and ordered everybody around

but once again pack up and start

But land speed record-breaking is not about common sense. It's about guts, determination, perseverance.

We were having a dinner in the casino, sitting opposite Ken Norris,

and as he sat down, having announced to the team that they had had it

he said, "If only there could be to Iran, we've been to South Africa.

"If only there was somewhere

I thought to myself, "What do you really need?" So I asked Ken.

miles, flat, clear of scrub and dry."

on the Black Rock Desert before so I knew it was that sort of area.

So I suggested the Black Rock.

threading northwards from Reno of wilderness and mountains.

it's the last stop off for hunters.

Not without reason does the sign on the general store proclaim that this is where the pavement ends

Just beyond here is High Rock Canyon where the last Indian massacre

There's the remains of an old cavalry fort. Mustangs live in the Calico

There's a mountain just down there where eagles nest on the top.

The whole area is full of fascinating

Well, our driver Richard says

that the ride on this kind of

shaken around a lot. That does make for quite a lot of comfort.

At long, long last we have found

120 square miles of surface that we don't have to grade,

I think it's absolutely outstanding.

Bonneville had that feeling about it.

But this place is different.

to the Federal courthouse in Reno demanding that Thrust should run.

Good morning. Good morning.

We're representatives of Gerlach and we'd like to present you with this petition we took up.

We feel that the Thrust team should have a right to try their speed

In front of the Reno TV networks, now well aware of the British

the Bureau of Land Management

Because the BLM had banned the use of marker dye, Ken Norris marked

in a manner unprecedented in records

in unerringly straight lines.

Tyre marks and a flag at each mile

Each of the 16 12-mile tracks

to find any foreign objects which might chip Thrust's wheels

or be sucked into her virtually

Even more worrying, the Black Rock Desert had been used as a bombing range by the US Government.

Every winter's rain would reveal

for just one mile. This was only

A load of rocks, each of which would

There's a rusted-up bit of Horsa

There's a bit of fodder's brick from a previous land speed record

so the Sheriff can rest easy.

With the bad shape they're in,

These are 2.75-inch rocket warheads.

But now after two poor runs

Fallon Air Base was needed.

At last, the dancing diamonds,

and the speeds climbed inexorably.

Any doubts about Noble's ability were replaced by a growing sense of shame that they had existed at all.

The tiredness that you're feeling at the moment, is it physical or mental or both? Totally mental.

a very, very high pressure minute.

'Anyone who gets into a car, drives at 650 miles an hour,

'Richard is an extraordinary man

the whole Project Thrust affair

the finance, the logistics,

and knocked them down one by one.

'If you look at it in that sense,

the last obstacle to be overcome,

'and throughout that period his public composure crack.

after the crash at Greenham.

'And, you know, a lot of his team say they still don't know Richard,

'I think the answer is that he's lived with the project for so long,

'Each one of us has a personal goal, but each one of us is riding with him

with a technical masterpiece.'

and gave Richard fresh air.

'Richard was sat there quietly

'Now, a man who's frightened

that's worth a million pounds

'and total driving experience

'..and that man's got to get in there and go at 650 miles an hour,

'the team knows he's got courage.'

waiting for the desert to dry.

It's drying over the top. Most

Well, I wouldn't have believed that you could have so many misfortunes

come in so many different forms

for so...for so long a period.

at the end of Bonneville last year,

and this was really bad luck.

"Next year, it's going to be

Finally, it dawned bright and clear.

With snow forecast just a day away,

I've got to get it all smoothed off

Brian said we're putting on two coats to go supersonic!

Even though the track was soft

peaking at 615 miles per hour.

But the average was only 590, still 40 miles per hour short.

We've got an interesting situation. We want a hotter day, a drier course and a little bit more power.

The meeting that night found the Thrust team badly divided.

"decide that we have enough thrust,

That strain... We've had 12 weeks.

Absolutely. The strain started before running at Greenham,

an unprecedented 60 feet of snow,

three times the usual amount,

the Black Rock Desert below.

should the whole project be stood down for another year?

been waiting for seemed to be open.

Deep down, he knew this could be

there was growing scepticism.

and there was no way of knowing when the weather might break.

for his perseverance in being able to put this programme together

struggling with it for a long time.

when I feel like giving up.

You get fed up with rejection

to be able to get up and say,

"I got knocked down that time,

"I can't take that left jab any more. I'll have to get back up and do it again." That's really what it takes.

by the garage on the edge of town,

the team began to groom Thrust

is happy to see the Thrust.

We're all thrilled to death

and very hopeful that you can break

Once again, the course was surveyed.

Norris proceeded with the task of checking desert firmness.

What I'm doing is pushing this in

California bearing ratio machine,

going up towards ten and increasing on resistance which is what we want.

of the desert for load-bearing

Finally, on September 17th,

of only three-quarters of a mile.

winds were gusting to 15 knots

and United States Auto Club officials stopped any further runs.

OK, Dave, the wind's still gusting...

At high speeds, a side wind of over five knots could be catastrophic.

We're going to be stuck here This is Control standing by.

'..I'll find out what it is and report back to you. Over.'

And so the Thrust team was into another boring period of waiting,

How did it feel to go through over 600 miles an hour on the loo?

She's just perfect, this machine.

So, really, you thank the machine? It is the machine. Why did you do it?

Well, it's like mountains, you know. They just happen to be there.

Have you any ambitions left?

I want to break the sound barrier.

Thrust reached a peak speed

right in the middle of a run.

Nice run. Not really, Gary. Could be a hell of a sight better than that.

Where's Dave? Where's Dave?

Dave is around. Dave? Dave?

Really? Yeah, really. I've never

I've called you all here just to tell you what's happening today.

As ever, Noble put on a calm front.

So that's why we've aborted the run today. I don't think

Faults were cured and a tie-down

Thrust was run to full power

Surely, nothing else could go wrong.

sponsors grew increasingly nervous.

Already broke, the team learned that one of the largest sponsors, Faberge, had suddenly pulled out.

in the region of £20,000 short

Suddenly, it all came right.

The other main sponsors, Initial Services, GKN, Champion, Castrol,

Plessey, Trimite and Loctite, had travelled the final mile

and were immediately labelled

for he's a jolly good fellow

Was it worth it? Yeah, every second

Did you wonder about it sometimes?

What about you, Gordy? It was great. A wonderful sight. I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

Did you think it would happen?

Can you believe it? Yeah...

Are you going to celebrate much tonight? Yes. Oh, boy, all weekend!

Much, much closer together.

Can I just ask the gentleman

we always get an enormous let-down,

whether the end is successful

because, of course, suddenly, you're dismantling everything you've worked

terrible withdrawal symptoms.

The thing is, we've done something or been involved in something which is so remote from everyday life

with enormous risks and it's going

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