Bogley

[Iceaxe]

The JCB Dieselmax car is attempting to set the Landspeed Record for a diesel powered car. Below are the team diaries, which will give you an insider view into what is involved in attempting to set a record. The English team is based locally out at the Wendover air field for Speedweek.



12 August 2006
WENDOVER AIRFIELD - UtahTime: 20:45 (US)

Temperature: 30°C

Location: Wendover, Utah

Today was a landmark day for the JCB DIESELMAX project as the streamliner was run on the Salt Flats for the first time, less than a year since the project got underway in earnest.

06.15 The day started early with the team arriving at the airfield base in the darkness and finishing the last checks before the final official technical inspection by the Bonneville organisers.

09.15 Bonneville Salt Flats: The trailer tilted and the yellow JCB race car rolled slowly on to the salt, the culmination of months of dedicated and intense work by the whole team. As the team established JCB’s pits, the diminutive JCB Groundhog set off to push DIESELMAX almost five miles to join the queue for the first run on the Flats.

Andy Green and the JCB car were officially ‘rookies’ today and so had to qualify in order to compete at record breaking speed. As the car moved into the collection area the car was surrounded by enthusiasts- a new experience for the race team.

16.06 The massive JCB Fastrac gave the car its first push on the Salt Flats and Andy Green accelerated down the Long course to acclaim from the Bonneville commentator and crowds.

In the quarter mile from the two mile board DIESELMAX averaged 159.464mph with a peak speed of 163mph. This impressive first run speed was achieved without turbo boost from the rear engine so the run was halted after 2.5 miles.

The team’s huge pride at achieving the major goal of running on the first day at Bonneville Speed Week was obvious when Project chief designer John Piper said, “ Congratulations on running at Bonneville.”

With Andy Green delighted by how the car handled and felt on the salt, the race is on to understand the reluctance of the rear turbos to boost correctly.


13 August 2006
BONNEVILLE SALT FLATS - UtahTime: 18:37 (US)

Temperature: 30°C

Location: Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah

No longer rookies the JCB joined the queue to run today soon after 08.00 but it was three hours before the car reached the head of the line of cars and its second run on the salt.

Such was the interest in the car that the marshals had to move the crowd back before it could run.

11.30 The car ran in a very similar way to yesterday with the front engine working well but the rear one failing to go on to turbo boost. After hitting 156mph Andy Green made three attempts to bring the rear engine up on to boost without success so pulled off the course after four miles.

The analysis shows the rear turbo is not getting hot enough- the air needs to be above 650C for the turbo to produce its power. The pipes on the rear turbo are longer than those on the front engine and consequently there is more air to heat up.

There was some suspicion that the low pressure fuel pump was also below par so this was changed together with the regulator. The low pressure unit pumps fuel from tank to the high pressure pump.

After completing this work at the JCB pits on the salt the car was put back in line in the hope of getting one more late run in before racing halts at 17.00. The cars moved forward but only slowly so the JCB DIESELMAX ran out of time.

The yellow streamliner is now locked up in the trailer and waiting in-line for an early run tomorrow.

It will be an earlier night for the race team!


14 August 2006
BONNEVILLE SALT FLATS - UtahTime: 20:10 (US)

Temperature: 34°C

Location: Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah

Monday morning at Bonneville Speed Week dawned with the JCB DIESELMAX being rolled out of the trailer and straight into the queue of cars raring for an early run.

Overnight the long course had been moved across a short distance to fresh salt. A one hour delay, while the safety crew dealt with a high speed accident, was a reminder of the dangers of the tremendous speeds seen at Bonneville.

11.12 Run 28 Andy Green accelerated to hit 226mph, the car’s fastest ever run, but again the rear turbo failed to provide any useful boost pressure. A quick decision to take the car back to Wendover airfield saw the streamliner, without its much admired bodywork, make eight runs in 75 minutes as the team checked the data methodically after each run then turned the car around to run again.

The aim was to prove that there was nothing fundamentally wrong with the rear engine by running it with the front engine disengaged. The moment the rear engine was having to do all the work of powering the car it immediately produced over 4 bar pressure- exactly the result the team wanted to see.

For the last two runs the front engine was re-connected and the original problem, of the rear engine not going on to turbo boost, re-appeared. For the engineers it was invaluable to have shown that the fault could be re-created.

With a solution developed the car will run at the airfield in the morning before returning to the Slat Flats with the aim of beating today’s speed.


14 August 2006
DR. TIM LEVERTON - Bonneville Salt Flats 7:36PMSunday 13th August 2006, Bonneville

Ran the car the second time on the salt. 156mph, rear engine didn't develop any boost pressure.

Damn.

Monday 14th August, Bonneville 19.36

Ran the car the third time. 226mph, rear engine didn't develop any boost pressure.

Double damn.

So what is the state of play tonight.

Firstly, it was our plan to run every day over the first four or five days of Speedweek. So far we have run on each of the first three days. Today the car completed the whole length of the long course and raised its highest achieved speed to 226mph. We have improved our startline procedure, and it was much slicker today. Andy Green completed his rookie run successfully on Saturday. Most importantly, each run has taught us an enormous amount about how the car and engines behave on the salt surface and course length they were designed for.

Viewing the in-car and external film footage of the car has shown us a lot about how the car behaves at speed. This footage enables Andy Green to review each run for us as it happened and adds further to his already superbly detailed feedback. We can look at the instrument displays as he saw them and and it gives tremendous additional insight for the engineers. The long range panning shot of the car at speed confirms that Ron Ayers aerodynamic concept around the front wheels does indeed feed the salt spray out to the sides and away from the car just as intended.

It seems that from a handling and stability viewpoint the excellent characteristics we saw in the runway testing have transferred to the salt. The chassis of the car provides a strong platform to realise the speed that the full power of the engines can promise.

The problem we have today is that on each of the three runs the car has had on the salt it has exhibited the same failure mode. This failure is that as the turbochargers on both engines start to spin up, and create the boost pressure that delivers the high power from the engines, the front engine continues up to its maximum boost pressure of 5bar but the rear engine initially builds up boost pressure then drops back to nothing.

During the RAF Wittering tests we observed that the rear engine boost pressure built up more slowly than the front. This was attributed to the high pressure turbocharger on the rear engine being installed a longer distance from the exhaust manifold than on the front engine (this is a consequence of the car body narrowing sharply from the middle to the back of the car for aerodynamic reasons) and therefore it takes longer to build up the heat energy required to spin the turbine. At RAF Wittering Andy could drive through this characteristic and the front and rear boost pressures synchronised progressively as the car went faster.

The key change between here and Wittering is that Bonneville is 4000ft. higher in altitude and has an atmospheric pressure of 800millibar (compared to 1015millibar at Wittering). Taking into account the reduction in air density due to the higher air temperature Andy Green estimates an effective altitude of 9000ft.

We believe the lower atmospheric pressure has made the marginal rear engine boost lag problem we had at Wittering into a fundamental issue of balance between the front and rear engines. The symptom is that the front engine winds up its power so much more quickly than the rear engine that it starts to drag the rear engine along - via the rear wheels - and the rear engine cannot keep up. This has the effect of reducing the load on the rear engine which prevents it from creating the energy it needs to drive its turbochargers. Once this effect has started the rear engine cannot recover and so produces virtually no power.

The team returned to Wendover Airport straight after today’s run on the salt and immediately set about a series of test runs on the runway. These began by driving the car using the rear engine only to confirm that there was no mechanical problem with the engine itself (hours of careful review of the engine run data showed no evidence of mechanical or system failure). After 6 runway runs it was proven that the rear engine could come onto full boost when loaded and functioned normally.

In 2 additional runs the car was tested with both engines again and the exact same phenomenon of zero boost on the rear engine was reproduced. This was a fantastic result because it now means we can develop the solution quickly, and prove it before we run on the salt again tomorrow. Our solution is to minimise the power build up in the front engine in first gear and make sure the rear engine comes onto full boost before changing up to second.

The Ricardo team is making the required software changes tonight and we will test the car on the runway again at first light tomorrow morning before going back to the Bonneville Speedway for our fourth run on the salt.

No-one said this was going to be easy ... and it sure ain't.

Dr. Tim Leverton
Project Director
JCB DIESELMAX


15 August 2006
Dr. TIM LEVERTON - Wendover Airfield 10:00AM (US)Six runs this morning proved the change to lean fuel the front engine in first gear only. Full boost on rear engine in first and boost on both engines in second.

Next salt run in approx. 5 hours time.

Dr. Tim Leverton
Project Director
JCB DIESELMAX


15 August 2006
ANDY GREEN - BONNEVILLE SALT FLATS 8:10PM (US)Day 4 on the Salt. This sport is so fickle – we had great hopes for today and now we’ve just got another problem! This is what land speed record breaking is all about: massive frustration followed by massive elation. Today is a frustration day.

The problem we saw yesterday was turbo boost on only the front engine. A re-map of the engine fuelling was tested on the runway at Wendover this morning, with 6 runs before 9am. Lots of success: we forced boost on the rear engine, then balanced both engines and got them working together. Great work from Matt Beasley and the engine team, now we’re all set to go to the Salt and start setting some records.

We got to the front of the queue last thing today, full of excitement – the ‘Chassis Engineering’ diesel streamliner had just done the fastest ever one way pass for a diesel vehicle, at 309 mph, and now it was our turn. After a good start, the engines felt a little sluggish, but then the rear came up on boost exactly as planned. Changing up to second, we expected the front engine to join in……any time soon…..we’re ready now….but nothing happened. I tried to force it to come up by isolating the rear engine throttle input, forcing the entire load onto the front, but that didn’t work either. Another 4 miles of bullying the front engine didn’t work, so I gave up. Bugger.

The car has now gone off to the workshop to try and develop a way of bringing the turbos up together. We have a very bright and very professional team and they will find a way, even if it takes them all night (and it probably will). More runway driving tomorrow, no doubt, but we will get to the Salt and we will get boost on both – then Chassis Engineering, watch out!

[stefan]

WOW!! what a gripping story ... interesting troubleshooting. :popcorn:

i am dying to find out the outcome. how many more days/tries do they have before it's all for naught? till friday evening?
or is friday evening, more accurately, the moment of truth?

[Iceaxe]

Actually they have until Friday morning, since Friday afternoon is reserved for the return run of record attempts. So the team is up against the clock in more ways then one.

[Iceaxe]

15 August 2006
BONNEVILLE SALT FLATS - UTAHTime: 22:10 (US)

Temperature: 29°C

Location: Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah

Following eight runs the night before at Wendover airfield, the team completed a further six runs before 09.00 this morning. The aim was to test the software change made to the engine management system to reduce the fuelling of the front engine in first gear so increasing the load to the rear engine and pushing it on to boost.

It appeared to be successful with both engines going on to boost even though it was only possible to engage second gear for a few seconds.

Based on this result we took the car on to the Salt Flats but the JCB team faced a long queue because running was delayed until 10.30 due to high cross winds.

The car moved slowly along the line from 11.30 until 17.09 when the car’s 42nd run got underway; the JCB DIESELMAX was the penultimate car to run today. In the run the rear engine went on to boost in first gear as planned, but in second gear the front engine didn’t pick up. Despite three attempts to bring the boost up, including de-clutching the rear engine, the front engine didn’t go onto boost. It had already been motored beyond the speed at which it will load up.

In simple terms the technical changes had transferred the rear boost problem on to the front engine. Top speed was 186mph.

The car was immediately taken back to airfield and in the heat of the early evening the team set to work on a mechanical change to the engine system. They faced working all night to manufacture a balance bar to connect the two boost systems. Tomorrow morning the new parts will be fitted and some electronic control system changes installed.

The JCB has completed its fourth consecutive day of running on the salt.

[Iceaxe]

For those playing along at home.... If you haven't figured it out yet..... You kind of need to follow the dates for this all to make sense because you are sometimes reading the same story from three perspectives.

For the most part you are reading "The Team Log", The project engineer (Dr. Tim Leverton) diary and driver Andy Green's diary.

[JimmyD]

You have me hooked!

I am not normally into this kind of stuff but I can't wait to hear what happens.

:popcorn:

[Iceaxe]

I'm not exactly sure what happened on the salt yesterday. I don't think the JCB Team made a run because I have heard nothing from them. It appears that only return record runs were held. (to set an LSR you must make two runs, in opposite directions. The average of the two runs is your speed.)

I do know that the "Chassis Engineering Special", who is also competing for the same LSR as the JCB team, was successful is setting a new LSR, but I'm not sure how fast it is. I was told it was 226.591 mph but that doesn't seem correct because I know their speed for the 3rd mile of the return run was 303.835 mph. Their "down" run was 309.798 mph the day before, so the record should now be 306.817 mph.....

Dang..... I'm waiting to hear, time is running out. Really you need a "down" run today that will allow you to take a shot at the record tomorrow.

:popcorn:

[Iceaxe]

16 August 2006
BONNEVILLE SALT FLATS - UTAHTime: 22:15 (US)

Temperature: 31°C

Location: Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah

After the disappointment of yesterday’s run the team worked late to make and fit a balance pipe between the two engine intake manifolds. Focusing on the importance of getting the engines up on to boost quickly, the warm-up procedure used by Ricardo in its test cells was adopted for the race car.

To load the engine Andy Green drove the car against the brakes after the push-off until the exhaust temperatures exceeded 400C, so forcing the turbos on to boost. The significance of this is that it is a reproducible procedure so can be used consistently for every run.

Six runs this morning on Wendover airfield tested a number of different start procedures to enable the optimum to be established; this procedure was then adopted for the further six runs this afternoon. In all these runs both engines come on to boost simultaneously. This is the first time since the car ran on the 22 July at RAF Wittering, that the engines have been syncronised.

Bonneville’s long course was closed this afternoon due to high cross winds, frustrating, as the team wasn’t able to confirm that the airfield results transfer to the Salt Flats. That will be left tomorrow.


16 August 2006
ANNIE BERRISFORD - Bonneville salt flats 10:12PM (US)Wednesday 16th August 2006, 10:12 Howdy Y’all! Temperature today 98 degrees F

We got a lie-in this morning – only a 6.15 am get-up!! The boys had a long night last night fabricating and fitting new bits to the car – fingers crossed – touch wood etc (not that we are at all superstitious!) we think that we may have a solution. I saw a slight smile on Matt Beasley’s face earlier at lunch today (Engine man) – so looks as though things are going good and we might be out on the salt again soon.

Mundane tasks today - organising laundry collection points – we are all very salty, sweaty and sticky and the hotel doesn’t do laundry. Colin (Fastrac driver / pusher) has sniffed us out the local Black and White Bar open 24 hours, ensuring that MGD (millers genuine draft) sales in the Wendover area remain high, but not only do they keep the crew fuelled (Col has found a new job behind the bar) but they also supply us with late night snacks as well as doing all of our laundry which is no small tasks when there are 30+ of us here!!)…….. What a service! Best of all Happy Hour runs from 2 – 4 am!

Today’s Blog feature is Ron Ayers. He is the most fantastic guy and a real hero over here; there have been many times when he seems to be in more demand than Andy! Yesterday alone he redesigned 2 cars and 1 motorbike in an impromptu aerodynamics class! The morning was spent selling the virtues of the Fastrac to farmers – I see JCB will have a new salesman soon. Somewhere in the middle of all this he managed to sign a thousand posters for all his fans and to be photographed next to the hundreds of people proud to be stood next to him.

Well news from out on the runway is we have Boost!!!! Let’s hope this wind drops (the course on the salts was closed due to high winds) because we’re due for a change of fortune.

[Iceaxe]

Couple of pictures.

[marc olivares]

i got to watch them run today
IIRC they hit a 308 speed at mile 3....?

at 300mph, you could barely hear those diesels running.
it was a creepy quiet running vehicle.

Damn speed week is fun :nod:

i'm a sucker for the old stuff though

[Iceaxe]

17 August 2006
Dr. TIM LEVERTON - Bonneville Salt Flats, 12.15 am (US)308.622mph – Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Hah!

Finally we sent the JCB DIESELMAX up the course with both the engines working together exactly as intended and the result was 308.622mph over the last mile (mile 4 to 5 on the Bonneville long course) with an exit speed of 313.584mph, and this into a headwind of around 10mph.

After the test work on Wednesday the whole team felt we had made a fundamental breakthrough in understanding how to run this car but nobody dared say it. We rushed up to the salt as soon as we had completed the second set of tests only to find that the course had been closed all afternoon due to 25mph crosswinds. In the end there were no more runs yesterday afternoon so we left the car in the line and expected to run late morning today.

John Piper and I have positioned ourselves at the end of the course to receive the car for the last 3 runs so that John could evaluate the tyres immediately the car had stopped so that was where we were around 11.30am. We witnessed a streamliner spinning at 250mph plus in the fifth mile so that it was travelling backwards along the track for a moment before going end over end and breaking up over a distance of a quarter of a mile. A sobering reminder of what can happen when it goes wrong at those sort of speeds. Thankfully the driver was okay.

The course was then closed for around an hour and a half while the course marshalls collected all the debris and checked that the course was clear. This mean’t our run was at 1.30pm instead. The JCB DIESELMAX set off and it was immediately clear that all was not well when the car was timed at 70mph in the first mile. The timing official came on the CB radio and joked for the second time this week that the Fastrac might overtake the streamliner. Ha ha. The car then limped down the whole course as Andy tried everything he could think of to get the rear engine on boost – including using virtually all the switches on the dashboard.

A biting disappointment for the whole team. In the debrief meeting we were numb – poor Matt Beasley just sitting shaking his head as to why our results from Wednesday appeared not to have transferred to the salt. Then Richard Cornwell (one of the Ricardo data bloodhounds) came in and announced that the rear engine management system thought it was in neutral and had restricted the rear engines performance. The rear driveline was in fact in gear, but the engine controller had not acknowledged the message from the gearbox controller. A simple electronics fault not seen before and easy to fix - and nothing to do with the effectiveness of the boost balance pipe change.

Suddenly it was game on again.

The car was put back in line but it would be another 3 hours before it would run again. An agonising wait for everyone in the hottest part of the day each team member following their own survival strategy looking for shade and staying hydrated.

4.52pm and the JCB DIESELMAX was on the start line. John Piper and I are at the 6.5 mile point on the course. The starting official comments on the CB radio “without wishing to offend anyone this is the prettiest car on the track”- cool. We get a big build up (again) on the AM commentators radio. The course officials down the course get a quick message from the senior steward “heads up everyone the JCB ‘liner is coming down next”. They only say that for the quickest cars and they take us just as seriously this time as for all our other runs. “She’s away” says the starter.

I’m waiting to note down the speeds on my pad. The CB crackles “JCB DIESELMAX entry speed [into the first mile] 240.792 first mile 254.733” flipping heck it must be on song. “Second mile 285.277” thank heavens for that. “Third mile 308.622 exit speed 313.584” my hand is shaking now and we can see the car travelling at over 300mph in front of us.

We watch as Andy pulls the first parachute and it is ripped off the back of the car without any braking effect at all. Andy’s running up to the 7 mile marker now (the end of the course) and pulls the second chute which holds and he runs off the end of the course and pulls safely off towards the recovery road. In the excitement I switch the car off and have to re-start it so we can drive straight over to where the JCB DIESELMAX has stopped.

Andy informs us that he has had no speed read out in his instruments and has had to calculate his speed during the run from the engine speed and gear ratio (as you do). He hit the target speed for the run of 285mph and the car felt good and was still gently accelerating so he let it continue and ran in 4th gear.

Back in the pits there are handshakes and hugs all round the team. The stress and tension that has built up through the week is gone with this moment. I’m speechless with emotion and I’m not the only one … Big smiles on everyones faces compared to the tense expressions earlier in the day.

At the start line the big crowd that we draw each time we run is whooping with delight for us – typical of the generous spirit of the Bonneville speed community. They’ve been rooting for us all week.

This is the first run we have achieved with both engines working correctly together and the 48th time the car has run since 22nd July. Up until this week the fastest single pass for a diesel powered car was 292mph by the “Chassis Engineering Special” in 2004. This week the Chassis Engineering team raised that to 309mph so that makes this afternoon’s run the second fastest diesel powered run in history.

The challenge now is to do it all over again first thing tomorrow.


17 August 2006
BONNEVILLE SALT FLATS - UTAHTime: 19:15 (US)
Temperature: 34°C
Location: Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah

16.52 Run 48 JCB DIESELMAX hits 308mph!

This is the first time we have run the car completely “hooked up” both engines working together at full boost and delivering 600bhp each.

Commenting on the great run Andy Green said,” The run went exactly as it says in the book. The car was pulling like a train and it behaved perfectly with zero wheelspin.”

The speed of the run was great for the whole team who have shown great tenacity as they have worked through the technical issues this week

The day started in nervous anticipation as it was the first run on the salt with the new launch procedure and balance bar between the turbos. When the car finally ran at l3.30 a simple software glitch resulted in the rear engine being signalled that the gearbox was in neutral so the run was wasted.

Immediately was the car was put back into line and the long day waiting in the sun got longer. But it culminated in car’s first 300mph plus run.

We will now run again first thing in the morning.

[Iceaxe]

I just heard the JCB Dieselmax team plans to stay on the salt to the end of the month in their quest to set the diesel LSR.

:popcorn:

[Iceaxe]

17 August 2006
JCB DIESELMAX EXCEEDS 300mph

JCB DIESELMAX moved a step closer to its ultimate goal and realised more of its potential as Andy Green exceeded 300 mph for the first time on the Bonneville Salt Flats today.

Running late in the afternoon, just before five o’clock, he averaged 308.252 mph through a measured mile at the legendary home of land speed record breaking.

“The run went exactly as it says in the book,” Green said.

“We had a good push start and our hard work yesterday and the previous day solved the problem of the rear engine failing to come on to boost. The car was pulling like a train and it behaved perfectly, with virtually zero wheelspin. I could feel the car moving around a little at today’s maximum speed but it remained very controllable.

“JCB DIESELMAX performed comfortably within its capacity of going well over 300 mph, and we were not flat out today. I’m happy with the run.”

The sole problem was a failure of the first braking parachute as it was deployed. “I was grateful for the exhaust brake,” Green said. “That worked perfectly, and the second ‘chute worked fine at a lower deployment speed.”

A delighted Dr Tim Leverton, Project Director said “This was a great run and very rewarding for the whole team who have worked so hard this week to break the 300mph barrier with the JCB DIESELMAX.

We are looking forward to tomorrow and exceeding 300mph again.”

[Iceaxe]

18 August 2006
JCB DIESELMAX POWERS TO BONNEVILLE SPEED RECORD

The international diesel land-speed record for diesel-powered vehicles moved a step closer today as the JCB DIESELMAX broke the Bonneville Salt Flats course record with a measured-mile speed of 317.021mph.

Having already achieved a recorded average speed over a measured mile of 308mph in the late afternoon of Thursday 17 August, the JCB DIESELMAX needed to complete a second run within 24 hours at least matching this speed in order to take the record.

Today the second run was completed successfully achieving an average speed of 325mph. The average speed of the two runs was thus recorded as 317mph, thus establishing the JCB DIESELMAX as the fastest-ever diesel over the Bonneville course.

“Entering the Bonneville record books is a wonderful way to complete JCB’s participation in Speed Week and team confidence is high as we prepare the car for the record attempt next week,” said Project Director, Dr Tim Leverton, “the team has done a wonderful job but the biggest challenge is still ahead of us.”

Having achieved the course record, the JCB DIESELMAX team will now prepare the vehicle for its official FIA record attempt. The car will now be fitted with the 750bhp JCB444-LSR “record” engines.

For the world record attempt the JCB DIESELMAX will need to complete two runs within the space of one hour from entry of the measured mile on the first run to exit on the second.

[stefan]

happy timely ending ... sweeeeet! :2thumbs:

it must be crezy drivin' at those speeds :eek1:



well, i'm sure the brits partied pretty hard last night :friday: