News Archive - November, 2001

Friday 23rd November 2001 - Very successful high speed test session

Yesterday, Thursday 22nd November, the Wind eventually reached 15 knots at RAF Waddington, so the team seized the opportunity for some more high speed testing. The new systems functioned perfectly, providing blisteringly quick acceleration!

During almost every 'run' the craft was topping 80 mph, with a top speed of 89 mph, in a wind averaging 15 kts. During the day, the highest recorded gust was 22 Knots The team now remains on standby for suitable conditions to challenge the World Record.

Waddington's Met Office, provided a glimmer of hope today, as they have predicted a potential record opportunity towards the end of this month. Unfortunately, these long range forecasts can not be relied upon, so the situation will be updated here, as the week progresses.

Wednesday 21st November 2001- Weather system Lets team down

On Sunday, 18th November, The Waddington Met Office were predicting the required crosswinds, with an average strength of 15-20 kts, gusting 30+, which would have been suitable conditions to challenge the world record once again. However, throughout the week, this strength prediction has been reducing, due to a High pressure lingering to the south of the UK.

This morning, Wednesday 21st, the forecast now stands at a rather feeble 12 Knot average wind strength, well below the required speed for a world record. Reluctantly, the team has now stepped down the status and will probably not be running tomorrow. Should the situation change, updates will be revealed here immediately.

Monday 19th November 2001- At Last, Wind Returns!

As the High pressure that has been covering England for the past week disappears, there is another favorable wind opportunity looming!

The Waddington Met Office are predicting that we will have the required north westerly winds, this Thursday, 22nd November. Unfortunately, the predicted strength of 15kts, gusting 25kts, is only just verging on the required strength, so we will not be calling for an official record opportunity. As Thursday draws nearer, we will be able to assess the strength more accurately, and adjust the status accordingly

However, we will of course be out there, putting in more valuable hours testing. The results will be posted here, in 'real time' during the event! Times of updates will be posted on Wednesday, when we will know the exact time of testing.

Wednesday 14th November, 2001 - New and improved wheel units get first test!

Following Windjet's first record challenge, the Windjet craft received a thorough service, which concentrated on the wheel units which take the majority of the loads during high speed running. On the record challenge day, the Windjet speedometer clocked 140 miles in just two hours. This is similar to the length of a Formula-1 race, although the loads Windjet experiences are more akin to a Formula-1 car cornering for an entire race! In the same way that F1 cars are stripped down and rebuilt after each race, so is Windjet.

During this time we took the opportunity to fine tune the wheel units, and thanks to Lola's technical team, we have now made significant reductions to the rolling resistance experienced by the craft.

Richard talked at length with technicians from Lola, who have supplied the uprights and bearings for the land craft. Through the practical lessons learnt by the Windjet team, combined with Lola's World leading expertise of Champ (Indy) Car technology, we have implemented a great solution that minimises rolling resistance, whilst still providing excellent traction.

The improved set up was tested on Tuesday (13-Nov-01) with excellent results.

"Even though the winds were very light, we were achieving good speeds and excellent efficiencies" commented Richard. "This will further improve our top speed when we do eventually get another record opportunity."

Wednesday 14th November, 2001 - High Pressure Dominates

The present UK weather system is being dominated by very strong high pressure. This will bring fine and stable weather to the majority of the country which, although may be very pleasant for this time of year, is particularly bad for team Windjet!

"Highs of this size usually tend to dominate the weather and hang around for some time," said the head of Waddington's Met Office, Peter Jackson. "We predict light and variable winds for the reminder of the week and probably throughout the weekend".


Tuesday 13th November, 2001 - Windjet team guests of Fat Face, the Official Windjet Clothing Partner
The Windjet team had another opportunity to relax during the busy project schedule at the Pre-Season Fat Face Party in London on November 3rd. The party was held to celebrate the success of the Ski and Snowboard Show held at London Olympia earlier that week, as well as the ongoing growth of Fat Face as a clothing company.

The Windjet team were kindly invited and it was an excellent opportunity to meet our Fat Face partners. Held in converted railway arches, the party was deemed to be a great success and was enjoyed by all the Windjet team. Many thanks to Will and all Fat Face.

Monday 12th November, 2001 - Windjet found to be too aerodynamic!

After the record challenge on Wednesday 31st October, the team has discovered that Windjet is simply too aerodynamic! During the record event, both the RAF Police and Lincolnshire Police who kindly provided timing equipment as used on the roads were measuring the speed of Windjet. Several different timing systems were used during the day - a radar gun, a laser and timing gates. During the high-speed runs, it was quickly discovered that the highly accurate laser equipment was having difficulty locking onto the craft to take a measurement.

"This is the first time I have been dissapointed that the police couldn't catch me speeding!" Said Jenkins.

Laser timing equipment rapidly measures the distance from the laser gun to the craft and repeats the measurement many times in a few seconds to obtain a fast and accurate detection of the speed. The laser beam width emitted from the gun is very narrow, allowing police officers to pick out individual cars on a busy road.

It is this factor that, when combined with the aerodynamic design of the craft, made obtaining readings difficult. The readings are generally taken when the vehicle is travelling directly towards the gun, and at over 80 mph, the design of the craft meant that the laser beam bounced off from Windjet's curved and highly reflective surfaces, preventing the narrow laser from locking on.

The older style radar speed detector proved to be a more suitable for use with the craft. Transmitting a radio frequency signal, the gun picks up the same signal after the vehicle being timed has reflected it. The area covered by the signal is much wider than that of a laser hence the aerodynamic shape of the craft does not effect the measuring equipment to the same degree as the laser.

The final device used was a timing gate. Sensors, which can detect the craft passing, are placed next to the runway. If the distance between these sensors is known, the speed of the craft can be calculated.

During the record challenge, it was the readings from the radar and timing gates that allowed us to ratify the new British Record. A higher speed of 96 mph was recorded on one of the off-board measuring devices, but this could not be verified by the other equipment and hence does not stand.

For the next challenge, Windjet will again use radar and timing gates but will add to this the measurements from an on-board differential GPS system, which is being installed over the coming week.

Saturday 10th November, 2001 - Windjet Celebrates!

The Windjet team had cause for celebration over the weekend as Richard Jenkins, Windjet's Project Director and Pilot celebrated his 25th birthday with friends in London. The event was made particularly special as a unique Windjet cake was commissioned and subsequently demolished by all at the party.

Jenkins, who is set to become one of the youngest speed record holders said of the evening, "It was great to have a break from the demanding schedule of the Project, and to share the day with friends."

There was a second reason for celebration as the revised Windjet Website which has now been running for 100 days has received a massive 400,000 hits over this time! The team are thrilled that the project has generated so much interest and are confident that this level of interest will only increase as the records begin falling, and the enhanced web site features such as live streaming are implemented.

Thursday, 8th November 2001 - Windjet held up by weather

The cold winds sweeping the country have brought 'winter to Waddington', delaying Windjet's schedule.

Although Windjet thrives in cold, dense winds, the recent heavy rain and snow has made it impossible to take advantage of the strong winds that have battered the country over recent days.

However, the Windjet team have utilised this downtime to strip the craft and re-check all systems and components after the successful British Record run last Wednesday, 31st October.

This procedure is essential after each high speed test session 1, to check wear and ensure craft and system integrity.

Fortunately, the snow has already cleared and weather permitting, Windjet will be back out on the airfield as soon as possible. The forecast for this weekend however is not so good, with a 'high' 2 centred over the UK, providing light and variable winds. The long range forecast, that looks into next week, is more hopeful and we will bring you more updates here soon.....

1) During the first of Windjet's record challenges, pilot Richard Jenkins and Windjet were on the runway for around 2 hours, loading the craft to around 70% of its load threshold and wearing out one complete set of tyres!

2) A 'High' is an area of high pressure in a weather system, often associated with fine stable weather and light winds.

Tuesday, 6th November 2001 - Verio implement dedicated Windjet web server

Verio, the worlds largest web hosting company and Windjet Technical Partner, have implemented a dedicated server to deal with all Windjet website traffic. This will enable faster downloads and enhanced features to be incorporated into the website, such as live video streaming.

"Verio have been hosting the Windjet site since the very start of the project," said Richard Jenkins, Windjet Pilot. "The provision of this dedicated server will allow us to keep our supporters better informed. It's a very exciting development."

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