Yeah, it’s damned dangerous stuff, but so’s so much of that sort of extreme motorsport record chasing. We don’t even need daredevil billionaire type to chase this particular record. The craft that set it was a backyard job built for ten grand in the seventies. That’s less that 40 grand today. Of course, a wealthy individual or company could build a modernly engineered computer assisted safer craft too. I’d think Red Bull would be all over this.
that’s an understatement. a fatality rate of 85% is suicidal.
But now they have smarter race boat designs with cockpits/capsules that stay intact and float. Plus, I think computer aided crash/flip detection could make this substantially safer too.
Yeah, but wreck at that speed and you’re in for one. . . drastic quench!
there has been at least 10 deaths since the year 2000, out of around 60 deaths in total. they’re obviously still trying, so now i’m curious too.
You would have a better chance of surviving 5 bullets in a six shooter spinning the revolver and putting it to your head.
because it’s hard as hell. see, on land, you can use downforce to keep you planted on the ground (within reason.) you can’t do that on water. You want to go fast on the water, you pretty much need a hydroplane. Problem is, you have to deal with a delicate balance of aerodynamics and hydrodynamics. Too much downforce, you get pushed down into the water which slows you down. not enough downforce, and your boat makes a short-lived attempt to be an airplane. I’ve been a follower of Unlimited hydroplane racing for most of my life, and thankfully due to enclosed cockpits and better structural designs nobody has been killed on this series for quite some time now, people still get hurt. And these boats maybe hit 210-225 mph tops. This shit happens all of the time. Hydroplanes run their best when they’re on the razor’s edge of stability, and the faster you go, the sharper that edge gets. hell, I race radio control hydroplanes and if they’re on that razor’s edge, you blink and they’re pointing skyward.
What is the definition of a “water speed record”? The current record holder is jet powered and another would be record breaker used a rocket, so propulsion doesn’t have to be water-connected. I don’t know whether the record breakers have used rudders but I would suspect that at 450km/hr they would be using air rudders.
What exactly would be the distinctive qualitative difference between a rocket powered and no doubt highly aerodynamically critical “boat” and a sea-plane that is (just) touching the water?
did you skip over my post?
No, why? It doesn’t answer my question.