The Brakes
Stopping a 1000 MPH Car
One thing that is in no doubt, is that Aussie Invader 5R is going to travel fast, very fast. By the time it exits the measured mile on a full high speed run, it should be exceeding 1000 mph! Getting to the start of the measured mile will only take 22 seconds and a 3.5 mile run up. Stopping Aussie Invader 5R will take a lot longer, about 8 miles (about 13 km) of track. You may be asking why?
If we shut the engine off at 1000 mph, the car and driver would experience negative 16g. This could cause the wheels to lose traction and slow at different speeds, possibly making the car slide. It will also be a massive problem for the driver, who would almost certainly black out, so we have to slow the car safely and in a controlled manner, using 3 braking methods, and possibly a 4th in an emergency situation.
The 4 ways to slow Aussie Invader 5R
1. The Air Brakes
The hydraulic air brakes are situated behind the driver at right at the rear of the car. They are either side of the car and started to be deployed at about 800 mph, after the engine is shut down by the driver. The air brakes take about 4 seconds to deploy fully and by the time they are fully “open”, the car will be slowing quickly.
The air brakes will experience about 7 tonnes of force at those speeds and their job is to disrupt the airflow and rapidly slow the car to 600mph so the parachutes can be deployed.
These brakes design are unique to Aussie Invader 5R as they have a series of holes on the lower fin edge of each air brake and these holes (disruptors) increase the efficiency by about 30% over conventional air brakes.
2. High & Low Speed Chutes
There are 2 parachutes which are deployed to slow our car via SDR Engineering explosive charge drogue guns. The high-speed chute is deployed at 600mph into the air stream behind our car, this chute slows and stabilizes our vehicle and rapidly and decelerates our speed to 400 mph.
At that point the low-speed chute is then deployed again by an explosive charge, slowing the car further and bring down to about 200mph.
3. High Speed Disc Brakes
At 200mph (320km/h) the high-speed disk brakes fitted to the rear wheels with 6 pot calipers are deployed and will bring the car to a complete stop.
4. Emergency Brake
This brake is a last resort and only used if one of the braking systems fails to deploy or malfunctions. This is known as our “Fred Flintstone” brake and is a hydraulic steel ram with a flat metal plate (foot) on the end of it. In an emergency or “runaway” situation, it can be lowered by the driver (or remotely) and will dig itself into the ground to stop the car.
Its primary use is to lift the front of the car for maintenance and when the car is being turned around, but can be deployed as a fail-safe measure.