Break The Record
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- čas přidán 12. 09. 2024
- In 1970, The Blue Flame became the world land speed record holder. It was the last American team to set the world land speed record, and the last on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. The car was designed and built by Reaction Dynamics, Inc. (Pete Farnsworth and Dick Keller) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and driven by Gary Gabelich of Long Beach, California. It had a rocket motor using liquefied natural gas (LNG) and hydrogen peroxide as the fuel. The world record set was 630.388 mile per hour in the kilometer, also the first automobile record over 1,000 kilometers per hour - at 1,014.656 kilometers per hour. That record was finally broken in 1997. Watch the CZcams video "Speedquest" to see the whole story.
This is great. I love the late 60s/early '70s photography, narration and the Proto-Avant- Jazz-Rock incidental music used in the background.
How cool is that?
I had just turned eleven when The Blue Flame broke and set the Land Speed Record at Bonneville.
Gary Gabelich became my hero for that year and my friends and I went as far as building our own "Blue Flame" racer and ran on our street, which was on a pretty steep hill. We were never beaten and it ended with a spectacular crash!
I'm pretty sure we still hold the Land Speed Record (for modified wagons) in Orchard Park NY 1971.
Gary and I shared the same habit of drawing rocket cars and dreaming about the future.
Congratulations to him and the entire Blue Flame crew and designers!
Yes, the imagination of youth fuels the world of adults. I raced little balsa wood models using CO2 cartridges for "rocket power" back then. Take a look at my book, SPEEDQUEST, for the whole story and all the participants.
With modern computer CAD and engineering software, we could have been dangerous. However, slide rules and pencil drawings sufficed in 1970. Check out my home movie, The Blue Flame-Speedquest, for a narrative of the project. Also, notice the luxurious infrastructure - none - we had to work in.
If this really is Dick Keller who posted this, then you have my greatest respect sir, from a massive fan of LSR racing and a proud Britn who hopes 1000mph might be broken soon. But you designed the most beautiful car in my eyes!
chunder27 Thank you very much for your kind words. British John Cobb was a hero of mine for years in his beautiful Reid Railton designed streamliner. I had a newsreel film of his water speed record crash that piqued my interest as a young hot-rodder in the early 1950s. Check out "The Blue Flame - Speedquest" for my narrated personal film of the whole project.
Dick Keller Dick, thanks so much for your reply. Is amazing to think how long your record stood for. And that Sir Richard only just broke it! The Railton is a beauty, as is Goldenrod, a car I was lucky enough to see in the UK with Mr Summers who I had a lovely chat to. I have watched both clips and have the book you feature in heavily, a great read. I saw a clip of Richard the other day climbing out of Thrust 2 and saying in his typical style, "we should get the bloody thing out of the museum and run it again!" Let us know if the Flame is ever coming over here again, be great to see it again, I saw it once at Goodwood. One of my bucket list things is to go to Speedweek at Bonneville. Thanks again for inspiring those is us who were kids back then!
Mr. Keller-your video was absolutely awesome to watch-and you did an outstanding job bringing this great accomplishment back to life again : ) thank you
Dick - I came across this video and have to tell you how it took me back to my childhood. I had a poster of the 622.407 on my door as a kid...you're asking why? My uncle was crew member Mark N. When he passed, I got all these things of his from back then. Tons of BF stuff including a pic of the crew leaning on the car at Bonneville with everyone signing it. I sent this to my mom just today...Mark's only sister. She will love seeing him in the footage. Thanks a lot for this!
Mark was a valued team member, working on the car for a year in our shop in Milwaukee before we went out to Utah. I posted another video from film that I shot from the beginning of the project. Check out Speedquest - The Blue flame.
Hey Matt, I'm sorry to hear that Mark is gone, he and my Dad, Dix Erickson were real good buddies.
Mark would come over for cook-outs and beer drinking back in Milwaukee. I had that same poster and tee-shirts with that same picture.
Anyway, Neubauer is famous forever in these awesome videos, and with the internet that really means forever.
Later Man
I love these Speed records, they are so important as they show what really is capable and that it's only the human imagination holding us back. I work in the Industrial Plastics industry and we are helping with the Bloodhound guys. The mock car is incredible but to compare these older cars is unfair as we now have vast computer centres running all manner of aero data whereas when you were running cars like Blue Flame it was borderline man in shed stuff which makes it so much more incredible.
To me the land speed records are almost a moot point now. The engineering is all done in advance with supercomputers and essentially the success is guaranteed barring some manufacturing defect or environmental anomaly. That said, I think the 1000 mph goal seems insane given the infinitesimal margin for error at that speed. I'll believe it when I see it, and I hope they don't go the way Jessi Combs did.
I was 12 years old then and I vividly remember watching the coverage of this on television when it happened. Of course it has been broken since then, but for it's time it was amazing. It's funny how after all these years I still remember the names "The Blue Flame" and "Gary Gabelich".
Glad to hear we made an impression on a young man. Check out my other videos Speedquest - The Blue Flame for more of the story.
@@630lsr -- You guys sure did make an impression on me. I was sad to learn today that Gary Gabelich died in 1984. I did not know about it when he died. He was only 43 years old. I do have your other video "Speedquest: The Blue Flame" bookmarked to watch later. Thanks for uploading these videos!
You just cant say British can you
Thanks for posting this. When I was a young boy in Long Beach, CA, Gary let me sit in his dragster in his driveway. I will always remember him for that. I followed his career after he moved away and had the blue flame poster in my room growing up.
The 'soundtrack' is awesome.
+EgyptianMinor Check out the narrated version - The Blue Flame - Speedquest - to learn more about what we did in 1970.
Tarantino would love it too!
it's from "the sweeney" a british cop show!
@broomsterm Actually, the film crew had left the week before we set the absolute world land speed record - at 630.388mph in the kilometer - while we were waiting for a shipment of hydrogen peroxide. Weather was getting bad, too, which cancelled some days before the record run. While we may have been able to even go a little faster, it snowed the next day and the season for LSR was over.
Glad you like the film. There is another video with narration - The Blue Flame-Speedquest - which explains the project better than the music only Speedquest.
I remember watching this very video as a child. It sparked a life-long fascination with the cars and men who could set new land speed records. It was good to be able to see it again.
I am glad you enjoyed my film. You will like the book - SPEEDQUEST - Inside The Blue Flame - even more.
OH THE GREAT MUSIC !!!! I HAVE NOT SEEN THIS FILM SINCE 1972, BUT I STILL REMEMBER THE GREAT BACKGROUND MUSIC WHICH MANY OF MY FAVORITE SONGS FROM AMERICAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE AND NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE HIGHLIGHTS OF THE LATE 1960'S . THEY WERE THE BEST !!
There was a feature story in the November 9, 1970 issue of Sports Illustrated on page 50. There was no cover on SI. In the November 16 issue, Goodyear had a large ad with a photo of The Blue Flame - and airbrushed out Gary Gabelich's name on the side of the car.
All through my childhood you could ask, "What's the fastest car in the world?" to any kid in my school. The answer was a quick, "The Blue Flame!" Now, I couldn't even tell you what the name of that car is. My answer would be, "I don't know, some British dude!" We need to get it back!
Glad you enjoyed the gas industry's film. Too bad in their rush to release it they ignored the kilometer speed record - the REAL absolute world land speed record. Check out my film "The Blue Flame - Speedquest" for the full story. As it turned out it took the Brits 27 years to finally take our kilometer record of 630.388 mi/h.
We had planned to go back the following year and try for a supersonic record - but lost ownership of the car to the natural gas sponsors who didn't want to risk it.
Man this takes me back. I made a model of this badass thing. Thrust went faster but these guys had a WAAAAAAY higher 'cool factor'.
Check out my book, SPEEDQUEST - Inside The Blue Flame, available on Amazon for the full story. We were going to try to go even faster the next day, but it snowed. 630.388 mph (1,014.656 kph) kilometer record lasted 27 years until Thrust SSC got it.
Love it. Great to see an addition to the publicly available pool of Blue Flame media and info.
Thanks, 630lsr. Next up, SPEEDQUEST.
Bob G
RIP, Gary Gabelich.
Gary was an interesting guy. He was fun loving and playful most of the time. His skill driving a variety of vehicles and boats made him a fast learner when he got into The Blue Flame rocket-powered car. He studied the controls and instruments every night so that he could operate the car blindfolded. When he hopped into the driver's seat, his expression became quite serious - a total personality shift. He was a perfect fit on our team.
Thanks for sharing :) Growing up I loved this thing.
Great video. even greater accomplishment. That Keller guy is especially impresive.
Hi Dick, Happy 48th anniversary of the reaching record.
Hard to believe it. Seems like only last year. It appears the British and Aussie 1,000 mi/h attempts are stalled right now. We held the kilometer1,000 km/h record for 27 years. Maybe...
The AGA needs to pay to restore this.
This particular film is in my private collection and has seen wear during the the numerous projections I have made at various venues. I tried to find a better copy, but none was found. AGA never really appreciated what we accomplished and after one year of public exhibitions "donated" The Blue Flame to a collector in Europe who donated it to the Sinsheim, Germany museum. AGA even got the record speed wrong (630.388 mi/h). Interestingly, even the Smithsonian Museum in their upcoming 2020 "A Nation of Speed" doesn't realize what 3 guys from Milwaukee accomplished. That is why I put together the "Speedquest" films. I believed that the last American world land speed record deserved recognition in "A Nation of Speed", but apparently not.
I had a 16mm copy of this film that went into storage. I will start looking for it. I had always hoped to get it transferred over to dvd.
The blue flame is the only land speed car that I have always known about my whole life.As a child I would pretend my hot wheels were the blue flame flying across the desert.
Too bad the Smithsonian Institution doesn't have your knowledge. They are excluding The Blue Flame from their "A Nation of Speed" exhibit. The last American absolute world land speed record car WILL be honored next year, on the 50th anniversary of the record, at the Sinsheim Germany museum where it resides.
Fastest Gabelich in the family... proud
630 miles per hour on wheels. What could go wrong?
mrrusss Check out my personal film, The Blue Flame - Speedquest, for the whole story. Three guys in their mid-20s and no money setting the world land speed record. What COULD go wrong?
I'm hoping you can help me out. My father was in news, KSL at this time. We were out there on a very cold windy day and have pictures taken with the Blue Flame. From the video, it didn't look to be a cold windy day. When might this memory of mine have taken place? Did they run the Blue Flame after the day it broke the land speed record?
All of the film was shot weeks before we set the record. We arrived on the salt flats on September 14, 1970. The AGAs film crew made a number of film shots in the first two weeks and then left. October 23rd was a very cold and windy day. We barely got the 2 runs for the record in the morning before it began a freezing rain. The next morning there was snow in the ground (and the car). That was the end of the Bonneville season and the last time The Blue Flame ran. Check out my other video The Blue Flame - Speedquest.
Gary Gabelich was killed in a motorcycle accident in 1984. He was 44 years old.
1970... the last time America broke the record, could put a man on the Moon, heck, could put a man in space! Sad times we live in these days.
We, the U.S., put a man on the Moon in 1969. Three guys from Milwaukee, Reaction Dynamics, set the absolute world land speed record in 1970. Gary Gabelich bravely drove our creation to set the kilometer record, unbroken for 27 years, at 630.388 mi/h. Now we are going back into space with private industry like Spacex leading the way. Maybe those times are coming back. Check out my Speedquest film for our full story.
@@630lsr I envy you guys. I was born in '81, but a lot of times I wish I had been born in '51...
@@TheDeJureTour We grew up in the '40s and '50s when hot-rodding was just beginning. Also, the space program was "taking off" at the same time. We naturally wanted to be the fastest on the ground. Breedlove and Arfons were our inspiration for the speed record. A really fun time to be young and without limits.
awesome vid thanks for sharing
50 years ago! Thanks for watching. Go see The Blue Flame at the Sinsheim Museum in Germany.
Thanks, Bob.
NICE RACE!!!
Pedro, check out the "SPEEDQUEST" video. That tells the complete story from the X-1 rocket dragster concept to the record run.
Excellent video, awesome car and record. The music they used back then was horrible, but that every video made during that time. The record on water(317+mph) is probably going to fall this winter to the current record holder Ken Warby's son David. LSR/WSR attempts are a thing to behold. The men who dare are mad monks to the gods of speed. All respect.
Be sure to check out The Blue Flame - Speedquest where I get to narrate my film with more of the background information.
Already did. Awesome job. This had more of the Blue Flame LSR stuff which is the thing I remember from my childhood.
Exc presentation, save for the over-hyped music when the record is being set. What music could be more dramatic and suspenseful than the sound of Blue Flame itself?
We didn't shoot live sound at Bonneville. And, in fact, there was no film crew when we actually set the record. They had been sent back to New York, impatient with our progress towards the land speed record. I still hear that rocket's roar in my memory, however!
In 1983, did Richard Noble in Thrust 2 break the record of the Blue Flame going 633-634mph at Bonneville as shown on Wikipedia? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_speed_record
Just found this on wikipedia: The land speed record set by Blue Flame was broken on 4 October 1983 by Richard Noble driving his turbojet-powered Thrust2. This broke the mile record of 622.407 mph (1,001.667 km/h), raising it to 633.468 mph (1,019.468 km/h).[15] The kilometer record of 630.388 mph (1,014.511 km/h) stood until ThrustSSC went supersonic in 1997, raising it to 760.343 mph (1,223.653 km/h).[18] [19]
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Flame_%28automobile%29
The confusing bit on this episode is that the mile and kilometer speed traps used in timing are co-located ( the kilometer within the mile). The Blue Flame set both the mile and kilometer speed records simultaneously. Since the car was tuned to accelerate at full power to the center of the speed traps and coast the remainder of the distance, there was a different speed recorded for each (622 mi/h versus 630 mi/h) distance record. FIA requires a 1% improvement to break a record. Thrust 2 did break the mile record in 1983, but failed to break the kilometer record. The "World Land Speed Record" is the fastest FIA record, in this case the mile record for Thrust 2. That was 3 mi/h faster than The Blue Flame's kilometer record. The kilometer record, no longer the fastest FIA record, was only broken later by Thrust SSC in 1997.
Take a look at my narrated video - The Blue Flame-Speedquest. I shot that as we went along on the project. It explains the history better.
Love the nifty music score..
Yeah - I don't think "rap music" would work.
Check out "SPEEDQUEST" also if you have the time. That tells the whole story from the first rocket dragster to the final record runs.
Check out the new narrated video - "Speedquest Speaks". It has more detail on The Blue Flame project and scenes not in "Break the Record".
Is that Norman Rose as Narrator ? ( Desiderata / Deteriorata )
I don't know. The film was created in New York City by Film Counselors. Check out my book - SPEEDQUEST-Inside The Blue Flame - on Amazon. My webpage is: www.speedquestbook.com
I'm pretty sure this vehicle's record was broken in 1983 by the Thrust II team. The 1997 record was the first land vehicle to go supersonic, carried out by Thrust SSC
The Blue Flame set the absolute world land speed record in the kilometer (630.388 mi/h) and simultaneously the mile record at 622.407 mi/h. While
Thrust II set the absolute world land speed record in the mile (633+ mi/h) in 1983, the kilometer record lasted until 1997 when Thrust SSC went supersonic. Check out my other video "Speedquest - The Blue Flame" for our story. Three guys from Milwaukee who thought outside the box to build the rocket-powered land speed record holder, with a detuned motor.
The British returned
They only went 3 miles per hour faster in 1983 - until 27 years later when the sound barrier was firmly blasted by Andy Green. Good job, that!
That kinda sounded like natural gas was the first choice fuel.
My job at IGT as a research engineer was natural gas combustion research. That choice to use LNG (liquid natural gas) was obvious. Since the natural gas industry was beginning to promote LNG as a fuel in motor vehicles and aircraft, they agreed to sponsor The Blue Flame.
@@630lsr Hi Dick, what I meant was it kinda sounded like the motor ran purely on LNG.
Anyway, given the energy density of LNG versus propane, would propane have been a viable fuel?
Propane would have been easier to keep liquid reducing the storage weight.
@@ericv8319 Since I was doing research with LNG, sponsored by the American Gas Association, the industry sponsorship was the clincher.
@@630lsr That's what Dad said, Dad was Dix Erickson. What was the actual ratio of thrust obtained from the HTP/LNG combination? That is, how much came from the HTP and how much came from the LNG, Dad said most of the thrust came from the hypergolic reaction but the LNG still added a significant amount.
@@ericv8319 Although The Blue Flame HTP/LNG rocket was designed to produce 22,000 pounds thrust, but because Goodyear was limiting us to a maximum speed of 700mph, we had to reduce thrust to approximately 15,000 pounds. Running on just the HTP, at first, we reached 500mph. Adding a limited ratio of LNG we hit a peak of 660mph in the middle of the mile speed trap. We would have gone faster the following day, but snow closed the course for 1970. Dix was a great help on the project. Later, he helped with our American Honda sponsorship for the Honda Hawk motorcycle LSR streamliner.
wonderful I like.
Is this also the last outright record with rubber tyres?
The Goodyear tires were pneumatic, pressurized to 350 psi, and tested to 850 mi/h. Goodyear restricted our top speed in 1970 to 700 mi/h since we hadn't run for a record before then. We had to "detune" our rocket for that reason. The later LSR cars used solid metal wheels which couldn't be run on the hard salt flats surface - no traction. They actually dug ruts in the dry lake surfaces when they ran. Check out my personal film, The Blue Flame - Speedquest.
That's pretty crazy! I guess the simple answer is yes.
sorry ill look thru the files better thanx
Any comment on Ray Dausman's daughter's book?
Read my new book, check out my web page: www.speedquestbook.com for a more complete story on the design, construction, and racing The Blue Flame to the world land speed record. It is called SPEEDQUEST - Inside The Blue Flame on Amazon Books.
I'm sure it could have gone faster! Maybe into the 700s?!
We had detuned the rocket from 22,000 pounds thrust because Goodyear, who owned the tires, would not allow us to go over 700mph that first year on the salt. Since the rocket car accelerates the full run, 20 second burn, we achieved a 660mph peak speed in the mile. We actually had planned to run the car again the next day to push the record a little higher, but a snowstorm hit overnight and the Bonneville racing season was over.
@@630lsr Thanks for the info! True,the Budweiser rocket car didn't have rubber on the wheels.
Hi Dick I have the 1968 Hot Rod magazine that showed the X-1
saw the Honda Hawk in 1972 at Speedweek
please email me
I did email you at your Hotmail address
Elon Musk likes this
SpacEx goes vertical - which we tried (successfully) to avoid.
uncle art ,cousin's check this out
sometimes i need help with my email
Lewis A gave me a lot of his stuff some of which i sent to " the Dick Keller Papers" @ U of Utah
thank you
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