Australian crew launches world land-speed record bid | Car Talk - Car News Oct 2012

The sporting rivalry between England and Australia is legendary.

For hundreds of years the two countries have waged war on the cricket and rugby pitches in a bid to assert their dominance over the opposing side. And, to be fair to the Aussies, the two nations are fairly evenly matched.

One area in which England has always outshone its antipodean rivals, however, is engineering. England is the country which gave the world the McLaren F1, the E-Type Jag and the Aston Martin DB9; Australia, on the other hand, is the country which gave us the Holden Monaro, a car which makes the Austin Maestro look technologically advanced.

However, all that could be about to change as an Aussie crew is bidding to break the land speed record and blitz (their word, not ours) their British rivals.

The team is being led by Rosco McGlashan, a daredevil drag-racer who has dreamed of being the fastest man on Earth ever since he saw Donald Campbell hit 403 miles per hour on Australia's Lake Eyre in 1964.

McGlashan will be driving Aussie Invader 5R, a rocket-powered 200,000bhp machine which has a top speed in excess of 1,000mph.

The Aussie Invader crew will be hoping that their car can outgun the Bloodhound SSC, the machine which Andy Green and Richard Noble will be using to make their own land speed record attempt, and which was tested last week.

And in case this wasn't already nail-biting enough, both attempts are due to take place in the same year: 2014.

As you can see from the table below, the Aussie car looks better on paper in several areas, and is said to be more powerful than the Bloodhound.

However, the Invader's top speed is 20mph slower than the Bloodhound's, so if both cars achieve their respective top speeds, the Aussies will be going home without the ashes. Again.

by James Barrell