Vampire (car)
Encyclopedia
The Vampire is a jet-propelled car that currently holds the outright British land speed record
, driven by Colin Fallows to a mean speed of 300.3 mi/h on July 5, 2000 at Elvington
, Yorkshire, England.
Vampire was 30 feet (9.1 m) long and consumed from 7 to 10 UK gallons of fuel per mile. Powered by a Rolls-Royce Orpheus
turbojet engine, it could accelerate from standstill to 272 mi/h in six seconds, a personal best set at Santa Pod Raceway
.
Vampire was originally constructed by Allan 'Bootsie' Herridge, a pioneer British drag racer, as one of a pair of identical match-race jet dragsters in 1981. The sister car "Hellbender" was involved in a crash in 1986 in which Mark Woodley, an experienced dragster driver, was killed.
Vampire crashed in 2006 during shooting of a segment for the television show Top Gear
, severely injuring its driver, Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond
. Hammond did manage to beat the official British
land speed record, recording a top speed of 314 mph (505.3 km/h). However, he did not officially break the British record as, according to the rules, two runs in different directions and an independent observer are required. Hammond crashed on his seventh run. It was joked that Hammond would have created the record for the fastest crash but would have needed to repeat the crash in the opposite direction.
In December 2007, the damaged vehicle went up for sale as scrap on eBay
UK.
British land speed record
The British land speed record is the fastest land speed achieved by a vehicle in the United Kingdom, as opposed to one on water or in the air. It is standardised as the speed over a course of fixed length, averaged over two runs in opposite directions....
, driven by Colin Fallows to a mean speed of 300.3 mi/h on July 5, 2000 at Elvington
RAF Elvington
RAF Elvington, located at Elvington, south east of York in Yorkshire was a Royal Air Force bomber base which operated from the beginning of World War II until 1992.-History:...
, Yorkshire, England.
Vampire was 30 feet (9.1 m) long and consumed from 7 to 10 UK gallons of fuel per mile. Powered by a Rolls-Royce Orpheus
Bristol Siddeley Orpheus
-See also:-References:* Retrieved: 29 September 2008-External links:*...
turbojet engine, it could accelerate from standstill to 272 mi/h in six seconds, a personal best set at Santa Pod Raceway
Santa Pod Raceway
Santa Pod Raceway, in Northamptonshire, England, opened at Easter in 1966, is Europe's first permanent drag racing venue. It was built on a disused World War II American air base, RAF Podington, once used by the 92nd Bomber Group. It is now the home of European drag racing and has grown...
.
Vampire was originally constructed by Allan 'Bootsie' Herridge, a pioneer British drag racer, as one of a pair of identical match-race jet dragsters in 1981. The sister car "Hellbender" was involved in a crash in 1986 in which Mark Woodley, an experienced dragster driver, was killed.
Vampire crashed in 2006 during shooting of a segment for the television show Top Gear
Top Gear (current format)
Top Gear is a British television series about motor vehicles, primarily cars. It began in 1977 as a conventional motoring magazine show. Over time, and especially since a relaunch in 2002, it has developed a quirky, humorous style...
, severely injuring its driver, Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond
Richard Hammond
Richard Mark Hammond is an English broadcaster, writer, and journalist most noted for co-hosting car programme Top Gear with Jeremy Clarkson and James May, as well as presenting Brainiac: Science Abuse on Sky 1.-Early life:...
. Hammond did manage to beat the official British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
land speed record, recording a top speed of 314 mph (505.3 km/h). However, he did not officially break the British record as, according to the rules, two runs in different directions and an independent observer are required. Hammond crashed on his seventh run. It was joked that Hammond would have created the record for the fastest crash but would have needed to repeat the crash in the opposite direction.
In December 2007, the damaged vehicle went up for sale as scrap on eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
UK.