A project to capture the hearts and minds of people around the world – the water speed record. But, as we’re regularly reminded by Richard Noble OBE, this is no easy task. He and the intrepid Thrust WSH team need to keep testing and researching. Not only that, they also want to leave an inspirational legacy for the engineers of tomorrow. Here is Tom St John’s interview with Richard.
In late September, 1952, on the shores of Loch Ness, John Cobb climbed into his jet powered speed boat, Crusader, for the last time. Daredevil, hero, world record holder, Cobb was confident of yet another triumph. He was no stranger to these daring, death defying missions.
He had already set three land speed records, with the world’s press dubbing him ‘The Fastest Man Alive.’ Now the water speed record was his to claim. The Queen Mother had visited Inverness two days prior, and had wished Cobb luck on his endeavor. Such was the nation’s excitement, that it should be met with the well wishes of the Royal Family.
Cobb ventured out into the middle of the cold, dark waters of the loch, a crowd of people, including his wife, Vicki, gathered anxiously on its banks and roads, and official time keepers checked their stopwatches.
A shrill blast of Crusader’s jet engine caused the quiet waters of Loch Ness to erupt, Cobb was off, determined for new honours in the world of speed. Along the measured mile, the boat reached an impossibly high speed of 240mph (386kph) This was the fastest anyone had ever travelled across water and faster, by some distance, than the then record of 178mph.
Perhaps pressured into putting on a show for the crowds, or perhaps longing to set a record for years to come, Cobb pushed Crusader over the edge of her limits. The boat lost stability and disintegrated.
Ried Railton, the designer of Crusader, later concluded that the loss of control was down to an undamped oscillator. Cobb was killed – he was 52.
In the six weeks prior, Cobb had taken Crusader out every morning for trial runs. He had clocked increasingly impressive speeds, reaching a top speed of 185mph (297kmh) during one run.
On one of these mornings, a six year old Richard Noble was in the car with his family, being driven around the north side of Loch Ness. They spotted a huge crowd gathered by Temple Pier.
“I have often thought this may have been the day the Queen Mother came to see John Cobb and the boat – this might explain the crowds,” Richard recalled.
“I never saw Crusader run or attempt the record, but I joined the crowd and saw the boat sitting on Temple Pier. It was a huge moment for me. ‘Wow! I want to do that,’ I thought to myself.”
John Cobb attempting the water speed record in 1952
A need for speed
This is the reaction a lot of six year olds would elicit after seeing this. But Richard’s fascination was one that has stayed with him his whole life. Fast forward 72 years and Richard has broken two land speed records. The first was in 1983, when he drove Thrust 2 at an average speed of 633mph, (1,019 kmh) hitting a peak of 650mph. (1,046kmh)
He was then project leader for Thrust SSC, a supersonic car driven by RAF squadron leader Andy Green that travelled faster than the speed of sound and broke the land speed record at 763mph (1,221km/h). A record that still stands to this day.
Richard then turned the teams’ attention to another land speed record attempt in 2019. Once again with a supersonic car, the Bloodhound SSC project aimed to surpass 1,000mph (1,609kmh). However, the project went into bankruptcy after a ministerial formal offer was defaulted on.
Thrust SSC was at an advanced stage, but with the government’s decision final, their Chinese sponsor soon withdrew, and the project was finished. This is something that still rankles Richard to this day. “They (the government) completely wrecked it,” he said. “Britain is so risk adverse, it’s embarrassing.”
The Bloodhound SSC
Just to put this man’s need for speed into perspective, I’ve heard him refer to Formula One as “really boring.” The Bloodhound car was a supersonic speed vehicle, with rocket motors that could produce 135,000 horse power. As that’s the equivalent power of around 150 Formula One cars, I’m not surprised he thinks F1 is boring.
I went to meet Richard the week before this year’s Smart Manufacturing & Engineering Week (where the project was featured in the Best of British Showcase section), and once again, speed was of the essence.
We at The Manufacturer have partnered with Thrust WSH, in an effort to push a crucial stage of Richard’s latest project. I wanted to interview Richard in the build up to the show, as Thrust had just launched an all-important education survey as part of the project.
This will serve as the basis to create a STEM education programme to help inspire the next generation of manufacturers and engineers into the sector. The survey was then presented to the vast manufacturing audience at the NEC in Birmingham.
Richard had been up in Scotland, where the team had been working on the C3.2B model, a 25% model of the Thrust WSH boat. He told me he would be back at his desk on Wednesday that week, and gave me an address in South Oxfordshire. As I followed my satnav up a narrow road, I couldn’t help but think this was a strange place for Thrust to set up an office.
I soon realised I had been invited to meet Richard at his impressive, very beautiful home. I was met at the front door by his wife, Shirley, and when I walked into the front room, Richard was sat busily at his laptop. He stood up and greeted me warmly.
“Where do you want to do this thing?” He asked. There are many potential back drops for a video interview in Richard’s house; pictures and models of various high speed craft are dotted everywhere. It’s the sort of house you would expect a world record speed setter to live in.
Something very odd going on
I placed a chair in front of the yellow C3.2B Thrust boat replica in the corner of the room. Richard, after Shirley had affectionally fixed his hair, came to take his seat in front of the camara. We went straight into discussing the Thrust WSH: STEM Education Survey. As was the case with Bloodhound SSC, these projects garner a huge amount of excitement among school children and students.
“In fact Bloodhound was such a success that we were engaging with over 120,000 students and kids a year and our project was being followed in 200 countries,” said Richard.
The interest was huge, with the Bloodhound education programme being used in places like Iran and Yemen. Full scale models of the Bloodhound car have been to Canada and South America as well as the Far East and China. Richard says video footage of the project generated some 80 million views on YouTube.
“You’re pushing on the most enormous open door,” said Richard “This is the way to really inspire kids and to enable them to understand their education. And when you find groups of 10 and 11 year olds talking about Mach numbers, you suddenly realise you’re making a real impact.”
With that in mind, an education programme, being driven by Bloodhound Education, is currently running during this early research phase of the Thrust WSH project. There are around 30-40 companies working on this world record attempt, and each company has expressed frustrations over recruitment. In some cases, these businesses are unable to expand due to the lack of young talent coming through to fill available vacancies.
Richard’s brow furrowed, and he shook his head gently as he said: “There’s something very odd going on. And of course, nobody seems to know quite what it is. So, we thought if we’re going to run this education programme, we need to know what the hell we’re doing; we’ve got to focus on this and we’ve got to have data. Hence the creation of the survey.”
This is being shared to as many companies as possible, as well as education providers. It’s looking for answers to long asked questions. We, at The Manufacturer, along with Michael Page and Bloodhound Education, have helped Thrust launch the survey. The University of Leeds and The University of Bradford will collect the data and share the findings in a couple of months.
Thrust WSH has been inspired by Crusader, designed by Reid Railton and piloted by John Cobb
The legacy that Thrust WSH wants to leave is one of inspiration. A springboard to launch future careers that utilise the skills associated with the project. This is targeted at the next generation of innovators, designers and inventors.
Fewer young people are opting for STEM based careers and the UK manufacturing and engineering sectors are suffering as a result. As we’ve said so often, if they only knew of the projects they could be working on. Undoubtedly, this is one such project.
As Richard puts it: “We’ve got one hell of a team.” Thrust has three naval architects and three Rolls-Royce chief engineers as part of the project. The team recognise that all companies need to inspire young recruits eager to learn and apply these types of high level skills into other engineering and science projects in whatever field.
“Everyone has the same problem,” said Richard. “We might have a solution. I implore everyone to take ten minutes and fill in the survey. And with a bit of luck we might institute some change.”
Mission ‘impossible’
As mentioned, this is a project still in its research phase. Thrust may be determined – having held four land speed records, there is an unmistakable air of confidence within the team. But Richard, while also confident, was quick to remind us of the magnitude of this task.
“Incredibly difficult,” he said, with a raise of his eyebrows. “Because the technology just doesn’t exist. You’re dealing with the water, you’re dealing with the air, and you’ve got to produce a vehicle which is safe. And it’s got to make a major advance on the world record, which has stood for some 40 years, at 317mph (510kmh).”
This was set by the Australian Ken Warby back in 1978. And such a long standing record indicates the daunting difficulty and danger of this attempt. After his death in 1952, John Cobb was followed by the brilliant Donald Campbell, who had broken six water speeds records and is still the only person to hold world speed records for both land and water at the same time.
Part of our interview with Richard
He was killed in yet another record breaking attempt while piloting the iconic boat Bluebird in 1967. In fact, Ken Warby is one of the few not to be killed while attempting the water speed record. Since he set that record, Lee Taylor (1980) and Craig Arfons (1989) have both lost their lives in pursuit of the record, further underlining the dangers of this mission.
“In the early days with people like John Cobb and Donald Campbell, they were doing something incredibly brave and were trying their luck, because they didn’t have the data,” said Richard.
“They had no means of knowing what was happening and how dangerous it was becoming.” Richard himself is no stranger to near misses. Before partnering with John Akroyd, he built Thrust 1, his first jet powered car.
The car rolled on its first test run, which could have quite easily been fatal. Leaning forward slightly, he continued, “You’ve got to make sure that everything, absolutely everything, is sorted. And if it isn’t you’re going to kill somebody, it’s really as simple as that. We have to be very, very careful and treat this as a high technology experimental project.”
When the full scale Thrust WSH is ready it will have autonomous capabilities, but it will also need to have a driver. Firstly, a human is needed in the information and data feedback loop.
Secondly, and most importantly, someone has to pilot the boat to achieve a valid world record breaking run, and Thrust will soon commence a six month programme to find a suitable candidate.
Thrust WSH 25% scale model travelling across a loch in Scotland
Pushing the boundaries of possibility
The week after this interview with Richard, we met again at Smart Manufacturing & Engineering Week. He greeted me warmly, once again, as I made my way to the Thrust WSH stand on the show floor. Richard and his team were engaging with attendees and inviting them to fill in the Thrust Education Survey.
“How’s it going?” I asked him.
“Bloody hard work.” He said, in his low, grand tone. “But people are stopping to talk to us which is the main thing.”
Richard at Smart Manufacturing & Engineering Week 2024
It’s worth mentioning, this is “bloody hard work.” The amount of hours that the Thrust team have put into this so far is staggering.
This was also the case during the Bloodhound SSC project which ended in 2019. “Nine years of effort,” said Richard. “I put in some 50,000 man hours. And the team put in so much determination and drive to get this thing done.” No wonder Richard felt let down by the government’s U-turn on funding,
“It was a terrible situation,” he said. “Everyone’s effort and work was just destroyed. Because of sheer stupidity and arrogance.”
The same effort is being exerted to make the Thrust boat a success. More effort, if anything. Given that the water speed record is uncharted territory for Thrust, they had to start from scratch.
Richard is unrelenting. His love for this project has him addicted seven days a week. And it’s a project that’s gaining traction and moving forward. “Our quarter size model, the 10 foot C3.2, powered by a small drone jet engine, can get up to 200mph, and we’re running it this summer,” he explained.
“And from that, we’re going get an enormous amount of data which is going to enable us to make that decision as to whether we push ahead with the full scale boat, or whether we think it’s just too difficult.”
Richard certainly isn’t getting carried away. I suspect partly because he remembers how quickly the Bloodhound project turned from excitement to despair, but also because of the amount of work that is still needed to make this a success. “The survey is the crucial thing,” insisted Richard.
“That’s what we’re after. We need to tell everybody what we’re doing, but the reality is that until we’ve actually completed all the trials and testing on the C3.2B model, and got it up to 225mph, we can’t actually announce that we’re going ahead with the project.” But he repeated: “The survey, of course, has to come first.”
Not to add to the intense hype that Thrust are trying to temper, but we’re gleefully willing for this to happen. This would be a truly momentous achievement of British engineering and ingenuity. And undoubtably, it would inspire the next generation. In the same way that a six-year-old Richard was entranced by the sight of the Crusader at Loch Ness, just days before John Cobb attempted the world record.
Designing a stable and controllable craft to travel across water at speeds of 450mph (724kmh) is the impossible challenge. But these projects are all about pushing the boundaries of possibility. With another raise of his eyebrows, I saw the ever-present twinkle in Richard’s eye when you get him talking about a world record attempt, as he said: “I’m pretty convinced we can pull this off.”
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- These projects are no longer about making the driver the hero. They’re driven by teamwork and the goal is education improvement
- Thrust WSH has gained, and will continue to gain, huge interest from national and global media outlets
- If testing goes well this summer then the team will announce the project’s launch at some point next year
- Projects like this can truly be an inspiration to any future engineers, innovators or designers
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