Wing Commander Andy Green of the British Royal Air Force (RAF) recently made a return trip to Singapore as a guest of Bentley Singapore.
Wing Commander Andy Green of the British RAF is not just the current holder of the world land speed record and the first person to break the sound barrier on land, he is also one of a select group of six known as the Bentley Mulsanne Visionaries.
Bentley has specially selected this group of individuals who have achieved significant success in their fields, and more important pushed the boundaries and shared forward visions to represent their flagship car - the Mulsanne – to a wider audience who appreciate and value entrepreneurialship and those who push the boundaries.
Other 'visionaries' which were selected include actor and philanthropist Jackie Chan, FIA (World Motorsport) President Jean Todt and award-winning architect Wang Shu.
In a short presentation to the local motoring journalists, Wing Commander Andy explained about the lead up towards being a land speed record holder, as well as his ambition to break his own record - a project which is currently in the works. The aim is to set a new record of 1,000mph (1,609km/h)in comparison to his current record of 1,227.99km/h which he set back in 15th October 1997 in the Thrust SSC.
Wing Commander Andy, went on to talk about the engineering challenges he faced in preparation for the record breaking drive back in 1997, and explained that every minute detail in the project is of utmost importance as the slightest of deviation can potentially affect the record breaking bid. For instance, the pitch angle of the car\'s nose determines the amount of down-force the car can experience at sound-exceeding speeds, and just a slight variation of one degree nose down can exert up to 10 tonnes of force, which will cause excessive load bearing stress on the front wheels and structure, resulting in catastrophic consequences.
“Speed has only ever been hampered by technology. It will always be possible to go faster, but it is going to be progressively more difficult to do so. But then, that’s surely the point of record breaking — it is the challenge of pushing back the boundaries of human endeavour.” - Wing Commander Andy Green