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14/05/2007
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However, it is powered by a rocket and launched from a ski slope
Last year it was a Reliant Robin. This time, British engineers The Rocket Men have sent a Mini Cooper down the Lillehammer ski slope.
The challenge was part of Top Gear's Winter Olympic Special.
A team of rocket designers made the propulsion units for the car, then found it needed some Smalley spiral retaining rings to keep the motor unit attached to the rocket housing.
Colin Rowe of the Rocket Men explained: "Speed, mass and deceleration are three pivotal components that have to be controlled in any rocket powered launch. If the motor became disengaged because of a faulty spiral retaining ring, suddenly with one part of the equation missing we would have a potential disaster.”
The spiral retaining rings are upscale versions of those used in model rocketry. The motor retainers need to be light and strong. Using TFC spiral retaining rings allow the operator to insert and remove the motor in the field with only a screwdriver.
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Author
Lou Reade
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