Jetblack was officially launched on Thursday 30 October 2008 with a launch party at The Dowse Art Gallery, Lower Hutt. Over 100 guests and sponsors attended the event and were able to see the size and might of the Rolls Royce Avon jet engine up close.
Project Director, Richard Nowland, says its great to finally be able to let everyone know about the project after 14 months of planning and design.
Picture: ANDREW GORRIE
RICHARD NOWLAND wants to be the world's fastest Wellingtonian.
The 27-year-old Ngaio resident is so passionate about his bid to build a jet-car and break all Australasian land speed records that he ordered two former RAF jet engines on the Internet.
Now, little more than a year after he had the idea, designs are being honed at Canterbury University, Kiwi businesses are getting behind him and his Rolls-Royce 206 Avon engines have arrived.
Previously a real estate developer, Mr Nowland said he was spending up to 70 hours a week on the project, dubbed "JetBlack", which was launched in Lower Hutt last night.
He was inspired by a film about Thrust SSC, the vehicle that set the world land speed record of 1228kmh in 1997. "You could see 50-foot shockwaves out each side of it. It was amazing."
He had also watched The World's Fastest Indian "three or four times" and wanted to channel such New Zealand in-genuity - with a hi-tech flavour, he said.
"This has the spirit of guys like Bill Hamilton, Burt Munro and John Britten, but we can't do it in the back shed anymore."
Mr Nowland, who has no background in engineering, said at first he planned to convert a truck engine for his poject, but realised it would not be up to the job.
An air force commander told him a jet engine could cost $1 million, but he decided to put a "cheeky bid" of a few thousand dollars on the 1200 kilogram 22,000-horsepower monsters on a British website, "Then I got a message saying I was now the proud owner of two new jet engines."
His first goal was to knock off the New Zealand land speed record of 347.5km/h toward the end of next year. That done, he would head to a giant salt lake in Australia in 2010 and go for 1000km/h - not too far off the speed of sound.
The car would be painted black with a silver ferm as a testament to Kiwi engineering wizardry, he said. "Everyone who sees the model says it looks like the Bat-mobile."
Several businesses had signed up to provide work on the car, but more sponsors were still needed for the multi-million-dollar project, Mr Nowland said.
Article: TOM FITZSIMONS;
Source: The Dominion Post A3 Friday October 31 2008.
