Description
Author: Harvey Shapiro, Hardbound, 176 Pages, ISBN: 9780498015076, 1st Edition, 1975 - Second-Hand book in excellent unread condition !
Ever since man invented the wheel he has been trying to travel faster and faster. Since 1898 men have raced for the land speed record, using steam, electric, piston, jet, and rocket power. Now we stand on the edge of one of the last barriers left for man—the sound barrier. Experts say that a car could logically travel faster than sound-720 to 750 mph. But can a car travel at such speeds without becoming a wingless plane or disintegrating before the unseen force of shock waves?
Faster Than Sound takes the reader to the beginning of auto racing, through the glorious era of Sir Malcolm Campbell, the jet war between Craig Breedlove and Art Arfons, to the rocket era with reigning land speed king Gary Gabelich, and on to the future, when men might conceivably race on light beams.
Why do these men race for the elusive record, knowing they could be killed? There have been no fatalities since 1962. However, Gary Gabelich, Art Arfons, Craig Breedlove, Donald Campbell, and Dr. Nathan Ostich have all flirted with death. Campbell was killed during an attempt to break the world water speed record. The reasons why they risk their lives are varied and interesting.
Faster Than Sound shows you the cars that have made land speed racing history—"Bluebird," "Green Monster," "Spirit of America," "Blue Flame," "Challenger I"—and explains how they differ in construction and why each set the record when the time was right.
There are also in-depth personality profiles of the men who drove the cars, men like Gary Gabelich, Craig Breedlove, Art Arfons, Mickey Thompson, and Bobby Summers.
Finally, this book gives the reader little-known insights behind the racing scene: how the Bonneville Salt Flats were created and discovered and became the headquarters of land speed racing; the role that modern science and technology plays in the creation of the world's fastest cars; even the problems of financing the cars.
Faster Than Sound is the story of land speed racing, of man's never-ending quest to go faster and faster, to set records only to have them broken again—in short, man's quest to do that which has never been done.
