The ''Vampire'' is a
jet-propelled car that currently holds the outright
British land speed record, driven by Colin Fallows to a speed of on 5 July 2000 at
Elvington, Yorkshire, England.
Vampire is one of two near-identical
dragsters built to be raced at the Santa Pod Raceway in 1980, the other being named Hellbender.
Measuring long, it consumes between 7 and 10 UK gallons of fuel per mile and delivers 2,500 pounds of thrust without the afterburner or 5,500 pounds of thrust with it lit.
The vehicle is powered by a
Rolls-Royce Orpheus turbojet engine
The turbojet is an airbreathing jet engine which is typically used in aircraft. It consists of a gas turbine with a propelling nozzle. The gas turbine has an air inlet which includes inlet guide vanes, a compressor, a combustion chamber, an ...
from an ex-
Red Arrows
The Red Arrows, officially known as the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, is the aerobatics display team of the Royal Air Force (RAF) based at RAF Waddington. The team was formed in late 1964 as an all-Royal Air Force team, replacing several un ...
Folland Gnat
The Folland Gnat is a British compact swept-wing subsonic aircraft, subsonic fighter aircraft that was developed and produced by Folland Aircraft. Envisioned as an affordable light fighter in contrast to the rising cost and size of typical comb ...
paired to the afterburner from a
Jaguar
The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large felidae, cat species and the only extant taxon, living member of the genus ''Panthera'' that is native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the biggest cat spe ...
fighter's
Rolls-Royce Turbomeca
Rolls-Royce Turbomeca Limited (RRTM) is a joint venture between United Kingdom, British aero-engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce plc (UK) and France, French helicopter engine specialist Safran Helicopter Engines (formerly known as Turbomeca). It man ...
Adour turbofan.
It can accelerate from standstill to in six seconds, a personal best set at
Santa Pod Raceway
Santa Pod Raceway is Europe's first permanent drag racing venue for and racing. Located in Podington, Bedfordshire, England, the drag strip was built on a disused World War II, Second World War Royal Air Force (RAF) airbase, known as RAF Pod ...
.
Vampire was originally constructed by Allan 'Bootsie' Herridge, a pioneer British drag racer, as one of a pair of identical match-race jet dragsters in 1981. The sister car "Hellbender" was involved in a crash in 1986 at Santa Pod, in which Mark Woodley (an experienced dragster driver) was killed.
Vampire crashed in 2006 during shooting of a segment for the television show ''
Top Gear
Top Gear may refer to:
* "Top gear", the highest gear available in a vehicle's manual transmission
Television
* ''Top Gear'' (1977 TV series), a British motoring magazine programme
* ''Top Gear'' (2002 TV series), a relaunched version of the ori ...
'', severely injuring its driver, ''Top Gear'' presenter
Richard Hammond
Richard Mark Hammond (born 19 December 1969) is an English journalist, television presenter, and author. He co-hosted the BBC Two motoring programme ''Top Gear (2002 TV series), Top Gear'' from 2002 until 2015 with Jeremy Clarkson and James Ma ...
. The accident occurred as a result of a loss of control caused by a failure in the front-right wheel. Hammond's peak speed from several test runs was higher than the official
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.
* British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
land speed record, recording a top speed of . However, he did not officially break the British record as, according to the rules, two runs in different directions and an independent observer are required.
Hammond crashed on his seventh run. Hammond's co-presenter,
Jeremy Clarkson
Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson (born 11 April 1960) is an English television presenter, journalist, farmer, and author who specialises in Driving, motoring. He is best known for hosting the television programmes ''Top Gear (2002 TV series), T ...
, joked that Hammond would have created the record for the fastest crash but would have needed to repeat the crash in the opposite direction.
In December 2007, the damaged vehicle went up for sale as scrap on
eBay
eBay Inc. ( , often stylized as ebay) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that allows users to buy or view items via retail sales through online marketplaces and websites in 190 markets worldwide. ...
UK.
After an extensive restoration and recommissioning, Vampire made its first appearance since the 2006 crash at the Bromyard Speed Festival at
Shelsley Walsh Hill Climb in August 2021.
In January 2022,
DriveTribe
DriveTribe is a Social networking service, social networking platform founded as a hub for automotive content and digital socialising. Founded by presenters Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond alongside entrepreneur Ernesto Schmitt, t ...
published a video on their YouTube channel saying goodbye to 2021 and ahead to 2022, when at the end of the video Richard Hammond got into Vampire once again.
A week later, DriveTribe published a follow-up video where Mike Fernie, their content editor, started up Vampire.
References
{{reflist, 2
External links
Thule: British Land Speed RecordJalopnik: Hammond Vampire Jet-Car for Sale on EBay
Drag racing cars
Jet land speed record cars