Wednesday 8th August 2012

Chris Harris video: racing with Andy Green

"Do you want to race a Radical with the world's fastest man?" Harris says yes...

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The big boss of the Drive channel, J F Musial is a stickler for genre - given that he's 10 times more organised than me, I always defer to his opinion. So, when I told him I'd done a race weekend with Andy Green in The Radical UK Cup, he rightly pointed out that it couldn't be an episode of Chris Harris on Cars, because that's where we review cars.

Chris teams up with the world's fastest man

"It has to be a Driven show", he said.

"Done." I said.

The Bloodhound team is so adept at keeping us all informed of its progress that I don't need to say anything more here. Suffice to say that spending a weekend with Andy Green exposed me to more jaw-dropping conversations in 48 hours than I will have in the next five years. I will never tire of hearing him use the word 'trans-sonic'. He says it the way I say 'mild weather.'

So enjoy watching and listening to him talk about the business of going very, very fast.

Harris and Green - two fast blokes in a Radical

The other interesting aspect of the weekend was the incident where I crashed the car. Now contrary to popular opinion, and despite sometimes acting like a yobbo for the video camera, I am not in the habit of crashing racing cars. My long-time team-mates Chris Cooper and Guy Spurr will at this point attempt to hijack the forum thread and say the opposite is true, but they will be lying. I don't like crashing because it tends to hurt. And it is always expensive.

You'll see the onboard footage of the shunt and see that I lost the back of the car under brakes. Paddock is one of the most challenging turns in the world, and it learned me good and proper.

What happened? Well, I was beginning my third flying lap, so the rubber wasn't quite up to temperature, the track was a little damp in places and I was pushing to see how deep the car would brake into the bumpy entry point. It's at this point that data becomes both a driver's best and worst friend: it shows where you went wrong, so you can learn. But it also means there is no hiding from the truth.

This doesn't end well - see the vid for more

Cold tyres, few damp patches. And I hit the pedal 20 per cent harder than the previous lap. If Heston served Spun Radical at the Fat Duck, that would be the recipe. Going backwards through the 'trap at 100mph doesn't feel good, nor does the impact itself. Still, I learned something the hard way and the Radical boys got the car looking minty for the following morning. Chaps: I'm sorry I made a mess of the car.

The SR3 is a mighty little racing car. It pulls serious lateral Gs and the racing is hard-fought.

Enjoy the vid. More normal car testing next week.

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[pwrc]

DRIVE really needs to invest in its audio department - just about every CHoC video has some sort of audio issue - poor quality, bad levels etc. just putting it out there as a viewer. (although I know ph =! drive)

otherwise, great vid. I could listen to andy green all day! he discusses vehicle behavior and handing at speed much better than most f1 drivers

[splitpin]

Great Article Chris.

Doesn't get much better for me ......... Radicals, Paddock Hill Bend, Bloodhound, Thrust, Messrs Green & Noble, British, Fly The Flag ........... yippee!

PS You should have asked Amanda for a double helping of the infamous Peterborough Brave Pills ......... not only do they make ones nuts bigger, they also comprehensively numb them

Thanks Mate

Edited by splitpin on Wednesday 8th August 21:33

[365daytonafan]

Yes the sound is a little off in places, but listening to Andy Green talking about the technical challenges in Bloodhound blew my mind. Incredible what they are trying to do and in the middle of the Olympics something else to make Britain proud.

[GTiFrank]

Rear wheel steering?! Fork lift does my head in @ 2mph.

[legalknievel]

As a wizened old man who had just arrived in a tow truck once said to me, complete with obligatory far away look in eye, 'Welcome to the paddock 'ill club, son.'

[Cheib]

Andy Green.....wow what an incredibly impressive individual. Never heard him interviewed before......he explains what are incredibly complicated things in a way that makes Joe Public able to understand it whilst also conveying the huge challenges. He's also obviously being completely unflustered about "driving" something where any minor miscalculations would likely be very,very messy.

[lankybob]

It surely can't be that hard to sort out the sound. It would have been an excellent video if it wasn't for that.
He sounds like the most interesting man, would love to have a conversation with him.

[simonigrale]

You can see now why little blokes from Solihull shouldn't drive jet powered cars !

Get a bag of frozen peas on that spud Chris !!!

[Chris Harris]

Home video from me this time. My bad. Needs must etc.

[ohtari]

Chris Harris said:

Home video from me this time. My bad. Needs must etc.

Thou art forgiven

[Rawwr]

"...we need 700hp just for the rocket pump."

Amazing.

[BertBert]

Chris you should've asked for the normal 1500 engined SR3RS as you'd had around another 50 bhp to play with. Yours must've been tuned down to the normal power of the 1340.

Bert

[Galveston]

Great video. I'm always impressed by Andy Green, a genuinely extraordinary chap.

[chris116]

Bloodhound is a fascinating project, got my fin certificate.

Andy Green has done some interesting things that's for sure, always good to hear him speak.

[Dan 87]

I could sit and listen to Andy Green and the challenges that Bloodhound face all day. The way he explains the problems and an insight into how they get round them is amazing.

I think they could do with a little more power though

[HollywoodStig]

You can just image him popping down to the local Halfords for a new fuel pump...

[LandingSpot]

Astonishing the inter-related technical difficulties they face with this project. It's amazing and I can't wait to congratulate them on their success.

Great vid as always, Chris!

[British Beef]

What power do you need:
The same power as an entire grid of F1 cars....
PLUS the power of an F1 car to power the engine of......
ANOTHER entire grid of F1 cars.

Ive never been in an F1 car, my wallet would not allow and my arse would not fit.

But the power and speed of this thing, the engineering involved, the forces and the risks make VWs group best effort the Veyron look rather simple, under powered and slow!!!!!

[reggiespider]

Cheib said:

Andy Green.....wow what an incredibly impressive individual. Never heard him interviewed before......he explains what are incredibly complicated things in a way that makes Joe Public able to understand it whilst also conveying the huge challenges. He's also obviously being completely unflustered about "driving" something where any minor miscalculations would likely be very,very messy.

Couldn't agree more, I could listen to him talk about speed records and driving all day. Great stuff.

[jason61c]

I like Andy Greens' interviews, they're so scripted and perfect, they make me wince a little to be honest.

He's a lucky man to be paid by the tax payer but get to drive a rocket for the land speed thingy. When They make it go round bends it'll be the worlds greatest race series