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Rocket cars were used for dragster racing and land speed record attempts, but have been surpassed by jet engine-powered vehicles. Rockets have a high acceleration rate but a shorter operating capacity. The first rocket car was developed by Max Valier. As jet engine technology became more efficient and safer, the appeal of rockets waned.
A rocket is a land vehicle powered by a rocket engine. Such cars have been used for dragster racing and land speed record attempts. A rocket car briefly held the land speed record, but it has since been surpassed by a jet engine-powered vehicle. Dragster races are no longer done with rocket engines, as it became too dangerous for the participants.
Jet engines and rockets are different machines. A rocket-powered vehicle uses fuel and an oxidizer. This means that it does not require an inlet or compressor, thus saving the machine crucial weight. The downside is that rockets have a shorter operating capacity before running out of fuel. Despite only running for less than 20 seconds, the rockets have a high acceleration rate.
The rocket works by taking a normal body with wheels and adding a rocket engine as well. The presence of a rocket at the rear of the car makes for great propulsion, but also reduces drivability and destroys stopping power. As a result, rocket vehicles needed large areas of flat terrain to operate. Accidents involving such vehicles have been numerous.
The first rocket car was developed by the Austrian rocket pioneer, Max Valier. Valier grew up in Innsbruck, South Tyrol, and trained to become a science writer. In the 1920s, Valier founded the Spaceflight Society and later worked with Opel car designer Fritz van Opel. Their collaboration created the Opel-RAK 1.
After the Opel-RAK 1 reached 47 miles per hour (75 kilometers per hour), Valier and Open worked on a series of follow-ups. They were assisted by another pioneer, Friedrich Sander. Later, Valier was killed when some of his experimental alcohol-based rockets exploded, while Sander helped develop military rockets. Valier’s protégé was Arthur Rudolph, who made a safer version of the rockets that killed Valier in 1930. After working on rockets in the 1930s, he helped the Nazis develop V-2 rockets and then went to work for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA Space Program.
The rocket caught the imagination of generations of Americans, leading to the creation of dragster speed events and those wishing to break land speed records. Among those caught up in the speed fever was Kitty O’Neil, who set the fastest quarter mile (0.10 km) in 1977. Her speed in her hydrogen peroxide-powered rocket was 3.22 seconds.
As jet engine technology became more efficient and safer, the appeal of rockets waned. They regained some interest in the 1990s with the circulation of a story about an American who attached a rocket motor to his 1967 Chevrolet Impala. In the story, police found skid marks and then a few miles or kilometers away. and an impact mark on the side of a mountain. The story gained so much popularity that it made it to the Darwin Awards, which is a book dedicated to foolish deaths. The story was later proven false by the American television show Mythbusters, and turned out to be an email-based hoax.
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