经济学人下载:怎样建造时速1000英里的汽车

The land-speed record
地面速度记录

How to build a 1,000mph car
怎样建造时速1000英里的汽车

Hybrid rocketry will be used to drive faster than ever before
混合火箭技术将用于更快地驱动车辆

May 5th 2011 | from the print edition

It looks quick, too
它看起来就快

THIS summer Daniel Jubb will perform the equivalent of lighting the blue touch paper and standing clear. The 27-year-old will undertake the first full test firing of a hybrid rocket which he has designed to help a British team set a new land-speed record by driving at 1,000mph (1,609kph). Mr Jubb’s rocket, however, will also need the assistance of a powerful EJ200 jet engine from a Typhoon fighter aircraft and a Cosworth Formula 1 racing engine if Bloodhound SSC (supersonic car) is to become the fastest thing on wheels.

今年夏天丹尼尔．兆伯要做的事，相当于点燃导火索然后跑开。这个27岁的小伙子将进行一枚混合式火箭发动机的第一次全程试射，他设计这枚火箭发动机用于帮助英国车队创造一个以时速1000英里（1609公里）驱动的地面速度记录。然而，如果“侦探犬”号超音速车要想成为靠轮子跑得最快的东西，那么兆伯的火箭发动机还将需要一个强大的台风战斗机“EJ200”喷气发动机和一个“考斯沃斯”一级方程式赛车发动机的辅助。

Combining a rocket, a jet and a racing-car engine into one vehicle is engineering of an extreme sort, but record-breaking often demands that new problems be solved. Mr Jubb’s task was to build a rocket that could be used safely in a car, but was also controllable and could be switched off quickly in the event of an emergency.

将火箭发动机、喷气式发动机和赛车发动机整合到一部车里，是一种极不寻常的设计，但是破纪录经常需要解决很多新问题。兆伯的工作是建造一枚可以在汽车里安全使用的火箭发动机，但是它也要可控制并且在出现紧急情况时可以快速关掉。