(^20) The Official Raspberry Pi Projects Book raspberrypi.org/magpi
nside the cockpit of one
of the most remarkable
machines on Earth sits a
Raspberry Pi.
The North American Eagle
is an ongoing attempt by an
American team to reclaim the
land speed record.
Projects SHOWCASE
This land speed record-attempting jet car has
a Raspberry Pi sitting right behind the driver
The car is 17
metres long
It has 42 500
horsepower in
full afterburner
The wheels are
milled from
solid aluminium
The wheels can
endure speeds
of over 800mph
It consumes up
to 90 gallons
per minute
during a run
Quick
Facts
PEGASUS
I
MATT LONG
& MARK NICHOLS
Matt Long and Mark Nichols (pictured)
are Microsoft cloud solution architects
who work on the Pegasus Mission.
pegasusmission.com
The current world record stands
at 763.035 mph. This was set in
October 1997 by British Royal Air
Force pilot Andy Green, driving his
jet-powered Thrust SSC car.
“We have a mission to break
the World Land Speed Record of
763 mph (1227.93 km/h),” says
Brandyn Bayes, team member.
“Starting with the battered
hulk of a Cold War-era jet
plane, we have developed one
of the most sophisticated racing
machines ever.”
The North American Eagle
started life as a Lockheed F-
Starfighter. “It was used as a chase
plane,” reveals Brandyn. These are
planes used to follow experimental
aircraft and measure engineering
data. It followed some of the
greatest experimental aircraft in
history, among them the X-
and the Northrop-Grumman B-
Stealth Bomber.
The particular F-104 that has
been transformed into a superfast
car was designated 56-0763. By
1998 it was “beyond a shambles,”
says Brandyn. “The North American
Eagle project gave it new life, so
that it could once again be one of
the fastest machines on Earth.”
AND
THE NORTH
AMERICAN
EAGLE
Right Sensor data
from inside the
cockpit is gathered
by a Raspberry Pi
This article is dedicated to the memory
of Edward Joseph Shadle, 1941-