Perth-based driver Rosco McGlashan wants local businesses to help him beat the land speed record.
LOOKING down Rosco McGlashan’s driveway is like being on the production set for a kids’ movie.
Here, in a supersized Mullaloo garage, Mr McGlashan is building what looks like a rocket ship.
But this isn’t fiction; he is a real life Aussie battler operating out of his backyard on the smell of an oily rag, taking on well-funded international teams in a race to break the land speed record.
This is Aussie Invader 5R, an empty and unpainted shell of a vehicle in which Mr McGlashan hopes to break 1,609 kilometres per hour (1,000 miles per hour), smashing the existing world mark of almost 1,228kph set by Briton Andy Green in 1997.
The feisty 60 year old has a track record of addiction to speed, having set the Australian land speed record 802kph/500mph in 1994 and hitting 1,035kph/643mph in another attempt, which did not meet the requirements for the record books.
And it may not just be the fast lane that drives Mr McGlashan. There is clearly a glint in his eye as he provides offers pre-signed posters and other promotional material.
There is no doubt that strapping yourself into a rocket to take on the laws of nature earns a certain amount of attention and profile otherwise hard to come by, especially from a motor mechanic’s home workshop.
Mr McGlashan, though, is not just known for his world record challenges. He’s had profile in the high-octane world for decades.
Among the petrol head community he’s been a star on the drag racing scene, which earned him sponsorship and appearance fees but also took him away from the land speed record challenge.
“We used to make our living at it [drag racing],” he says.
“But I was spending too much time away from home.”
Mr McGlashan admits he’s sold his two drag racers and now dabbles in work as a real estate agent to help pay the bills.
“He has to earn his keep,” comes the voice of his wife Cheryl from the kitchen of his home, just like any other suburban residence, apart from the 16.5 metre rocket in the garage, which will weigh nine tonnes fully laden.
Mr McGlashan reckons it has cost about $500,000 so far to build the shell over the past 18 months, including steel, parts and knowledge provided by supporters. Curtin University, for instance, has helped with the car’s design by using its IT grunt to simulate airflows via computational fluid dynamics.
Such local technology and expertise is invaluable for a car that will probably travel more than 400kph on its first proper test run, which the team hopes can be held in Western Australia
While the Aussie Invader team expects to be challenging the record on the high altitude desert plains of Nevada in the US, there is hope that they will find at least 20km of flat, hard and straight land in WA’s remote interior to check out their design.
“We’d love to run a car in WA,” Mr McGlashan says.
“But to even do the research on running a car in WA is very tough, expensive and time consuming.”
He hopes a mining or exploration company might know of such a site, or be prepared to help find it.
On top of that the team needs another $500,000 to complete the car, including $300,000 for the engines, which will come from New Zealand start-up Rocket Lab, proving the until now parsimonious project has gone regional in its attempt to show up the rest of the world.
“Lots of people wanted to do things for us but we didn’t have the money,” Mr McGlashan says.
“When you talk to Americans (about engines) they see a multi-million project and their eyes light up.
“When we tell them we have no money they quickly find they are a bit busy.”
Ultimately, Mr McGlashan reckons the total bill for the record will be around $3.5 million,
“Infrastructure takes a lot,” he says.
“We usually end up with crew of 65 people. It scared me the first time I went out and everyone looked at me and said ‘who is this bastard’.”
