[Land-speed] Skills at the controls of an LSR

[M Pittwood]

List

Dr Mayf included the item 'ergonomics' in his list of the elements that can
demonstrate skills in handling an LSR vehicle.  I talk to that and
'intuitive skills'.

This element was investigated in the crash involving the outright British
LSR car with Richard Hammond at the controls but was perhaps not fully
covered in the report issued to the public under the UK freedom of
information (FoI) act.

Whilst Richard was the same size (height, arm length, torso and leg length,
etc) as the cars regular driver and could reach all of the control levers
and see all that was needed, it was his 'intuitive reaction' as a driver
that came into play when things started to develop that his training had
not, up to then, encountered.

Richard was on the seventh run of his training programme when the offside
front tyre deflated and delaminated.  When it did and he saw it fail, his
inputs reverted to those it seems of a normal car driver (his intuition
took over) - he did not react as a jet car driver would have done.

You do not find a hand lever control of throttle and parachute release in a
road or 'conventional' track car.  There is no kill all systems safety
switch under the left foot that needs the foot lifting in a road car.
(Declutching adds pressure from the left foot to a pedal).  You do however
find a foot brake for the right foot  - and it was used.  The steering into
the 'skid' was "natural" and a driver uses both hands to do this.  Note
however that as the power of the jet remained at full afterburner throttle,
their effects were nullified.  There is a shut down and release lever for
the left hand to reach, but that is a back up system that few jet car
drivers ever need or wish to use.  Right handed people are not likely to
use it as first choice it seems.

Late into the final run, as the car was leaving the runway almost
backwards, Richard recalled the words and cockpit actions of his training
and the BBC film shows him using his right hand to shut down the jet and
release the parachute.

My point is if you put a driver into a car that has the controls that they
can reach but laid out in an unfamiliar way, they will not have had enough
practice and experience to do what is correct by their training, but they
will drive as they 'normally do' even when things are not going to plan.

So as Andy Green (Thrust SSC, MGF 255 and JCB Dieselmax driver) advised me
after the crash.  Set out the cockpit (even of a jet car) and its controls
in the way that you would drive your road car.  Even down to the chute
release being like the streamlined bikes - operable without either hand
coming off the wheel.

Having done this work for yourself, do think through these control matters
when you offer your car to anyone else to drive.  [Do they drive an auto
trans and left foot brake on the road?  Are they left handed?]

Just a few pence more to add to the thread.

Malcolm Pittwood, Derby, England