Author: Laura Mallonee / Source: WIRED
This hypnotic whirl of metal is the afterburner of a General Electric J79 axial-flow turbojet engine—the same engine used on F-4 Phantom jets, made by McDonnell Aircraft during the Vietnam War. But this one is mounted in the North American Eagle, a 56-foot-long supersonic aircraft turned racing car.
Six years ago, the engine got a new four-line afterburner that increased its muscle, giving it 19,000 pounds of thrust and 45,500 horsepower—enough to go 835 mph.
In the past two months, it’s been upgraded again to help race-car driver Jessi Combs take a shot at the womens’ land-speed record. Stuntwoman Kitty O’Neil set the current record—512 mph—for a female driver way back in 1976. (British racer Andy Green has held the overall land speed record of 763 mph since…The post The Engine Propelling the Fastest Woman on Four Wheels appeared first on FeedBox.