We’ve all heard the urban legend about the guy who strapped a jet engine to his 1967 Chevy Impala and sent it screaming through the Arizona desert on a fatal test drive. It’s one of the earliest pieces of Internet lore and many of us felt let down when we learned it wasn’t true.
Two decades later a team of engineers is making that story a reality, albeit with more technology and (hopefully) less risk to life and limb. Bloodhound SSC, a jet-powered car, will attempt to break the landspeed record with a 1,000 mph drive through a South African desert in 2017.
Maybe it’s a leap, but the story reminded us of a post we did earlier this year about a project between filmmaker Fred Stodder and potter Thom Chambers. In 1979 the duo climbed into the back of a VW van and drove around Laguna Beach while Chambers made pots in the back, tossing them out the door as they were finished. The film is adorable; the pair engaged with the public while releasing professionally-crafted pots into the world, often ending with the destruction of the work.
It’s time to update that project. I reached out to Bloodhound’s people earlier today suggesting that they go back to the drawing board and find a way to bring a potter into the cockpit. What could go wrong? Sure it would require months of extra engineering and piles of money, but just think: pots exploding at the speed of sound!
I’m not going to hold my breath, but I’ll let you know how it goes.
Bill Rodgers is the General Editor of CFile.
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