Jessi Combs, race driver and TV and Autoblog host, dies in jet car accident

[DonW]

Disregarding all the (to me) base comments on how 'cute' Jesse was, does anyone know what went wrong on that run?

She's the latest in a line that includes Malcolm and Donald Campbell, Parry Thomas, Malcolm Cobb, Craig Breedlove, Art Arfons and Gary Gabelich.

The add-ons (and subtractions) to make it into a 'car' don't look too well thought out.. 

 

Edited September 9, 2019 by DonW

[Junkman]

Malcolm Campbell was one of the few speed record racers of his days that died of natural causes. So did Art Arfons.
Craig Breedlove is alive and well, Gary Gabelich was killed in a road accident while his next project was underway and thus was cancelled.

[Junkman]

Jessi Combs is the latest in a line including

Roberto Barsanti, 1921

J. G. Parry-Thomas, 1927

Frank Lockhart, 1928

Lee Bible, 1929

Janos Somariba, 1933

Windman, Nathan 1934

Eric Fernihough, 1938

Bernd Rosemeyer, 1938

Nicholas Schlegel, 1947

Wayne Cass, 1948

Tom Glover, 1948

Robert Fadave, 1949

Floyd Fancher, 1949

Rulon McGregor, 1949

Jackson Pendleton, 1949

Wilbert Werder, 1949

Bob Robinson, 1950

Ken Bigelow, 1951

Renato Magi, 1951

Cornelius Wynja, 1951

Harvey Haller, 1953

Elwyn Williams, 1954

John Donaldson, 1955

Charles Sproul, 1955

Jim Johnson, 1957

Athol Graham, 1960

Robert Funk, 1962

Glenn Leasher, 1962

Charles Bennett, 1964

Jack Stewart, 1968

"Geezer" Emick, 1969

Bob Herda, 1969

Larry Lubinsky, 1969

Noel Black, 1970

Jim Buckmaster, 1972

Tommy Watts, 1980

Pete Dean, 1984

Vaifro Meo, 1984

Sonny Arnett, 1995

Bruce Johnston, 1998

Nolan White, 2002

John Beckett, 2005

Johan Jacobs, 2006

Dave Owen, 2008

Cliff Gullett, 2008

Barry Bryant, 2009

Guy Lombardi, 2009

Gerald Deneau, 2012

Jerry Lyons, 2012

Bill Warner, 2013

Tony Foster, 2014

Sam Wheeler, 2016

Tim Partridge, 2018

 

And that's only the ones I logged.
Yes, one could say I have an obsession with speed record attempts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Junkman]

People claimed in water speed record attempts include

Sir Henry Seagrave, Vic Halliwell (riding engineer), 1930

John Cobb, 1952

Mario Verga, 1954

Donald Campbell, 1967

Lee Taylor, 1980

Craig Arfons, 1989

[Exotics_Builder]

4 hours ago, DonW said:

Disregarding all the (to me) base comments on how 'cute' Jesse was, does anyone know what went wrong on that run?

She's the latest in a line that includes Malcolm and Donald Campbell, Parry Thomas, Malcolm Cobb, Craig Breedlove, Art Arfons and Gary Gabelich.

The add-ons (and subtractions) to make it into a 'car' don't look too well thought out.. 

 

My wife and I have discussed it a couple of times.  No real information has been published beyond the accident.  There is an indication they are finishing a documentary on her Land Speed attempt which will culminate with the crash.  Supposedly a Go Fund Me was set up to collect funds to finish it.  If true, we may not know anything more until then.  An accident can mean a lot of things in a racer like that.  Assuming some kind of investigation occurred, information has yet to be disseminated.  

[Ace-Garageguy]

Depending the speed the car attained just prior to the crash, I'd suspect aerodynamic instability from a pressure buildup under the lowest point on the nose. Approaching trans-sonic velocities, air does really funny things, some very difficult to predict. Drag increases astronomically, and small control inputs can have zero effect, or wildly amplified effect. I kinda doubt her engineer(s) had access to the latest-and-greatest CFD analysis tools like the F1 guys use, and those would only be good up to about 200MPH anyway. Designing something really fast that lives in ground-effect is entirely different from designing an airplane too, kinda unknown territory, the definition of "black art".

Leaked photos of the wreckage on a flatbead show the apparent effects of a crash, as well as what appears to be all-enveloping fire. The local sheriff's department have acknowledged the fire, and are said to be working with the team to recover data from the onboard computers.

[Junkman]

One of the inherent issues with SR attempts ending in fatalities is that it is likely impossible to tell what exactly happened. The one who could tell can't tell anything anymore and there are no black boxes like in aviation.
Although every incident was carefully investigated, as you would, few of these investigations yielded decisive conclusions. For example, to this day nobody can tell what went wrong on Coniston Water on that fateful day in 1967, despite the remains of the boat have meanwhile been recovered and carefully examined.

[styromaniac]

12 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Depending the speed the car attained just prior to the crash, I'd suspect aerodynamic instability from a pressure buildup under the lowest point on the nose. Approaching trans-sonic velocities, air does really funny things, some very difficult to predict. Drag increases astronomically, and small control inputs can have zero effect, or wildly amplified effect. I kinda doubt her engineer(s) had access to the latest-and-greatest CFD analysis tools like the F1 guys use, and those would only be good up to about 200MPH anyway. Designing something really fast that lives in ground-effect is entirely different from designing an airplane too, kinda unknown territory, the definition of "black art".

Leaked photos of the wreckage on a flatbead show the apparent effects of a crash, as well as what appears to be all-enveloping fire. The local sheriff's department have acknowledged the fire, and are said to be working with the team to recover data from the onboard computers.

Lot of comments on The HAMB website and elsewhere about the apparent lack of a roll cage encapsulating the driver...although I'm not sure how effective that would be at those tremendous speeds. Jet pilots at least have ejection seats that are effective at any altitude. Rocketing along a desert floor in excess of 200 mph....and suddenly going unstable...what chance do you have of walking away from that in one piece?

[Ace-Garageguy]

26 minutes ago, styromaniac said:

Lot of comments on The HAMB website and elsewhere about the apparent lack of a roll cage encapsulating the driver...although I'm not sure how effective that would be at those tremendous speeds. Jet pilots at least have ejection seats that are effective at any altitude. Rocketing along a desert floor in excess of 200 mph....and suddenly going unstable...what chance do you have of walking away from that in one piece?

To be a recognized land speed record attempt, it would have to be sanctioned by FIA. To put it bluntly, FIA would simply not allow anything to run without a roll cage that met their very stringent safety requirements.    https://www.fia.com/fia-world-land-speed-records

[styromaniac]

59 minutes ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

To be a recognized land speed record attempt, it would have to be sanctioned by FIA. To put it bluntly, FIA would simply not allow anything to run without a roll cage that met their very stringent safety requirements.    https://www.fia.com/fia-world-land-speed-records

Thanks. The comments I saw were based on people's cursory examinations of online photos of Jessi sitting in the cockpit...I found it hard to believe anyone would design and / or drive something at those speeds without rudimentary safety equipment built in. ( Of course conspiracy buffs were posting all kinds of comments as to why the recent LSR attempts were up in Oregon as opposed to Bonneville....as if they were dodging more stringent requirements. That's the internet for you. )

[Ace-Garageguy]

1 minute ago, styromaniac said:

... That's the internet for you.

Yup.

[Junkman]

There was nothing inherently wrong with that bloody car. Jessi Combs herself set a record with it in 2013 achieving a top speed of over 440 mph.
Since then there has been continuous development including lots and lots of test runs.
These cars aren't rolled off a trailer and driven pedal to the metal. Every record attempt is preceded by a series of run ups.

[wrenchr]

Roll cage or not at those speeds when something goes wrong it is not going to end well. 

[Ace-Garageguy]

16 hours ago, Junkman said:

...These cars aren't rolled off a trailer and driven pedal to the metal. Every record attempt is preceded by a series of run ups.

Yup. The guys who built the thing aren't a bunch of bozos who fell off the back of a turnip truck. And to run under an FIA sanctioned land-speed attempt, the engineering and safety aspects of a vehicle like this are under strict oversight by another bunch of guys who actually know what they're doing...and looking at.

Edited September 12, 2019 by Ace-Garageguy

[Ace-Garageguy]

Here's part of the story of the car and the team...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHs9o8FZdlE&t=865s

[porschercr]

https://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/a29697788/jessi-combs-crash-cause-of-death/

[Snake45]

There's a new documentary on her, just started airing on HBO/MAX. I'm about 20 minutes into it, looks very well done and respectful. It's called The Fastest Woman on Earth, if you're interested. 

[iamsuperdan]

Saw a trailer for this recently. Will be watching at some point for sure.

[keyser]

Jessi was on a rerun the other day. Sad. She and Sabine Schmitz both epic people and racers. Rip to both, raised the bar for everyone. 

[Snake45]

I'm now about halfway through. This is clearly no slapped-together production. These people were filming her and her pursuit of this goal for years (at least as far back as 2013). 

There's a very moving part where she tracks down once-famous stuntwoman Kitty O'Neil. 

At times Jessi reminds me of Lizzi Musi and Kayla Morton, but a bit deeper if that makes sense. She also sometimes bears a strong resemblance to Christina Applegate (Kelly Bundy). 

I strongly recommend this show to any who can see it. 

[Snake45]

Finished it. What a remarkable, amazing movie. It should win every award in its category. The best documentary I've ever seen on any subject.

And even though you know going in that it's not going to end well, they manage to give you about the "happiest" ending possible. 

There's some simply amazing footage near the end, too. 

HIGHLY recommended--Snakeworthy! 👍

Edited October 26, 2022 by Snake45

[JJ Deuce]

Finished the movie last night.  I agree with @Snake45.  It was really well done.  Obviously there'd been a lot of footage and time invested in telling the story before the unfortunate ending.  I don't want to spoil it for anyone that plans to watch but, while it was a sad ending, I liked the way they focused on what Ms. Combs accomplished.