Roscoe McGlashan’s iconic Aussie Invader III speed record machine has been put up for sale through Lloyds Auctions.
The famous piece of Australian motorsport history comes complete with an ATAR jet engine from a RAAF mirage fighter plane.
The impressive machine was piloted by McGlashan in 1996 and has been kept under wraps ever since, although under development for several years.
Collectors can bid on the mega machine here for the next nine days.
The car has a one-piece Kevlar composite designed body with an Australian flag print and can be held as a showpiece or can be driven.
Its artwork spreads across the body and features previous sponsor logos as well as a uniquely designed Australian flag that fades into a gloss red that carries over the rest of the body.
The Aussie Invader III features a high powered SNECMA 9K-50 engine that boasts 18,000lbs of thrust, while producing 36,000HP with a reported top speed of 1,025.6kph (641mph).
Its 15” carbon rotors to its 6 Pot Monoblock Callipers were designed and built by A.P Racing to withstand high temperature braking.
The Invader rests on solid hand forged L77 aluminium wheels and were designed to spin at 8,000rpm.
The fuel system holds 600 litres of Jet fuel and the fuel mileage is 10 litres per second.
Fitted with such a high-powered jet engine Aussie Invader III is noted to reach 0-1000kmph in just 16 seconds!
After McGlashan set the Australian land-speed record in 1994 in his jet-powered Aussie Invader II, he looked towards the 11 year-old world mark of 633.468 mph (1,019.468 kph).
Unfortunately the attempt came unstuck on Lake Gairdner in South Australia in 1995 when Aussie Invader II was destroyed after hitting a wet patch of track.
McGlashan survived the crash and began working on Aussie Invader III which he ran for the first time in 1996 in a program that was affected by bad weather.
In the meantime, English fighter pilot Andy Green set a new world mark of 1,229.051kph (763.035mph) – a mark that would be out of reach for Aussie Invader III.
“This increase in speed made Aussie Invader III redundant,” McGlashan wrote on his site.
McGlashen still continues his dream of breaking the world record and is currently building Aussie Invader 5R which will run a single bi-propellant rocket motor which is claimed to produced 62,000lbs of thrust (about 20,000 horsepower).
The car reportedly weighs 9.2 tonnes fully fueled and is capable of accelerating from 0-1600kph (1000mph) in 20 seconds. McGlashen has calculated that the car will burn 2.8 tonnes of propellant and at full speed will travel 1.6km (1 mile) in 3.5 seconds.
McGlashen has managed to keep his dream alive after resolving an issue with the Australian Taxation Office which withdrew a research and development grant reportedly worth $450,000.
McGlashen recently donated a 300,000hp (223710kW) MegaBoom rocket engine to the BushFire Appeal auction organised by Lloyds Auctions and it raised more than $5000 for the Australian Red Cross.
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