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After schooling at Winchester, his father had great plans for Richard `s
Career in the army but Richard deliberately failed the entrance so he
could go his own way - a huge embarrassment to his father who was in
charge of University recruitment at the time. Richard has tried to be a
novelist and sell concrete floors. He applied to join the SAS and learnt
and taught management with the American Management Association, skills
later put to good use for ThrustSSC, but felt there was more to life
than working in a big multi-national: "all the time this internal
conflict was raging…this speed thing was sort of burning away inside on
a slow fuse." Eventually, Richard put his conviction to the test and
sold his TR6 car for cash to fund his self built, crude THRUST1 jet car-
the first pure jet car designed and built in England. Thrust1`s first
test run nearly killed him when the car rolled. His wife, Sally, thought
she had lost him forever. But Richard was surprised that he did not
panic and was determined to get on and build Thrust2 as soon as
possible. He then decided to place an advert: "Wanted 650 mph car
designer". This advert found John Ackroyd and by 1978 they started
building the car. In 1980 Thrust2 created 6 new British records
including the Flying Mile of 248.87 mph. Overcoming various design,
sponsor and location problems, Thrust2 eventually took the world record
averaging 633.468mph, with a peak speed of 650.88mph. This record was
held for 14 years, the second longest, for a land speed record, of all
time.
Following his great success with Thrust2 Richard Noble moved towards
the ultimate land speed record - The Supersonic Dream. The late 1990s
saw the beginning of Anglo-American race to create the Worlds first
supersonic car. Richard was determined to achieve this world record
first for Britain but there were momentous obstacles for him to
overcome. Building the car took 100,000 man hours and required a 231
company supply chain but finding the right driver was the next problem.
Although Richard would like to have driven ThrustSSC himself the
workload was to make this impossible. So a six month competitive driver
research programme was set up at Farnborough to evaluate the 32
candidates. This was won by the ice-cool RAF Squadron leader ANDY GREEN.
There was also the constant battle to secure financial support and
sponsorship. Money was always a problem. Richard even had to go to the
man in the street for help and set up the Mach One Club to give
supporters information, sell fuel vouchers and merchandise - even
redundant parts! The Club ended up contributing 20% of the £2.8 Million
total costs to the project. What must be appreciated is this figure was
typical of a corporate accounting error and that most people believe
that this project would have cost £30-£40 Million if it had been carried
out by British Industry. As the car and the project developed corporate
sponsorship dropped off and Richard` innovative use of the internet had
to generate 250,000 gallons of fuel. Thousands of people using the
internet bought fuel certificates flowing in at a rate of 30,000 gallons
a day. It is only now that they have cleared all their debts.
Despite all these setbacks, Richard`s ultimate dream was realised in
all its glory, testimony to the team`s sheer determination and vision.
At the end both the car and the team were "knackered".
Richard speaks at coporate events around
the world. Drawing on his long and varied career he can talk about
innovation, team work and overcoming aversity. His presentations include
video footage of the successful Thrust SSC - it never fails to get the
hairs on the back of the neck standing up!
In 2008 he announced his intention to build a 1000MPH car with the
specific intention of encouragin children to take an interest in science
and engineering.
"...What a gripping presentation, which demonstrated your complete
passion, drive and adrenaline for "speed." You were exceptionally
popular and we've only received positive feedback from your
appearance..."
COLT Telecommunications on Richard Noble
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