Konkorde Challenge

[Wanderfound]

Hypersonic passenger transport.

Simple rules:

1) Circumnavigate Kerbin in less than one hour.

2) LF only, no oxidiser. RAPIERs allowed, but in open-cycle mode only.

3) Visual and autopilot mods okay (Mechjeb etc), but otherwise stock.

4) Must have at least two crew; pilot and co-pilot. No drone ships.

5) No heatshields or fairings.

Your score is your ticket price: (0.8 x Units of LF expended)/Number of passengers.

To demo:

 

 

Full album at http://imgur.com/a/OJu0J, score is (0.8 x 4,449)/80 = 44.49 credits per passenger.

Edited February 11, 2017 by Wanderfound

[Wanderfound]

A more efficient turbojet version:

 

 

 

 

I started with slightly less than full tanks, so the total consumption was 3142 units of LF. Score is (0.8 x 3142)/80 = 31.42. Still some room for optimisation if I reduce the fuel capacity.

Edited February 12, 2017 by Wanderfound

[Mr. Me]

Pretty cool challenge! I'll probably do it when I get home. One question though: is atmosphere skipping (using fast jets to get on a suborbital path, then activating engines once back near Kerbin) allowed?

[Wanderfound]

7 minutes ago, Mr. Me said:

Pretty cool challenge! I'll probably do it when I get home. One question though: is atmosphere skipping (using fast jets to get on a suborbital path, then activating engines once back near Kerbin) allowed?

Yup; silbervogeling is allowed. You'll probably find that you lose a lot of speed in the process, although it may be worthwhile if you can keep it under an hour.

(BTW: if it's taking ages and your plane is stable, crank up the time acceleration and switch to map view. The game runs much faster on a marginal PC when it doesn't have to handle the scenery graphics load; I can manage a circumnavigation in about twenty real-time minutes)

[Eidahlil]

I'm guessing no shipping kerbals in a cargo bay, with or without lawn chairs? Also, probably no staging (e.g. drop tanks), or staged parts are included in cost?

Since I, personally, find Mk2 and Mk3 parts to produce disproportionate amounts of drag (especially the adapters), here's an attempt with two 1.25m noodles strutted together. http://kerbalx.com/juzeris/DoubleNoodle

Started with 1080 fuel, finished with 19, while having the capacity for 48 passengers (+2 pilots). That would make the ticket cost 17.68333333... .

 

[AeroGav]

2.5M PARTS have the lowest drag per unit of fuel capacity, i wonder how the hitchhiker stacks up vs mk1 crew cabin?

[Xeldrak]

Well, here is my first try: 

Full Album

 

Ticket Price:
(0.8 x 1705)/18 = 75,78 credits

I guess you need to have a big wallet if you want to travel in your private concord....