The Hot Needle challenge - Go as fast as possible below 600m!

[xoonZG]

The Hot Needle Challenge

Going beyond Ludicrous speed at sea level!

 

The Challenge:
Reach the highest speed possible below 600m (Sea level).

 

The Rules:
1. No cheating.
2. No part clipping.
3. No infinite fuel.
4. Difficulty Normal.
5. No mods, DLC allowed.
6. You must provide a image of your craft in VAB or SPH(with and without exploded faring), a image of the craft in flight, and a image of the post flight data. Video is preferable.
7. The judges have the final say if your craft is legitimate.

 

 

 

 

Extra Challenges:
1. Have the craft survive the top speed for 5 seconds. 
2. Make the craft single stage.
3. Make it land on the runway without parachutes.
4. Make it take off from the runway on wheels.
5. Make it include 2 passengers.
6. Only use jet engines.

 

 

 

 

Leaderboard:
1. 1980 m/s "Highspeed rocketbird" made by Pds314. Also doing extra number 4.
2. 1855 m/s "The Speedy Squirrel" made by Robonoise. Also doing extra number 5.
3. 1849 m/s "The Fast Stick MK2" made by Lokachop. Also doing extra number 2 and 4.
4. 1795 m/s "The Glowing Needle" made by Ruuude. Also doing extra number 4.
5. 1601 m/s "The Fast Stick MK1" made by Lokachop.
 

 

 

Coward board, for those that actually survive don't push their crafts hard enough:
1. 
2.
3.

 

 

Beyond 2000 m/s club:
1.

 

 

Mod leaderboards:
1.
2.
3.

 

 

Good luck mad men engineers!

Edited October 23, 2019 by xoonZG

[xoonZG]

Example submission:

In the VAB:

 

In flight:

 

Top speed in flight:

 

Flight data:

 

Summary:
The speed achieved was 1780 m/s at a top altitude of 317 m above sea level. 

 

Use this as a bench mark for future submissions. 

[Ruuude]

Here's my 1st submission - The Glowing Needle (1795 m/s)

Here is SPH:

In Flight: 

Top Speed:

Post-Flight Data:

Edited October 8, 2019 by Ruuude

[AHHans]

46 minutes ago, xoonZG said:

1. Have the craft survive the top speed for 5 seconds. 

LOL!

Edit: If you can survive for 5 seconds, then you are not trying hard enough.

P.S. How about separate leaderboards for survivable and not-survivable entries.

Edited October 8, 2019 by AHHans

[xoonZG]

44 minutes ago, AHHans said:

LOL!

Edit: If you can survive for 5 seconds, then you are not trying hard enough.

P.S. How about separate leaderboards for survivable and not-survivable entries.

Good idea. I will add that.

[Lokachop]

My submission: The fast stick MK1

 

Here it is on the SPH:

 

On the runway:

 

 

 

Liftoff(it has to pitch up or else it crashes into the runway):

 

 

 

 

Side booster separation:

 

 

 

Moments before engine cutoff and capsule separation:

 

 

 

Capsule separation:

 

 

 

Crew ejection & parachute deployment:

 

 

 

 

Results:

 

 

more detailed imgur album here

[Lokachop]

Fast stick MK2, my second submission:

In SPH:

 

In flight:

 

 

 

Fastest speed captured before stalling into the ocean:

 

 

 

Results:

 

more informative imgur album here

[Rakaydos]

Can I steal other people's old Land Speed Record designs and post them here?

[xoonZG]

51 minutes ago, Rakaydos said:

Can I steal other people's old Land Speed Record designs and post them here?

As long as you give them credit, I am ok with this. 

[Robonoise]

I succeeded with the speedy squirrel at 1,855 m/s!

 You can find my pictures here.

Highest altitude: 331m

Highest speed: 1,855 m/s.

Edited October 9, 2019 by Robonoise
I needed to add my link to pictures

[Robonoise]

I forgot to add, I did challenges 2 and 5, well, for 5 I included 4 and passengers, not 2. Not sure if that counts or not.

Edited October 9, 2019 by Robonoise

[xoonZG]

11 minutes ago, Robonoise said:

I forgot to add, I did challenges 2 and 5, well, for 5 I included 4 and passengers, not 2. Not sure if that counts or not.

I will add 5, your craft still has launch clamps, which counts as a stage. 

[Robonoise]

1 hour ago, xoonZG said:

I will add 5, your craft still has launch clamps, which counts as a stage. 

Ok, thanks 

[Jeb-head-mug kerman]

Ive built a plane capable of speeds of up too 3500 m/s, and I will try to fly it tomorrow for this challenge!

[Pds314]

Quote

1. No cheating.
2. No part clipping.
3. No infinite fuel.
4. Difficulty Normal.
5. No mods, DLC allowed.
6. You must provide a image of your craft in VAB or SPH(with and without exploded faring), a image of the craft in flight, and a image of the post flight data. Video is preferable.
7. The judges have the final say if your craft is legitimate.

Can we use mods for flight control?

[Pds314]

Okay, I have an entry. No mods were used in flying the craft:
1980 m/s.

SPH shot:


Prepare for eastward takeoff from the Island runway. Having a big discardable wing helps a lot.


We know we can't land, so better to get ready to bail out after the run.


We hit 700 m/s, our drag-limited top speed. While the heat shields are not producing significant drag due to some node shenanigans, the NCS adapter is limiting out speed. Time for the rocket stage. Stage separation is aided with two ullage motors.


1978 m/s. Right before it flipped out.


Several explosions later, we open the service bay our command chair is in.


Bailout successful. Parachute deployed. Still at a very high speed though.


1980 m/s top speed and we stayed under 400 meters.

I suspect we're not even within a km/s of the best possible, considering that the ground speed record is at least 3500 m/s, we are on the equator, not the south pole, and this design of mine was very much a first attempt, not a full-optimized design.

Edited October 17, 2019 by Pds314

[Pds314]

Frankly I am surprised this even goes supersonic. Current issue is structural: the craft is very likely to rip its wings before I can get it to top speed. I may try removing some of the fuel.

[Pds314]

Not an official record because I used a mouse-aim flight mod and went above 600 meters, but a launch abort that beat the record by quite a lot.

Edited October 17, 2019 by Pds314

[Pds314]

A conservative run of the actual thing (resulting in an unplanned failure but who cares). 2428 m/s.

Throttle up!


Supersonic.


This thing can do at least twice this speed before stage separation, but again, conservative run.


The missile before anything fails.


The missile after several (planned) wing failures.


Escaping the aerodisintegrating vehicle by autospaghettification.


2428 m/s top speed.


And she lived to tell the tale!

Edited October 17, 2019 by Pds314

[Pds314]

The carrier aircraft can reach 1100 m/s!

[TheKSPBeginner]

Pretty sure Stratenblitz has done escape velocity at sea level.

[Pds314]

8 minutes ago, TheKSPBeginner said:

Pretty sure Stratenblitz has done escape velocity at sea level.

On the ground.

[sturmhauke]

Yeah, here's the vid. He went to the polar ice cap for the 3469 m/s run.

 

[xoonZG]

On 10/17/2019 at 6:55 AM, Pds314 said:

Can we use mods for flight control?

No, as it is a pretty large part of the challenge. Though feel free to try, and it will be included in the mod leader board. 

 

 

On 10/17/2019 at 11:06 AM, Pds314 said:

Frankly I am surprised this even goes supersonic. Current issue is structural: the craft is very likely to rip its wings before I can get it to top speed. I may try removing some of the fuel.

 

On 10/17/2019 at 12:32 PM, Pds314 said:

A conservative run of the actual thing (resulting in an unplanned failure but who cares). 2428 m/s.

Throttle up!


Supersonic.


This thing can do at least twice this speed before stage separation, but again, conservative run.


The missile before anything fails.


The missile after several (planned) wing failures.


Escaping the aerodisintegrating vehicle by autospaghettification.


2428 m/s top speed.


And she lived to tell the tale!

If you want your craft added to the leader board you need to fulfill the requirements set in the rules. And avoid part clipping (fairing clipping engines). 
Though I am seriously impressed by the speed you accomplished. 

 

 

On 10/18/2019 at 12:53 AM, sturmhauke said:

Yeah, here's the vid. He went to the polar ice cap for the 3469 m/s run.

 

He accomplishes the speed by clipping several nosecones into each other to reduce drag and provide a powerful heat shield, also the sepatrons are clipped into the body to reduce drag. 

A seriously impressive feat, but still not meeting the challenge requirements. 

 

[Pds314]

4 hours ago, xoonZG said:

No, as it is a pretty large part of the challenge. Though feel free to try, and it will be included in the mod leader board. 

 

 

 

If you want your craft added to the leader board you need to fulfill the requirements set in the rules. And avoid part clipping (fairing clipping engines). 
Though I am seriously impressed by the speed you accomplished. 

 

 

He accomplishes the speed by clipping several nosecones into each other to reduce drag and provide a powerful heat shield, also the sepatrons are clipped into the body to reduce drag. 

A seriously impressive feat, but still not meeting the challenge requirements. 

 

The actual run has no fairing. Sorry, should have clarified.

Edited October 23, 2019 by Pds314