Near sea level speed record [Stock]

[Ribby Kerman]

Hi everyone,

I have a challenge for you all. It will be pretty specific. Your goal in this challenge is to get as fast as possible around sea level, (not over 2000 meters) using stock parts only. 

Rules

1. Have a screenshot of your speed below 2000 meters

2. No rocket engines, jet engines only

3. No modded parts

4. No physics mods that will make it easier to go faster

5. Your kerbals must be alive when they reach the ground.

6. No exploiting glitches

That's it! Good luck to you all and happy building. For reference on my first try, I reached 1672 m/s. Will have a screenshot up soon but try to aim for above that. 

- Ribby Kerman

[Laie]

After three tries... you don't specifiy that the craft has to remain intact, is that on purpose or an oversight? Put differently, are we aiming simply for a top speed before the craft explodes? ETA: in that case, I can manage 1900m/s and a bit.

Edited October 28, 2018 by Laie

[vyznev]

1 hour ago, Laie said:

After three tries... you don't specifiy that the craft has to remain intact, is that on purpose or an oversight? Put differently, are we aiming simply for a top speed before the craft explodes? ETA: in that case, I can manage 1900m/s and a bit.

Well, the challenge says that "[y]our kerbals must be alive when they reach the ground." Which, I assume, implies that 1) you must have at least one kerbal on board, and 2) they must not die before reaching the surface.

(It's not 100% clear from the OP's phrasing whether having kerbals die due to hitting the ground is acceptable. Just to be safe, I would assume not.)

[Ribby Kerman]

6 hours ago, Laie said:

After three tries... you don't specifiy that the craft has to remain intact, is that on purpose or an oversight? Put differently, are we aiming simply for a top speed before the craft explodes? ETA: in that case, I can manage 1900m/s and a bit.

This was intentional. As long as your kerbal reaches the ground alive, the rest of your ship can explode. The kerbal cannot die from hitting the ground. You will get some cred for having your entire craft intact, but this is a speed challenge so its alright as long as the kerbal lives.