Rosco McGlashan (born 1950)[1] OAM is an Australian drag racing record-holder, who currently holds the Australian land speed record at 500 mph (802.6 km/h).[2] This record was set on the 27 March 1994 on the dry salt flats of Lake Gairdner, South Australia, 440 km (270 mi) northwest of Adelaide.
McGlashan attempted to set the record in his jet-powered car, Aussie Invader II. The car was powered by a 36,000 hp Atar jet engine from a Mirage jet fighter aeroplane. In February 1995 Rosco and his team headed back to Lake Gairdner for an assault at the 633.468 mph (1,013.55 km/h) world land speed record, held by Richard Noble. This attempt was not a success, due to poor salt conditions, the course being very wet in places. McGlashan ran off course and hit the metal timing equipment at 960 km/h (600 mph). McGlashan walked away but the car was destroyed.
McGlashan then built his next car Aussie Invader III. With this car McGlashan hoped to challenge Andy Green and Craig Breedlove to be the first to Mach 1 on land, but again the salt conditions were too bad for high speed record runs. On 15 October 1997, Andy Green reached 763.035 miles per hour (1,227.986 km/h), the first supersonic record (Mach 1.016). In 2012, McGlashan sold the Aussie Invader III in order to raise money for the Aussie Invader 5R.[3]
Needing a vehicle with more power, McGlashan has announced[when?] that he has designed a new car, the Aussie Invader 5R. This car will be rocket-powered and is designed for speed greater than 1,000 miles per hour (1,600 km/h). The rocket car will be his biggest and most powerful yet at 16 m (52 ft) in length and 3 metres (10 ft) high at the tailfin.[citation needed]
Construction on the car was started in 2009, and work on building Aussie Invader 5R is now[when?] in full swing, with preliminary planning and design work having taken a decade before the build could start.
The car has recently[when?] appeared at two Perth based motor shows after completion of phase 1 of the build (car rolling and systems in place). Phase 2 has started with further rocket motors and propellants being tested and then a smaller version of the selected engine design being constructed. Once this has passed the testing phase, then work will start on the full size motor (62,000 lb/f; 200,000 hp). This should propel the car from 0–1000 mph in around 20 seconds, burning about 3 tonnes of propellant over the full 1,000 mph run.
McGlashan also drove a rocket-powered go-kart to 253 miles per hour (407 km/h) in 1980—it is still the go-kart record to this day.[4][5][6] However, despite the evidence, this record is not recognized by Guinness, which has the record listed at 114.59 mph (184.41 kpm), less than half the speed of McGlashan's record.[7]