Ron Ayers, Designer Of Thrust SSC, Has Died

In October 1997, Wing Commander Andy Green went spearing across Nevada’s Black Rock Desert in the Thrust SSC jet car, setting a new land speed record at 763mph. It’s a record that still stands to this day, with Thrust SSC remaining the only land vehicle to ever break the sound barrier. It was announced today that the man responsible for its design, Ron Ayers, has died at the age of 92.

Ayers was born in London in 1932, and became interested in aerospace engineering as a child when he experienced it in shocking first-hand circumstances during the blitz. He’d go on to study aeronautics and aerodynamics, eventually finding employment with aircraft manufacturer Handley Page, and then designing guided missiles for the British Aircraft Corporation. In the late ’60s, he moved into a very different sphere, taking over his family’s business, which produced hand-operated printing presses.

Effectively retiring in the late 1980s, Ayers looked for other ways to keep his active mind occupied and became fascinated with land speed record vehicles, especially their aerodynamics. A chance meeting with Richard Noble, Thrust SSC’s project director, led him to become involved with this latest record attempt.

Going supersonic on land was entirely unprecedented, but Ayers was able to build on his missile design experience to shape a car that remained safe and stable even as it tore past the speed of sound.

Ayers would go on to lead the aerodynamics of the JCB Dieselmax, the vehicle that still holds the diesel land speed record at 350mph, again piloted by Andy Green. Well into his 70s, he collaborated with Noble and Green again to become chief aerodynamicist for the Bloodhound project, an attempt to break the outright record that’s stood since 1997.

Bloodhound has had a turbulent development since its inception in 2008, but new owners reignited the project in 2023, with a new aim of not only breaking the land speed record but doing it carbon-neutrally. Its success would only further cement Ayers’ already-established reputation as a genuine pioneer of speed.

Main image: Vauxford, CC BY-SA 4.0; team image: Andrew Graves