“You only want to drive it in a straight line under jet power. Jet engines don’t go around corners very well. The centrifugal forces in the engine tend to make things go in a straight line.”
Simon controls the jet engine using a small hand control with two buttons on it. One kills the engine and the other is a three-way switch that allows him to nudge the throttle up or down.
The engine is a multi-fuel type that can burn unleaded petrol, diesel or paraffin. “Avgas is about three times the price of petrol so I’m relieved it can run on ordinary fuels,” he says.
For insurance reasons, Simon isn’t allowed to run the engine at shows. Instead, he plans to take it to Santa Pod and run it down the drag strip. He says: “They will probably only let me do a soft run rather than full throttle. It will be a noisy but interesting spectacle.”
Whatever he does with it, his P100 jet car has given him an idea for a future project: “I’ve just bought a Nimbus 105 turboshaft engine out of a Wasp helicopter. I’m thinking of taking the V8 engine out of my other P100 and putting it in that.
Being shaft driven, it can be connected via a drive box to the Ford’s axles. It should be fun!”
