Written by members of the Rosco McGlashan LSR team

Team member Mark Read is from the United Kingdom, born in London and moved to Perth in 2004 with his wife Julie and family.  He joined the Aussie Invader team in May 2009 when he made a call to me after finding details on the Internet.  The next day, we met for coffee and Mark was suddenly in charge of redeveloping the Aussie Invader website, helping create newsletters and raising the profile of the Aussie Invader brand.  Mark was responsible for bringing his brother Steve Read on board and works closely with him and me on promoting the LSR project through conventional and online media.  The structure is pretty flat, "We all do what needs to be done to keep this project moving forward," says Mark.  he is a bit of a petrol head, having started to build his first hot rod at 15, and went on to build so many cars over the years.  He has a passion for American cars, having owned many, including Mustangs, Corvettes, a Dodge Viper, and he built this V8 trike with an engine from a Mustang.

Steve Read has been immersed in the world of brands for most of his working life.  First as an art director and graphic designer in London and California working with iconic brands including Ford, Apple, British Airways, Aston Martin, DHL, and many others.  For the last twenty years, Steve was MD of the pioneering product placement agency, Brandirector Entertainment.  Brandirector's client list was large and varied, including MBW, VW, Cisco, Sony, Kellogg's, Dyson, Canon, Olympus, plus many other world class brands.  The agency was the first Preferred Brand Supplier appointed by the BBC.  Steve negotiated the deal.  He has spoken at many key media events including the Westminster Media Forum to the United Kingdom's Members of Parliament, the EGTA in Brussels and Stockhol, the EU Parliament to Members of the European Parliament and many other regional events.  As a recognized expert in communicating to brands, the FA approached him to find and introduce strategic brand partners to the St. Georges Football Park Football Centre, home of the England national team.  Steven is a dedicated petrol head, historic racing driver, and recently was part of an eight man team that broke the world record for rowing the English Channel in a Cornish gig.  As the oldest member of the team, he was nicknamed "Corporal Jones".

Pete Taylor is a retired jet engine technician, having worked 20 years in the RAAF specializing particularly on Atar engines use in the Mirage fighter, which powered Aussie Invader II and III.  Pete has been on my team since 1982, helping me to construct Aussie Invader II, which broke the Australian Land Speed Record in 1994 at over 802 km/h (500 mph) and went on to achieve greater speeds but never completed a two-way pass needed to set the record.  Pete waas Crew Manager and oversaw construction of Aussie Invader III that exceeded Richard Noble's World Land Speed record in 1996 of 633 mph, but never officially broke the record as it could not back up its 638 mph (1,028 km/h) one-way pass.  Pete is a total Chevrolet Nut!  He owns an '82 El Camino, wife Heather has a '63 Impala that he restored 10 yeras ago, and he also has restored a 1929 Tourer basket case over 15 years.  He is very involved in the old car movement in Western Australia State through the Council of Motoring Clubs (CMC).  He's been a volunteer for the last 10 years and is currently a Trustee and Secretary/Treasurer of the Motor Museum of Western Australia situated in Whiteman Park.  In his spare time, he traces his family tree, looking for other skeletons in the cupboard, as he cannot find any convict ancestors.

Chris Demunck started his career with an apprenticeship in a heavy plant mechanical engineering.  He spent 4 years with Chamberlain Industries Pty Ltd, diagnosing product problems on their range of industrial and farm machinery as well as country dealer service development.  Chris spend 31 years with Detroit Engine and Turbine Company, progressing from Diesel Technician through to Service Manager with a staff of 60 people.  He was responsible for day to day running of a large engineering workshop as well as management of contract labor on site of power stations at both W.M.C. Leinster and Argyle Diamond Mines.  Chris spent the last 3 years of his working career as a technical manager of General Motors Electromotive Diesel (loco size engines) throughout Australia and South East Asia, so Aussie Invader 5R does not faze Chris at all.  Chris is a loyal and extremely dedicated member of our team and has been with us for over 10 years.  He can turn his hand to almost anything and his stamina and work ethics are unique.  After a tough day working on our project, he goes home and often spends the evenings designing and machining parts for the following day.  His main duties are car construction, and he recently built a 2 metre working model of Aussie Invader 5R.

Brett Boughton is a full-time Physics and Engineering Studies teacher at Willetton Senior High School and a car enthusiast.  He joined the team in August 2011 with the aim to inspire sutdents by highligting the science and engineering principles underpinning the Aussie Invader LSR project.  Brett commented at the time that, "Aussie Invader 5R is not only an excellent example of teamwork and human endeavor, but a highly stimulating example of applied science and engineering - a very fast example at that!"  Brett believes in "learning science by doing," i.e. he employs as many demonstrations and pracctical activities as possible in his lessons.  As an ex-scientific instrument maker with the CSIRO before he pursued his science degree, Brett has seen the importance of the mutually reinforcing connection between the workshop and the design office.

Willetton Senior High School is a highly regarded science and engineering school.  Brett and the engineering department's aim is to provide their academically strong engineering candidates with a solid grounding in the practical and theoretical aspects of engineering before they enter university.  He is currently teacing Engineering Studies ( a new tertiary enterance subject) and was extremely pleased to note that 75% of his studnets in last year's class have been offered placed in Engineering at Curtin University and The University of Western Australia (UWA).  Five students were offered $20,000 scholarships from the local universities and two students won international scholarships, one at Cornell and one at Purdue.  In the spirit of "Hands on, minds on," Brett originated the "eV Challenge" in 2000.  The "eV Challenge" is primarily an inter-school electric vehicle endurance event for full-scale, student built vehicles.  The event regularly attracts over 30 teams (approximately 100 students) and is currently enjoying its 12th year.  In addition to the "eV Challenge" competition vehicles, his students are tasked with designing, building, and testing their "Eco Warrior" 12V DC, lean steer, electric commuter trikes.  Brett and fellow Engineering Studies teacher Paul Hogg were recognized for this highly innovativeschool program last year when they won the presitigious Engineers Australia, National "President's Prize" at Parliament House in Canberra.

Brett has not only given his students a grounding in the technology associated with basic electric vehicles, but he is getting his students to have a go at designing key systems on the Aussie Invader.  Students will be challenged to develop designs for a skid brake, an air brake and a variable angle of attack canard wing system.  In addition, selected groups will be asked to develop performance spreadsheets and to conduct an ergonomic study of Aussie Invader’s cockpit.  Brett fully admits that the final designs may not be good enough to be employed on Aussie Invader.  However, the student’s motivation and immersion in real life engineering problems will be “educational gold.”  We look forward to reviewing the output from this innovative and highly motivated group of aspiring engineers.

Paul Martin has been working with team member Brett Boughton to help us with our Air Brake design and is also involved in looking at the design of our tailfin.  When he is not involved with speed record ventures Paul is as a freelance engineer specializing in the design, development and manufacturing of advanced lightweight and high performance structures and in the past has also applied his trade for motor racing in F1, F3000, GTS & Indy racing cars for customers including March Engineering, Spirit Racing, Arrows Racing and Ligier Sports.  Born in Kalgoorlie in Western Australia and up to the age of 15 lived mainly in Bayswater, Victoria.  He was Tertiary educated in the United Kingdom and then joined Rolls Royce Aero Engines in Derby as a Graduate Engineer. 

During his 30 year engineering career Paul Martin has also worked in senior positions on numerous land speed record vehicles and projects, including: Oldsmobile Aerotech Quad 4 record car 257 mph around Indianapolis race circuit, McLaren F1 Supercar.  The world’s fastest production car at the time (241 mph), McLaren Maverick World Land Speed Record, Bloodhound World Land Speed Record car (target 1050 mph), and Quicksilver World Water Speed Record boat (target 500 mph).  Other positions held during his career, include: Senior Project Engineer Advanced Composite Technology Ltd, Chief Composite Engineer Leyton House Formula One, General Manager COMTEC Ltd, Head of Composite Structures Engineering on the McLaren F1 supercar project, Engineering Director Composite Engineering Innovations Ltd, Head of Group Manufacturing Lola Cars Engineering, Director Ling Dynamic Systems, Managing Director Technical Resin Bonders Ltd, Engineering Director Quiet Revolution Wind turbines.  We are really lucky to have Paul working on some of the most challenging aspects of our project and sharing his vast and comprehensive knowledge with us.

Anthony Hasluck is one of Perth's senior public relations consultants with more than 20 years experience in the resources, construction and engineering sectors in Western Australia and overseas.  Anthony has worked extensively with many of the State's major companies and has a deep knowledge of Western Australia's business sector and communities.  He co-founded Clarity in 1999.  In addition to his role at Clarity, Anthony is a non-executive Director of the Enirgi Metal Group and its Australian operations.  Enirgi has controlled assets of $450 million and more than 300 employees.  He is the Chairman of Artsource, the leading member organization for visual artists in Western Australia, as well as Deputy Chairman of the WA Cultural Chairs group and a member of the Advisory Board for UWA's Faculty for Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.  He is a winner of a 40under40 business award.  Internationally, Anthony has worked in the UK for several years in the construction, engineering and energy sectors.  During this period he was responsible for PR activities in up to 40 countries in Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America associated with major construction, infrastructure and mining projects including bridges, airports, roads and underground mine development.  Anthony started his working career in Perth as a cadet journalist in 1988 after graduating from the University of Western Australia with a Bachelor of Arts in Politics.

Mike Annear was born and raised in Western Australia, and has since lived and worked in Sydney, the UK and the middle-east.  His early life revolved around working as a commercial diver and also as an Airbrush Artist.  He later studied photography and worked as a commercial photographer.  Mike’s interest in 3D computer graphics began when he was employed as an Exhibition designer, using 3D AutoCad in Perth. This in turn led him to work creating broadcast television graphics for AIM (ABC) in Sydney.  His 3D work really developed as a modeler for a multimedia company called Microplus in Perth, which went on to become Immersive Technologies, one of the world's largest manufacturers of mining equipment simulators.  His role as senior 3D modeler for TAFEs CG&VR (Computer Graphics and Visualization centre) introduced him to 3D laser scanning, a field he is still working in today.

Mike Annear moved to the UK to work at TRL (The British Research Labs) in their Investigation and Risk Management section.  He was using long range 3D Laser scanners to record data from serious vehicle crashes, often working with the British Met Police who are now spearheading laser technology in forensics.  Mike took a “year off” from 3D laser scanning, and went back to producing 3D visualization graphics as senior 3D Designer for the opening Ceremony of the 2006 Asian Games in Doha Qatar.  With Mike tasked to create an animated 3D “Virtual rehearsal” of the entire opening ceremony.   One of his pastimes since 1993 has been paragliding.  He has traveled extensively with his paragliding and some of the places he has been include Australia, South Africa, Switzerland, France, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Austria, Qatar, UAE and Lebanon.  Often these trips allow him to scout for suitable places to run our car.  Many of the images of Aussie Invader 5R on this site are produced by Mike for us and he also works on 3D modeling of new components in the little or spare time he has.  More of his great work and paragliding exploits can be seen at www.mikeannear.com.  Mike’s new passion is his 30 year old Farrier designed Trimaran “Triffic.”

John Ackroyd (Ackers to most people) is an extraordinary design engineer.  He has been an inspiration to our project and one of the cleverest design engineers you would ever wish to meet.  Ackers was introduced to me many years ago, soon after Richard Noble had set the world land speed record at 633 mph for Britain in 1983.  I contacted Richard Noble to applaud him and his mighty team for their brilliant effort.  I was impressed with Noble’s willingness to offer advice.  As the phone calls became more consistent and the questions more technical, Richard introduced Ackers to me and a lifetime friendship evolved with John taking on a mammoth workload with engineering calculations, drawings and suggestions on a daily basis for many years.  John is a truly remarkable man and one in a million.  Ackers has played a key part in the concept and design of many aspects of Aussie Invader 5R, including our 1,000 mph wheels, and his knowledge of Land Speed Record successes and failures and the quest to discover the reasons behind both, has made him such a valued asset and friend to our team.

Dan Boseley has been working in the composites manufacturing industry for thirty-seven years making products from simple water tanks to international money market dealing desks using anything from standard resins and fibreglass to the more exotic Carbon and Kevlar composite fabrics using many different types of composite forming machinery.  He has been in charge of fibreglass workshops and later run his own fibreglass company but nowadays he is happy wholesaling in fibreglass roof sheeting.  As a child in the 1960's, Dan watched a documentary on the exploits of former world land speed record holder Englishman Donald Campbell and remembers looking at his crew working on his car and recall being envious of them working on something so exciting, not for a moment imagining he would ever be involved in Australia’s challenge for a world land speed record.

Dan first became involved when talking to Lindsey Varco of Ultraflow and spotting a picture of a concept of Aussie Invader 2.  Lindsey said he was building the full body for it, at which Dan instantly said, “do you need any help."  Lindsey said, “Yes but it’s going to be a lot of work,” and Dan has never looked back.  Dan said, "To be part of the most exciting motoring project this country has ever had is just amazing.  It is so hard to believe it has been over twenty-two years ago since that chat with Lindsey but I am as proud and excited today as I was then to be a member of the Aussie Invader team."  Dan's other interests are quad riding in the great Aussie country side with his wife and close friends and he also has a keen interest of rocketry, making rockets of his own which makes rocket powered Aussie Invader 5R even more interesting.

Peter Beck is the CEO of Rocket Lab Ltd which is a ground-breaking aerospace company focused on rapid and cost effective delivery of innovative, high quality technology to the space and defense industries.  He is an award winning scientist and engineer having been presented with the Meritorious Medal from the Royal Aeronautical Society for service of an exceptional nature leading to major advances in New Zealand aviation and the Cooper Medal presented by the Royal Society bi-annually to those deemed to have published the best single account of research in physics and engineering.  Following almost a decade and a half of propulsion research, market development and networking within the international space community Peter founded Rocket Lab Ltd in 2006.  Peter and Rocket Lab have been involved with the project since its inception and has given the Aussie Invader team his time and expertise as well as credibility with his recognized standing within the world's space and rocket community.

Gone Racin’ is at [email protected].