That looks quite fast!
We sure hope so. The current FIA record is 415.896 mph for the flying mile. It was set in 2008 by Tom Burkland (who only lives 50 miles from me and is one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet), not on this run:
cuz one of the chutes didn't open and he missed becoming an "Interstate 80 highway statistic" by about a quarter mile. There's a pretty thorough photo essay here:
http://www.chevyasylum.com/lsr/bsf2008/shootout/burkland/Welcome.html The shot of the liner with the wheels in the air kinda "put me on the map" as an LSR photog. Niche market, but at least I don't have to do weddings.
But I digress. The "mission statement" is included in the website's name: Target 550. We want to add about 135 mph to the TOP OF THE EXISTING RECORD! (FIA Category A, Group 1, Class 11 - Reciprocating engine, over 8 liter displacement, supercharged.) You could say that we're over 8 liter displacement...two 510 cubic inch Hemi V8 motors equates to 16.7 liters.
For sure, we want to be the first car that uses pistons and wheels to transmit power to the ground to set a record over 500 mph.
I think I can announce this: Trial runs will be made at the Mojave Mile (Edwards Air Force Base, Mojave, California) at the end of this September. If you happen to live on the left coast (or anywhere in the western US...it's 775 miles one way for me, but I'll be there...and maybe with my race car, if it survives World of Speed's 130 and 150 Club attempts) you can show up to see the anticipated test runs....not over 250 or so, but what Marlo Treit (team principal) wants to do will be almost as interesting as seeing a 500+ run.
He wants Les Davenport, the driver, to run it up to somewhere over 120 mph, depress the clutch pedal, which will disengage both motors, nail the throttle to bring the motors up to the rev limiter and then "side-step" the clutch. We'll be running treaded Dunlop tires so we should have a fair amount of grip on the concrete surface. The idea is to see what breaks. We hope nothing breaks, but with all the trouble people have had with driveshafts, differentials and other parts of the drivetrain (I wasn't the only one who had that sort of problem last year) he figures that if nothing breaks on a concrete surface with treaded tires, then it should be fine on the salt with LSR tires which have no tread.
It's gonna be a "torture test" of the highest level. When I think about all that's gone into that car over the last 14 years of construction and the possibility of tearing it up like that....well, it makes me very nervous.
Btw, one of the other cars/teams shooting for 500 mph is Poteet & Main's Speed Demon:
seen here on its fastest run ever, 426 mph, set last year at the "Top Speed Shootout." George Poteet, the owner/driver of the car, made too quick a shift on the backup run and tore the splines off the transmission input shaft. He was devastated, as was the entire crew, me included as their "hired gun" photographer.
It'll be interesting, to say the least.
RtR
