Comments on: Speed costs money, how fa$t do you wanna go?

Speed costs money, how fa$t do you wanna go?

arto — Fri, 15 Jul 2005 17:31:28 -0800

Behind the scenes in Bonneville. Land speed record racing, as practiced every year during Bonneville Speed Week, is at once the simplest and most unique form of motor racing around. Here's a look into the Rice/Vigeant team's Suzuki Hayabusa-powered lakester--from construction to competition, near-tragedy to rebirth.

By: mr_crash_davis

mr_crash_davis — Fri, 15 Jul 2005 18:22:21 -0800

The shop foreman at the machine shop I used to work at was (and may still be) the world-record-holder for driving a normally-aspirated flathead-powered car. He had a flathead V-8 from an ancient Ford jammed into a 1979 Mustang, or thereabouts, which he managed to take over 130MPH, I think. I never got out to the Flats to see him run, but he did warn me that, if I ever did go, I should wear long pants. You see, if you're male, and you wear shorts, the sun reflects up your shorts from off the salt and gives you a sunburn in a most uncomfortable place. Dutifully filed under "Remember this for future reference".

By: rolypolyman

rolypolyman — Fri, 15 Jul 2005 19:52:25 -0800

I always heard you could go out to Bonneville in a regular car and drive on the salt flats as fast as you want. Is that true?

By: arto

arto — Fri, 15 Jul 2005 20:04:34 -0800

Kinda. There are a couple of "run whatcha brung" classes, the 130 and 150mph clubs, but it's not quite no-rules anarchy. Never been there myself, but it's something to file under "someday before I die".

By: ikkyu2

ikkyu2 — Fri, 15 Jul 2005 20:36:58 -0800

What a delightful post. I particularly enjoyed seeing how the late-model GM lakester looks very much like the lakester on the cover of the (1932?) Hot Rod Comics.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 04:20:40 -0800

I honestly wonder why land speed records require a human driver. At the super high speeds the car is pointed straight and the driver honestly doesn't have to do much but make sure nothing goes horribly wrong (and try not dying in the process). I don't see why the entire process can't simply be handled via remote control.

By: squeak

squeak — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 04:23:35 -0800

Friends of mine have been attempting to break a record at the salt flats using a Vincent Streamliner, think they're going to try again this year. Been interesting watching the project come together seeing the amount of work and ingenuity required to get two old Vincent engines to go over 300 miles an hour.

By: pracowity

pracowity — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 10:13:28 -0800

I don't see why the entire process can't simply be handled via remote control. And the Olympics could allow robotic bob sleds, robotic horse riders (there are robotic camel jockeys now), and robotic bicycles. In terms of engineering, the cars, like rockets (which the fastest of these cars are), should be unmanned. But who cares how fast a machine driving a machine went? People want to know about people. The real challenge, though, is in the water speed record: "Campbell's headless body wasn't found for 34 years."

By: Mitheral

Mitheral — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 10:52:34 -0800

mathowie writes "I don't see why the entire process can't simply be handled via remote control." What pracowity said. Plus there is a lot of seat of the pants control feedback that can't really be telemetrised and the requirements to house a human limit packaging options.

By: ROU_Xenophobe

ROU_Xenophobe — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 11:20:13 -0800

But who cares how fast a machine driving a machine went? I do! Me, sir! I'd love to see a couple of series spun off of F1 like that. One could have cars driven by humans through telepresence, and the other could be straight autonomous cars, just so the cars wouldn't have any inhabitants to keep safe. I'd love to watch cars cornering at eight gees through Monte Carlo, or hitting 350+mph at Indianapolis.