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Speed Record Clubspeed on wheels, water and wingsJust for the Record - February 2008contents: Honda fuel cell car production.Following the excellent performances of the Ford car and Buckeye Bullet 2 at Bonneville in 2007, Honda has announced that its fuel cell car, the FCX, is to go on sale in the USA in the summer of 2008, with Japan targeted afterwards. Honda has also revealed that they are entering production with a car based on the CRZ Concept. This will be a compact, lightweight sportscar powered by a hybrid powertrain. source: www.world.honda.com Bluebird news.The restoration of Donald Campbell’s Bluebird has taken a major step forward with the donation of a new jet engine. De Havilland Aviation provided the Bristol Orpheus engine, which had previously been on display at the Bournemouth Airport’s aviation museum. It will replace Bluebird’s original Orpheus, which was beyond repair after spending over 30 years at the bottom of Coniston Water in Cumbria. The legendary boat was salvaged in 2001 by diver Bill Smith who is now restoring the craft to full working order at his Tyneside workshop. Mr Smith said: “The old engine had almost completely dissolved, but it was also damaged in the crash. Even if we’d pulled it from the water the day afterwards, it wouldn’t have been easy to fix." source: BBC news Oldest Rolls is sold.The world’s oldest surviving Rolls Royce car has driven away with two records after it sold at auction in London for £3.5m ($7.3m). The price is the highest ever paid for a car built before 1905 and is also the most for a Rolls Royce. The open-topped two seater was the fourth vehicle built by the new Charles Rolls and Henry Royce after they began work together in 1904. An anonymous British collector paid twice the auctioneer’s estimate. Two telephone bidders drove the price up to its recordbreaking high in a thrilling bidding war, said a Bonhams auction house spokesman. The veteran car has had only three careful owners and is in perfect condition, said another Bonhams official. “The purchaser could get in and drive it away," Tim Schofield, head of UK motor sales for Bonhams, told Reuters news agency. “You would just need to tickle the carburettor, make sure the battery has a bit of life in it, remove the sleeve from the starter handle and give it a couple of turns." The previous record for a veteran car built before 1905 was £1.76m paid for a 1884 De Dion Bouton. The most a Rolls Royce has previously fetched was £1.48m for a 1912 Silver Ghost Double Pullman Limousine. Thrust SSC film.The news has been released that there will be a dramatised full-length film made of the Andy Green/SSC/Mach 1 record attempt. This is not a documentary but a film for general release. The film is called ‘Mach 1’ and will be announced to the film world officially at the next Cannes Film Festival. It will be made at Pinewood Studio, England and should be ready for screening in two to three years time. No news on who will play what parts yet: this is to be decided. Goodwood dates for 2008.Dear Motorsport Enthusiast,
The 2008 Festival of Speed will take place during the weekend of 11-13 July, with the Goodwood Revival being held over the weekend of 19-21 September 2008. Next year will see the 16th running of the popular Festival of Speed, and Lord March and his team are currently working flat-out on themes for the event to ensure we attract the crème of the world’s best vehicles and most exciting drivers. The 2008 Goodwood Revival promises to be the best one yet as we celebrate the 60th anniversary since the opening of the legendary Goodwood Motor Circuit, plus ten years of the Revival event itself. Advance entry and grandstand tickets to both of these events went on sale on Thursday 1st November 2007, and can be ordered as follows: Online at www.goodwood.co.uk Email: bookings@goodwood.co.uk Telephone: +44 (0) 1243 755055 Fax: +44 (0) 1243 755058 Lake Gairdner 2008 dates.The 2008 speed trials will take place at Lake Gairdner from 3rd - 7th March 2008. Bentley sets ice record.A Bentley Continental GT, driven by four-times World Rally Champion Juha Kankkunen, has smashed the world ice speed record, reaching an average speed of 199.86mph (321.65km/h) on frozen sea off the coast of Finland. The near standard four-wheel-drive Continental GT - which is privately owned by the world rally star - eclipsed the previous ice speed record of 184.14mph (296.34km/h), set by a Bugatti EB110 Supersport at the same location. Kankkunen’s team endured temperatures of minus 30 degrees Celsius on a 10km section of frozen sea, 50km north of Oulu in western Finland. Accelerating hard over 70cm-thick ice, Juha took around 5km to hit his optimum speed before reaching the start of the marked kilometre over which his speed was measured. In spite of the Continental GT’s exceptional grip and traction he experienced wheel-spin even above 120 mph. source: Classic Driver / Nokian/ Bantley Shelby posts new speed record.In the latest saga surrounding the world’s fastest car tag, the Shelby SSC set a new benchmark of 255mph on a closed road in Washington State.Shelby Supercars (SSC), manufacturer of the ultra highperformance Ultimate Aero Twin Turbo, set the new “World’s Fastest Production Car" record on Thursday September 13, with an average top speed of 255.83 mph. Confident of the 1183bhp vehicle’s abilities, SSC set out to validate their top speed claim in accordance with the strict guidelines set by Guinness World Records. More in Fast Facts issue 68 and www.shelbysupercars.com . Ken Warby in ConistonOn the evening of the 20th October 2007, a dinner was held in honour of the fastest man on water, the event was held at the Church House Inn, Torver. Present at the dinner was Ken Warby, Bayden Gardam (Ken’s right hand man), Bill Smith and some of his team, John Lee, Helen Loney, Vicky Slowe and a assortment of Speed Record Club members. During the evening Ken showed us a pre-production DVD which showed Ken’s record attempts in the 70’s, later moving to the USA and starting a concrete mixing company, it also showed Ken’s offshore power-boating activities, during the evening with the aid of a NOBO board and pen Ken drew basic sketches highlighting various points why he thought attempts by Campbell, Taylor etc. had failed, Ken said to the audience that he was disappointed that his record had not been broken and thought it very unlikely it would fall in the near future. Ken’s next statement left us all stunned; he said that although his new boat was all but complete, he would push his boat into the workshop and close the door on it, saying record breaking was a young man’s game and that he was too old now More text by Neil Gilfillan and photographs by Dawn Sempill & Neil Gilfillan in Fast Facts issue 68 Hempleman-Adams sets Atlantic recordDavid Hempleman-Adams spent four days in the smallest balloon to cross the Atlantic, earning five distance and duration records to add to the 39 he already holds. His helium balloon Toshiba Challenge is 1/20 the size of the monster balloon used by Richard Branson who previously crossed the Atlantic. Lifting from Newfoundland in Canada, Hemplemans-Adams landed safely in Burgundy, France, among a herd of cows. Elly Beinhorn-RosemeyerThe famous German aviatrix Elly Beinhorn passed away in November; she was 100 years old. Elly Beinhorn became famous in the 30s, participating in long distance flights and was labelled the German Amelia Earhart. She met ace racing driver Bernd Rosemeyer during a prize giving ceremony and they both married soon after amid huge publicity in Germany. Elly put her career on hold for a while and followed her husband to races. Their life together ended in January 1938 when Bernd was tragically killed during a speed record attempt. Elly Beinhorm resumed her flying career but the war interrupted her flying activities. By then the mother of 2 young children, she was not allowed to fly for Germany during the war. She later took up gliding after the war and became a journalist. She published an account of her career and of life with Bernd Rosemeyer in 1939 in “Mein Mann, Der Rennfahrer" which was re-edited only a few years ago with Chris Nixon under the new title “Rosemeyer, A new biography". Most powerful production car ?Another competitor has re-appeared in the supercar league. According to its boss, Gerald Wiegert, Vector has just produced the most powerful production car ever. Powered by a 10-litre twin-supercharged V8, the HPRV (or Hyper-Performance Road Vehicle) deliver 1850 hp and 1700 lb ft of torque. The claimed top speed is 275 mph, whilst the standing 1/4 mile is covered in 10 sec (terminal speed at 160 mph). 0-60 mph can be achieved in 2.5 sec! More at www.vectormotors.com
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