Jive-Bomber submitted a new blog post: Renault Étoile Filante: A Shooting Star on the Salt Continue reading the Original Blog Post
Saw that thing parked near Saturdays driver's meeting. Didn't see or hear it move under it's own power. I would have liked to hear the french Batmoble sound It wasn't as interesting as the 3cylinder Honda built streamliner. Honda even brought a chassis dyno to the salt in the many tractor trailer loads of equipment ....wowwwzerz
I'm the guy who brought Etoile Filante back to Bonneville in 2016 (in a white shirt and black pants near the car). It was a great honor and a huge pleasure to do this and to be on the salt with this beauty. A few details: 1- L'Etoile Filante still holds the record set in 1956! 2- The car was functional, but it's normal that @Nacifan didn't hear it: unfortunately, it no longer has its turbine and it was equipped (of course, without destroying anything from the original car and having made everything reversible) with a small electric motor. Yes, it's less cool (and fast!), but it was the only way to see it running again. Premonitory? At the Rétromobile classic motor show last February, Renault presented a new Etoile Filante... electric! 3- The Renault Dauphine, which was also present in 2016, was driven by Alain Prost's son, Nicolas, and he set the (small) record in its category.
More pix I shot that day And just 4 funn... 1 of the Thompson family Hot Rod headin' 2 the startin' line the same year.
Great photos and history. To me that has always been the great thing about land speed racing in that you build a car (or truck or bike) to fit into a certain class and race against the record in your class. The guy in the Renault Dauphine is working to achieve his record jst as Danny Thompson was working for a much faster record.
The Jalopy Journal
