I just went to Bonneville for the first time this year and I was blown away. Some local guys, The Maine Barons, went over 205 mph this year. I saw a guy on a streamlined Vincent motorcycle make a p*** on a bike that he's owned since 53 and started racing on the salt in 59. Watched a supercharged Honda Dream run. There are more stories per square foot in Bonneville then any other place I've ever been too.
I would trade every top fuel drag race ive ever seen to watch the run of that car that 31tudor just told us about.
I'm not diminishing the Chet Herbert / Steen family achievement of attaining a top speed of 364 mph ... and I'm certainly not trying to defend hamburger313 ... but the fact is that several piston-powered, wheel driven cars (streamliners) have gone much, much faster than 364 mph ... they just never qualified for a record run or set a new record ... so the SCTA-BNI, USFRA & F.I.A. record books don't list them. Remember that record speeds are two-way averages (in the same measured mile) ... NOT the top speed that a vehicle has attained. This is just one of the many reasons that records are so darn hard to set. The current record for the AA (501+ cu.in.) Unblown Fuel Streamliner cl*** is 377.715 mph set by Mike Nish in the Nish Motorsports streamliner @ SpeedWeek 2007 ... top speed attained was 386.387 mph. The current record for the AA (501+ cu.in.) Blown Fuel Streamliner cl*** is 417.020 mph set by Tom Burkland in the Burkland family streamliner @ the World Finals in 2004 ... top speed attained was 436.161 mph (Note: car went 450.225 mph in Sept. 2000 ... all chutes failed ... car ended up in the mud and sustained too much damage to make another run). Al Teague has attained a top speed of 425.050 mph and holds the current records for the A, B, & C Blown Fuel Streamliner cl***es: * A/BFS (440-500 cu.in.) ... 409.986 mph in 1991 * B/BFS (373-439 cu.in.) ... 381.867 mph in 2000 * C/BFS (306-372 cu.in.) ... 366.043 mph in 1998 Heck ... the Hoffman ~ Markley Blown Fuel Streamliner with a single 309 cu.in. 50's Dodge HEMI attained a top speed of 382.165 mph! ... and set the following records: * C/BFS (306-372 cu.in.) ... 365.433 mph in 1996 (bumped up by 0.6 mph by Al Teague in 1998) * D/BFS (261-305 cu.in.) ... 358.536 mph in 1992 * E/BFS (184-260 cu.in.) ... 348.150 mph in 1995 Again, the Herbert / Steen quest to break the Unlimited piston-powered, wheel-driven speed record is a noble one ... I am just simply pointing out that several others have gone faster than 364 mph.
Here's some pics (from rides.webshots.com) of the car at the 2004 World of Speed meet: ... and this from landracing.com: September 17, 2004: The Herbert/Steen car made its first attempt; this is a 4-engine streamliner, managed 220 mph and shut it off ... Herbert/Steen will run again tomorrow, driver error was reason given for the speeds, but they will by ready again tomorrow. September 18, 2004: Herbert/Steen car did not run ... courses were shut down due to high winds. September 19, 2004: Chet Herbert/Steen car finally made a full p*** and managed to get 345 mph out of the last mile. That big car just may need some more real estate to get it going.
FYI ... In addition to the "Spirit of Rett" AA Gas Streamliner 373.796 mph run, Fred Dannenfelzer's "DRM Racing" Lakester had a 5-mile marker speed of 366.546 mph ... which gave him a two-way avg. of 360.077 mph ... and the new B/BFL record!
I have seen/heard a video of the burklands 400+mph p***, and on this little computer it sounded like a wwII bomber going by..."locomotive on steroids" I can only imagine what these multi engine vehicle sound like in real life, clocking 7 second miles.
I was there, the car does just drive off . . . . If you think going that fast is easy, go do it. Fiddytree
Clayton Steen was plowing a bow wave of salt as he blasted to the top time of the meet at World of Speed. It looked like a V-hull speedboat coming down the course. The car is LONG and the engines are a part of the structure of the body. Somewhere I have a photo of those 32 big exhaust pipes sticking straight up out of the body just as it was firing up. The photo is just a reminder of the SOUND those big Chevy's put out. Thinking back I'm not sure the car has ever made a full run through the five mile traps. Like all the high horsepower heavy downforce cars you can follow their tracks for miles in the salt surface. That 2004 run may have been the last run of the meet for just that reason.
No one is saying that "going that fast is easy" ... in fact, I'm saying the exact opposite ... what ALL of these guys are doing is simply mind-blowing ... and that they ALL should be commended, respected, honored, etc. for their achievements & contributions to LSR.
I posted this because historically it's a significant car that turned some amazing speeds. Others have gone faster, and the current record will be broken for sure. There are lots of records and qualifiers ----Fastest piston /wheel driven, fastest jet car, fastest rocket car, fastest non piston/wheel driven etc. You are exactly correct. All these cars and drivers deserve recognition. If youve ever seen a car surp*** 300mph on the salt it's a sight you'll never forget!!! Still a four engined monster like the Mickey Thompson Challenger, Summers brothers Goldenrod, or the Chet Herbert car must really be an event. I would make a special trip to the salt just to see it!
VERY COOL post.........I still think about the Vesco run when I sorta' mentioned to my pop's to watch this one..........it is going to be fast......and it was. Chris Chaz, Sorry that I missed you on the salt this past year, I sorta' had to watch the "family" and make sure where everyone was located on the salt.
Bob Summers set the 409.9 mph record with Goldenrod after a total of only eight timed runs. The next day after setting record, he went out with air scoops the aerospace engineers had been telling the Chrysler engineers he should have been running the first place and on his ninth timed run made a one way run of 425 mph.
A little off topic,but here's the Burkland car at over 450 mph. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqO6msKE4G4
Actually dip**** ....( er ratliff ) The exit speed was over 450 mph. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, and you have little. Its easy to see why you are banned from posting on other boards. Hopefully the same will occur here. I see they just closed your last thread. We were really enjoying this one.
I just watched the burkland video about 8x in a row I can't imagine how awesome it must be to pilot that car! Man that thing sounds cool! I have heard that those p***es that he did were 2/3 throttle, the car has more power than the tires/wind resistance lets it use. wonder what it is like to have to back off the throttle a little at 400+ because you are expierencing wheelspin.
The guts it must take to drive the Burkland car astound me, If you have ever looked at the ****pit, It is in the front of the car unlike the Steen car which is in the rear. Being in the front and being four wheel drive there is a covered driveshaft that comes thru the ****pit on the right of the driver forcing Tom to have the gas pedal on the left with the brake pedal and right foot above the left foot. Plus there are two fuel tanks that run on the lower outside of the ****pit, meaning that the front driveshaft runs between you and the fuel.
The car wasn't spinning the wheels from wind resistance because it wasn't anywhere close to terminal velocity. It's an under 5,000 lb gross weight car that on straight alcohol can develop 4,000 horsepower. On the 438 mph run (average speed through the mile) Burkland could never use more than 60% of the throttle travel at any point in the run even though the salt at the time was as dry and hard as it gets.
If you learn to SHUT THE **** UP long enough to listen to people who think with their brains instead of their egos you might learn something.
Well, I bet I am not the only one that has reported this dude, TWICE. I think the term for him is called TROLL?
wow! I was just speaking in generalizations... from what I have heard, the 2 greatest obstacles in going over 180mph are tires(traction,and holding together), and wind resistance. I read in a hot rod article that the burklands were using 2/3 throttle, and hoped to get the traction thing figured out. But hey I hope this thread can get back on track... I love multi engine cars, and it would be cool to see that herbert streamliner back in action.
That run with the 452 mph exit speed was impressive. I was at the timing ticket trailer at the 3 1/2 when Tom p***ed. We dug him out of the Bonneville salty mud when his chutes didn't deploy properly and his only braking was the clamshell air brake. I'm excited about hearing and seeing it at speed again in a couple of weeks.
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