since when is setting land speed records not traditional? anybody who has the balls to drive that thing is as traditional as any other person who has ever strapped themselves into something, that has a good chance of killing them. land speed racing is as pure hot rodding as you can get. I just hope mechanical failures don't make them leave five miles of skid marks like Spirit of America. He did get the record for that though. No mention of skid marks left in his drawers, I guess after skidding for five miles, dodging telephone poles, and landing in a lake at 200 mph, you have the right to leave a few.
Yeah ... 500 MPH is only "medium speed." So, like, for these guys, 500 MPH is so casual you almost expect them to have one hand on the wheel, and the other holding the martini they are sipping as they motor nonchalantly across the dry lake.
Based on the info on that image I was able to google up this: Satellite Images of Klein Mier Nommer Een You can zoom and pan this one so you can see where it actually is, and that's some damned remote country, that is. According the that web page, the closest hotel of any consequence is 540 kilometers (335 miles) away! My guess? The land speed team will be camping.
An update: The proposed 1000 MPH land speed record car's shape seems to have been finally worked out. There had been problems with lift, but they've apparently got those sorted out now and the project has apparently moved from the design phase to the construction phase. There's now a blog on the BBC web site written by the guy who is supposed to "pilot" this contraption. Here is a link to one I just read: Bloodhound diary: 'On war footing' From that diary entry: And there's this little bit of fun, as well: A 1000 MPH driving simulator? Sign me up! (Wait ... where the heck is Farnborough? ) There are also links on that web page to let you read eariler entries in the diary and other articles about progress in the LSR project.
The Jalopy Journal
