why did Larry Berg (guided by you?) keep mentioning George Poteet's 439 record when some/many/most (take your pick) people would consider Don Vesco's 458 to be the wheel-driven record to aim for?
The FIA of course do not make it any easier for the non enthusiast to follow when they demand that an automobile can only break a record in the class determined by the type of engine, use of forced induction (or not) and by total cubic capacity of the motors (for conventional 4 stroke or diesel).
With a big block motor of over 8 litres and turbocharging the 'Carbinite Liner' will/should/could break the record speeds set by the Burklands - mile at 415.896mph and by Al Teague - kilo at 425.050mph in the category, group, class, designates as A-I-11.
With the smaller capacity engine the team could have challenged the Poteet speeds of 439.024 & 439.562 (A-I-10). [So the questioning on the video may have been legitimate].
To be the 'fastest automobile' any contender has of course to aim for the Late Don Vesco speeds of 458.444 & 458.196 mph, but only the Vesco team seem to be running a vehicle in that classification and should/could break Don's records in 2015 (salt permitting).
And aren't we all glad that the 1% improvement rule has been allowed to slip away from the FIA rules. If the governiong body had not, then a record in A-I-11 at 460mph might not have been deemed fast enough.
What the FIA should be doing is awarding an 'absolute' title to the automobile mile and/or kilo speed, what most here on landracing.com know as the "wheeldriven record speed".