New Production Car Land Speed Record - 330 MPH

[TrickyDicky]

Why did the car slow down when it did?  ...

Brown underpants.

[wobblywalrus]

The gauge readings seem suspect, too.  The acceleration rate should slow down more than it does as the car adds on speed.

[kiwi belly tank]

Tuatara
https://www.google.com/search?q=tuatara+lizard&rlz=1C1CHBD_enUS788US788&sxsrf=ALeKk01LjS50IyZ7esJdRECxqaDADuYgZQ:1603425516568&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiaz9rC6cnsAhWIq54KHQAsAQIQ_AUoAXoECA4QAw&biw=1024&bih=657

I don't see a likeness.
https://www.google.com/search?q=tuatara+car&rlz=1C1CHBD_enUS788US788&sxsrf=ALeKk01pL3h0OnKt5qeD8lqU3jeJ3x4nNA:1603425657292&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi9vOeF6snsAhUFrZ4KHVToDBcQ_AUoAXoECA4QAw&biw=1024&bih=657

[RansomT]

Watching the video:  If I count the shifts correctly, the driver is only using 6 of the available 7 gears.  Wonder why?

[TrickyDicky]

Watching the video:  If I count the shifts correctly, the driver is only using 6 of the available 7 gears.  Wonder why?

I think you are correct.  He didn't reach Vmax!  There is a bit more to come if someone else exceeds their speeds.

[wobblywalrus]

It is amazing the highway department gave a permit for this.  These old country roads usually have two 12-foot travel lanes with 4 to 6 foot wide paved shoulders.  The pavement has a 20 to 1 slope from the center to the edges.  The gravel on the sides has a slope as steep s 3 to 1 and as flat as 6 to 1.  Usually it is 3 to 1 on those rural roads.  Most times if your front wheel leaves the pavement, and you do not panic, it is possible to ease the vehicle back onto the tarmac with gentle steering.

Travel speed is critical.  Usually at up to 70 mph the vehicle goes off the pavement only a couple of feet before the driver can react and correct.  The vehicle goes further down the gravel shoulder, before the driver can correct, as speeds go up.  Usually you can save it if up to half of the vehicle is over gravel, you react correctly, and are lucky.

The driver would be past the point of no return before he could react and try to get back on the pavement if a wheel went into the gravel at the speeds the idiot was doing.  Almost always the driver overcorrects and the wheel tucks in to the gravel as they attempt to steer back onto the pavement.  The car flips over and goes into the ditch.

This is what I was taught in the highway department.  Keep speeds reasonable based on conditions and the stability of the vehicle, the pavement width, the gravel shoulder slope, and the curvature of the road.  This is typically at the speed limit or lower in a big top-heavy loaded truck.  In a car we would go maybe 10 mph over this.

In the event a wheel goes off the pavement onto the gravel, we were told to straighten out the vehicle so it is going in the same direction as the road, with two inner tires on the pavement and the outer two on gravel, then to gently steer back onto the pavement. 

In cases where both front wheels are of the pavement, we are "going for a ride" I was told.  In this instance the best thing is to try to drive down the slope into the ditch with the vehicle upright.  It is better to make the trip to the bottom upright rather than on the side or upside down, I was told.

My best advice on doing what that guy did, is to not do it.  The salt flats at a race meet are the place for that type of horseplay.   

 

[RansomT]

Oh, I drove that section of the road.  Just realized after looking at a map, that I drove 160 coming back from LA to Vegas (wanted to drive through Death Valley).  I would need to drive it again, but that may be a nice place for a LSR event.  But at 330 mph, I wouldn't guarantee that the traffic in the other lane would be safe from a crash.

[Mike Borders]

Wobbly -- It is not amazing at all in Nevada, we have been doing it for over 30 years.  SH 160, where they made this speed attempt, is hardly an "old country road;"  in fact, Koenigsegg used the same section for their most recent speed attempt.  It is a relatively new, smooth (as public highways go) 4-lane divided highway.  As someone who has promoted three different Open Road Race events over a decade on four different state highways in Nevada (over 30 events) with speeds in excess of 200 mph, as well as overseeing an FIA Land Speed attempt by a British electric streamliner (ask Malcolm about this), I have traveled on, inspected, or raced on every possible Nevada state highway that could support such an attempt.  I was also the one who organized the first Land Speed attempt by SSC for their Aero car a decade ago on a Nevada highway (the attempt was unsuccessful, and they eventually set the speed record for that car back up north).  I will say that this section is one of, if not the best, section of road to try this on.  Whenever I obtained a road closure permit from NDoT for my races, there was always that caveat in the contract that clearly states that public highways are not engineered for extreme speeds, and all participants signed a waiver attesting to their awareness of this.  I have no doubt that the SSC people signed the same waiver, because they did it once before with me when we ran the Aero.  Open Road Race and/or Top Speed runs on public highways are the most dangerous form of auto racing in existence, because of the remote locations involved that impact emergency response time to save a driver's life in the "Golden Hour" should there be an incident.  Eight people have died participating in them since their inception in 1988.

Ransom -- when the actual event happens, the opposite side of the road is closed as well for the duration of the attempt.  NDoT applies the same criteria for closures for these events as they do for routine road maintenance; 20 minutes maximum with flaggers.  We used this same system in my ORRs for the practice sessions, because our road closure permit was only for the day of the race; we closed/opened the practice road and ran for 20 minutes after the first civilian car showed up wanting to go through.

[Stan Back]

Thanx for you informative reply.