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| Britain | ||
| Battle to break land speed record | ||
| 2006-07-07 | ||
Two jet-powered cars are to go head to head in Gloucestershire in a bid to break the British land speed record. The current record is held by Colin Fallows, 54, from Northampton, in his Gnat jet powered dragster - Vampire - which reached 300.3mph in 2000. At RAF Fairford on Friday, he will attempt to break his record, but will face competition.
Team manager Malcolm Pittwood said: "We have been allowed to use one of, if not the, longest runways in the UK. "The signs are good that the cars will both break 300mph and we will achieve a new top speed." There will also be an attempt at Fairford, to break the 138mph record for an electric car.
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| Posted by:Steve |
| #7 Hey -- does this disqualify this guy? (Gotta see the pic) http://www.abc4.com/local_news/local_headlines/story.aspx?content_id=DDFCF59F-F035-48E3-8247-0B2BAD8C04A8 Man sets land speed record on lawn mower A man riding on a suped up lawn mower set a new world speed record at the Bonneville Salt Flats with a speed of 81 miles an hour. "A lot of people might say you guys are crazy?" "Yea I hear that all the time," said Bob Cleveland as he sat atop his tricked out grass clipper. But if driving a suped up lawn mower down a track on top of a salt covered lake bottom means you're crazy then Cleveland admits he's crazy. "This is my job and I enjoy it. It's a lot more fun than cutting the grass." When the wind died down on the Salt Flats, Cleveland hit the throttle and sped away. Within a few seconds he topped out at 81 miles an hour a new world's record. "That was great, it felt good, I believe we can get a lot more out of it," Cleveland said. In addition to his speed work Cleveland also races on the professional circuit, winning the U.S. Lawn Mower Racing Association's National Championship 8 times. But Cleveland's ride is not your father's lawn mower. Under the hood he installed a 820.07 Peerless transaxle and a 20 horse power V-twin Vanguard engine. That all means he has the fastest lawn mower on the block. While Cleveland's chopped out clipper never touches a blade of grass it does bring him a lot of green, including a sponsorship from the Golden Eagle company, the makers of the 104 plus octane boost he uses to spike his mower. Between racing and setting new world records Cleveland spends most of the year on the road. But when he does make it home his girl friend, Diletta Wiggins, said she's s the one who mows the lawn. "Bob doesn't know how to cut grass any more. In fact I don't let him on the yard any more because he goes to fast," Wiggins said. There was no previous record so Cleveland set the mark at 81 miles an hour on a mower. He hoped to reach 104 miles per hour but the race day got cut short when a wind storm came through the Salt Flats. |
| Posted by: Sherry 2006-07-07 20:23 |
| #6 Gnat jet powered dragster Weird, son ofa Sabre killer? |
| Posted by: 6 2006-07-07 20:20 |
| #5 I thought the land speed record was held by the last Sudanese chicken. |
| Posted by: grb 2006-07-07 16:47 |
| #4 As the story sez, it's the British speed record, not the world record. |
| Posted by: Steve 2006-07-07 13:04 |
| #3 I thought the land speed record was set by MikeyMoore heading for the last doughnut. Or maybe it was a Dem running for money from the far Left.... |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2006-07-07 12:32 |
| #2 Nowhere in the UK there is a piece of land who is both flat and uninterrupted for long enough so you can dream about reaching the US speeds. For a car reaching Mach 1 like in the US you need something like 7 miles of a straight lane. |
| Posted by: JFM 2006-07-07 10:09 |
| #1 Huh??? Land Speed Record: October 15, 1997 Black Rock Desert, USA Andy Green (United Kingdom) ThrustSSC Turbofan 763.035 MPH (1 mile) First supersonic record (Mach 1.016) |
| Posted by: ed 2006-07-07 10:01 |