(Editor’s note: I will never forget the first time I saw this vehicle, which is technically a sidecar motorcycle behind me at Bonneville in 2013.

I went back to the hotel that evening and rip sawed out this story about the Nebulous Theorem VIII. It is right from the heart and the gut. It blew me away and in an instant cemented everything I really love about land speed racing. Here’s the story, reprinted as we prepare for speed week 2016) –  Seeing so much incredible stuff this week at Bonneville has sent me into fits of dreaming about scouring junkyards for old engines to hot rod well beyond their initial power levels. One car has pervaded my mind and cemented itself into the fiber of my brain so deeply that I will never, and I mean NEVER forget it. The name of the car is the Nebulous Theorem VIII and it was constructed by a man named Jack Costella. The car is campaigned by Costella/Cunha (driver), and Bassano. It is important to know at this point that the car has set records at speeds approaching 260mph. The fastest record in the books produced by the marriage of Cunha and this car is 258.024 MPH. The driver’s area stands no taller than the average man’s knee. At its widest point the frame is no wider than a small block Chevy’s valve covers. Tim Cunha’s backside travels an inch or less away from the salt.

Now, here’s where I tell the people in the Land Speed Racing community that I understand this car has been in competition for ages. I understand I am not breaking any news here, but let’s be honest. Very few people in the grand scheme of things have ever seen this car…period. Even fewer have actually seen it run in all of its various iterations (with differing engines). As impressive as streamliners like the Turbinator, Speed Demon, and others are, they are not as jarring as this machine is. It took me minutes of staring at it in the staging lanes just to compute that it was a real competition vehicle and not some sort of put on. For me, it is terrifying to think about piloting this car at over 250mph. Call me names if you will, but when you see the photos of it below, you’ll understand…especially when you see Cunha installed into the car.

On Saturday, equipped with a 650cc engine the Nebulous Theorem VIII ran a terminal speed of 162.807. I am unsure of what it ran on Sunday as I have not been able to procure results as of this writing. The machine runs in the SCS-G category which deciphered for those of you who don’t speak LSR is Streamlined Side Car (Motorcycle) – Gasoline burning. Outside of the sheer shock of just seeing this car in person, listening to the worked over 650cc engine scream to RPM levels that rival a Formula One car added to the whole situation.

Jack Costella has constructed a long line of Nebulous Theorem machines and virtually all of them have destroyed records in whatever class they were intended to run. For my money (what little of it I have) this is the one you need to put on the list of things to see before you die. There’s nothing to compare it to. There’s nothing you have ever seen that you can say, “Oh, that’s like the so and so…”. There’s not a damned thing.

I think I have seen more race cars over the years than the average bear and this thing absolutely set me on my ass. Look at these photos and try to drink in just how absolutely out of this world the Nebulous Theorem VIII is. The vision of Jack Costella and the partnership of Cunha and Bassano deserves to be celebrated. Why? Because I’d not get out of the electric chair to drive this thing! (And I mean that in a good way and not as any disrespect to any of the men involved here!)

SCROLL DOWN TO SEE ALL THE PHOTOS WE HAVE OF THE INCREDIBLE MULTI-RECORD HOLDING – NEBULOUS THEOREM VIII –