.

the car junkie daily magazine.

.

Update: Speed Demon Runs 451 MPH! Now Has Highest Speed Record In SCTA Record Book


Update: Speed Demon Runs 451 MPH! Now Has Highest Speed Record In SCTA Record Book

Update Friday August 16th, 10am: After qualifying yesterday with a 436 mph 5th mile speed, and exit speed of 448, the Speed Demon backed it up this morning with a 438 mile per hour 5th mile and 451 mile per hour exit speed to set the record in the 5th mile at 437 miles per hour which is the highest record in the SCTA record books. In Turbinator news, the team went out for another attempt this morning and was able to make it only two miles before going off course and taking out the two mile marker and aborting the run.

CLICK HERE TO SEE TONS OF GREAT PHOTOS FROM THIS WEEK AT BONNEVILLE SPEED WEEK 2013

UPDATE Thursday August 15th, 2013: 9:41 am Mountain Time  SPEED DEMON JUST RAN436 MILES PER HOUR IN THE 5TH MILE WITH AN EXIT SPEED OF 448 MPH!  With that run, the team will surely return to impound and do routine maintenance on the car and take the rest of the day off to prepare for a record return run tomorrow morning, if the engine is one piece. If not, they would only be allowed 4 hours of repair time today in impound and one hour in the morning. We will keep you posted with more as we get it. 

UPDATE Thursday August 15th, 2013: (Read below if you have not been following the Streamliner battle for the Hot Rod Trophy at Bonneville Speed Week 2013 until now. Otherwise, read on right here.) Once again the salt of Bonneville is kicking some ass. Racers ass that is. After thrashing to rebuild, and then install, a third engine for the Speed Demon on Tuesday afternoon/Wednesday morning, seemingly strange things happened to the team. First a starter failure seems to prove that even the most mundane of problems can be a pain out on the salt, and then after making repairs and returning to the starting line for another run, the engine would not start and was found to have fluid in one cylinder. We had reports that it was water, but did not confirm this with the team before going to press.

Meanwhile the Team Vesco Turbinator, which finally passed tech on Tuesday morning, was supposed to be making it’s first run just after lunch and never left their pit. With only two days left they have very little time to get on the track and start making laps, which is a bad deal considering vary “challenging” track conditions.

And then there is the underdog. Bobby Dalton, Jackson, Meyer, G-Man, Joe, Jr. and the rest of the team are still laughing and smiling and having a good time working on the Flashpoint streamliner and have been as fast as 382 mph but have not been able to put their power to the ground. The car has been flawless mechanically and the team continues to thrash and claw at the salt with the goal of breaking Al Teague’s 20+ year old 409 mph record, and possibly taking top speed of the meet and the Hot Rod Trophy from Speed Demon. The salt conditions are going to make this a very difficult task, but the boys from San Martin, California are not stopping until they have to. These guys are having so much fun that they have become the talk of the pits and even George Poteet went over to hang out and check out their operation.

Both the Speed Demon and Flashpoint are expected to be making runs early Thursday, so we’ll keep you posted as we get more information.

August 14, 2013

Earlier this week Brian wrote about the Streamliner war that didn’t seem to be materializing out on the salt during Bonneville Speed Week 2013.  (CLICK HERE TO READ THE STORY) With Team Vesco showing up with the Turbinator this year, after more than a decade off the salt, expectations were high that this would be a Speed Demon vs Turbinator battle royal. So far, this has not been the case.

When the Poteet and Main Speed Demon rolled onto the famed Bonneville Salt Flats late last week, they were prepared for battle as usual. With three Kenny Duttweiler engines ready for records, and a very well prepared team, they came to fight for their 6th Hot Rod Trophy, and 5th in a row. But things have not been easy for the team. On one of their first passes of the week the team torched a head and had to swap the cylinders head from one of their backup engines onto their C engine. After qualifying for the record with their C,  386 cubic inch, engine at 430 mph the team was unable to backup their record because of a canopy latch failure. The team immediately ran again, and you saw our video of that 410 mph pass on Monday. 

Not satisfied, the team has made more runs in search of another 430 mph run, but at a price. On Tuesday afternoon George Poteet made another run behind the butterfly wheel of the Speed Demon and, after running 424 mph, got out saying that there was more in it for sure.

Bonneville Speed Week 2013 salt flats SCTA BNI land speed racing streamliners roadsters 067

He was happy as was the rest of the team…until a lack of pressure in their water tanks had the team thinking they may have blown a head gasket. We are not sure what the final diagnosis was, but it was clearly bad as the team removed yet another engine from the famed Speed Demon and had another one going in. With all of their engines incomplete or damaged in some way, we are not sure what strange combo this one must be. When we find out, we’ll let you know.

Bonneville Speed Week Streamliner Battle 005

Bonneville Speed Week Streamliner Battle 007

Meanwhile, Team Vesco has yet to turn a tire on the salt under power. The team showed up with two streamliners, but the Turbinator is the one everyone seems to think will give Speed Demon a run for the money. Unfortunately more than a decade off the salt means there was a lot of work to be done to get this car ready, and they clearly didn’t get it all done before arriving on the salt. In fact, their HUGE team has been working non stop to get the car to pass tech inspection and then make a pass. When we spoke to the team toward the end of the day on Tuesday they were still in mid thrash but feeling optimistic that Wednesday would be a good day. Does that mean it will finally make a pass? We’ll see.

Bonneville Speed Week Streamliner Battle 008

One of the things that made me go hmmmmm here this week was the immediate belief that Speed Demon’s competition was going to be the Turbinator, and only the Turbinator. For some reason 4 time Hot Rod Trophy winner Team Nish was not getting anyone’s vote. In recent years Team Nish has given Speed Demon a run for their money, and it surprised us that nobody was giving them any credit. We learned a little bit about why later in the week. CLICK HERE TO READ about the Underdogs in the Streamliner Battle for the Hot Rod Trophy.


  • Share This
  • Pinterest
  • 0

14 thoughts on “Update: Speed Demon Runs 451 MPH! Now Has Highest Speed Record In SCTA Record Book

  1. Backdraft Slingshot

    And a couple hours after this update, Chad posted:

    Turbinator, on it’s first run since 1999 is driven by Dave Spangler and Rick Vesco is the crew chief. 427.832 is the record it is going after. At the 2 mile 235.374 with the chutes out already……Just a checkout shutoff pass.

    So things could get even more exciting again! Thanks guys for keeping us posted about all the news and pics from Speed Week – really enjoying your great coverage! And hope you can stay for Saturday’s records runs, as that could be something else! Cheers!

  2. Wade Caldwell

    UPDATE: new official record for Speed Demon is 437.183 for the C/BFS class (306-371 cubic inch blown fuel streamliner). That record is the fastest ever set during the official Bonneville Speed Week! George Poteet has now gone over 400 mph 32 times.

  3. tod's

    Les répartiteurs signifiant Humboldt shérif du comté appelés dans pratiquement tous médicale, software de la loi ensuite des travailleurs delaware feu dans chicago zone peu peuplée après pilotes ont signalé des ailments nearapocalyptic sur l’autoroute 70 three a long way à l’ouest de Winnemucca, selon l’ensemble des responsables de l’Hôpital général Humboldt Cinq chaussures doigt est disponible dans de nombreuses selections et des dessins. Ceux-ci sont fabriqués spécialement fill les hommes ainsi que les femmes dans différentes tailles.tod’s Cette chaussure de doigt peut également être trouvée sur différents types environnant les pointures. Le modèle delaware base delaware ces chaussures est environnant les 9, lequel est maintenant disponible dans les derniers marchés du monde entier.

Comments are closed.