Bonneville 400 record attempt

BAR Honda's Bonneville 400 record attempt car will run for the first time on Friday November 4. The occasion will take place in America- but not at Bonneville. The world famous Salt Flats are still too wet and so Alan van der Merwe will gun the car down the ten thousand-foot tarmac runway at Mojave Airport in California.

The team has stressed that this is not an official attempt to set a new Formula One speed record, although it plans to run the car as hard as possible in the space available. It may also take a radar gun to clock the car's peak speed.

Spokesman BAR Honda "The most important thing is we check that all the systems on the car are working properly. There are a lot of new bits on it that we need to assess. It will be an important occasion, but this is just part of the journey. Setting an official F1 land speed record at Bonnevill, via the average of out-and-back runs through a measured mile, is still our number one goal - even if we have to wait until next year to do it."

The car has yet to run - but it's already clocked up plenty of miles. When the record attempt proper in October was postponed it was freighted back to the UK so that its 3-litre V could have its oil changed and then be rechecked on Honda's test bed in Bracknell. The car was flew back out to America this week and will be attended at Mojave by a 'skeleton' crew.

More information on http://www.bonneville400.com