Bonneville F1 team reaches 400km/h

On the third day of running at the Bonneville International Speedway in Utah, USA, Honda Racing F1’s Bonneville 400 team achieved its target of a 400km/h average across the measured mile – 400.459km/h was recorded over one pass at 07:21 local time.

On this occasion the team weren’t able to match the speed on the return pass, so the time itself will not be recorded as a land speed record – although the average speed of the two runs was still a blistering 393.613kph (244.580mph) breaking another record in the process; the team’s own from Monday.*

Attaining this speed was reward for over 18 months of hard work from the dedicated team and Bonneville 400 driver Alan van der Merwe:

“Having finally reached 400kph today feels great. Although we were happy yesterday with 392kph, 400 has always been the magical number, and having done it in one direction, it must be possible to do it in both. We’ll be trying again tomorrow – that’s what it is about now, we just have to squeeze that little bit more from the car and keep pushing.”

In total today, the car made six passes of the track before 09:05 and within this time succeeded in breaking its own records. On Monday, driver Alan van der Merwe broke the previous FIA Category A, Group II, Class 8 ( A-II-8 ) records, setting a speed of 354.974km/h (220.571mph) for the flying mile and 355.499km/h for the flying kilometre (mph). Today’s results convincingly surpassed these speeds.

On hearing the news the previous record holder of 19 years, Jeffery Nish, travelled from Salt Lake City to Bonneville to congratulate Alan and meet the Bonneville 400 team:

“My first reaction was, ‘Dang, it didn’t make it 20 years!’, but these records are made to be broken. We are ecstatic for the team - although we are thinking about how to break it back now! The guys are working hard and I can see everybody’s tired – but that’s what it takes to break records out here. It’s all about the preparation: the crew, the driver and mental states – it’s a real team effort and you guys have done it. Taking a record that has stood for 19 years is something to be proud of!”

“I came out to Bonneville when I was 22 and something in me just wanted to be here and I’ve been here ever since, every year. I don’t know, I can’t explain it, it just has a special place in my heart to go fast.”

After making further changes to the car’s gear ratios overnight, the Bonneville 400 team will return to the Salt Flats at first light tomorrow morning to try and achieve the target speed that today’s performance has confirmed is now at its fingertips.