Spectre Performance Blog » Bonneville 2009

The Scary Run

admin — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 23:24:34 +0000

The last few days of our Bonneville Speed Week experience were marred with intermittent storms and rain, so on our last day at the salt we were racing both the weather and the clock in an effort to inch closer to the 400mph mark. After strapping into the car, Amir got up to speed, made a good run and pulled the chutes. Then things went sideways – literally. A problem with a parachute caused the car to go airborne and jump sideways. Amir got it straightened out and slowed down, and the team is hard at work getting the chute system redesigned for our next run in a few weeks.

How to Drive 350+mph: Guided Tour of a Land Speed Run

admin — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 15:32:33 +0000

Amir takes us on a guided tour of what he experiences in the cockpit of the Spectre SpeedLiner on a 350+mph land speed record run, from the first push off the starting line through sideways slides at over 300 to pull the shoots and the finish line and the g-forces he experiences.

The Blue Hat

admin — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 15:22:30 +0000

Some people spend decades in the hunt for the coveted blue hat: the 300mph Chapter of the Bonneville 200mph Club. This was a huge moment for both Amir and the team, after our second run (the backup to Amir’s licensing run) at Speed Week.

Bonneville Speed Week 2010: THE RUN

admin — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 15:53:57 +0000

Over the course of six days and eight runs, the fastest single pass Amir made in the Streamliner was his backup pass with the “A” motor, where he exited the course just on the edge of setting the record for all-time fastest wheel driven, gasoline powered streamliner. This is the story of that run.

Bonneville SpeedWeek by the numbers.

admin — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 00:23:02 +0000

6 days
8 runs
2 classes
3 records

It looks like our run at SpeedWeek is at an end, due to poor weather, ill-behaved parachutes and a beautiful run which had a very squirrelly slow down. We didn’t meet our ultimate goal of running 400mph, but we learned enough to know that we will be able to in the future. We may have met the limits of our parachute set-up, but we haven’t even come close to the limits of the engine, the aerodynamics or the driver (Amir did some serious driving to keep the big streamliner dirty side down).

We learned a lot this week, and we’re hardly leaving the salt flats empty handed. The SpeedLiner now boasts 2 unlimited licensed drivers and two 300mph Club blue hats. The car also set three speed records, including breaking our own unlimited blown gasoline streamliner record from 2009. The A/BGS was the first record to fall.

Last week the record was 286mph and Amir skipped the 200 club completely with a blistering 324mph average pass. That’s almost 40mph faster than the previous record. Less than 24 hours later we pushed the record even higher, to 356mph. In the end, we broke the existing A/BGS (under 500 cubic inch, blown gasoline streamliner) record by 70mph!

Competing in AA/BGS was a whirlwind of engine swaps and bad weather. Despite the challenges, Amir drove past the existing record of 330mph (which we set in October 2009 during the car’s debut run) and upped the number to to 348mph, with an exit speed of 366. Since exit speed is an average of the last ¼ mile, an exit speed of 366 means the speedliner entered at 364 and exited at 368, which is extremely close to the fastest speed ever recorded in a gasoline powered, wheel-driven car (370mph).

The entire Spectre team is also thrilled at how well our Spectre Performance products did in the most brutal conditions on earth. We’re proud to say we can run over 366mph, but we are even more excited that hpR filters can stand up to anything, even 20 pounds of wet salt being shoved into the airbox at speed.

Overall it was an incredible, exhausting, thrilling and sun-drenched week. The car performed admirably, and when you consider that many drivers in this, the last bastion of pure motorsport in America, chase colored hats their entire lives, we are grateful and thrilled that the car, team and driver were able to accomplish so much in such a short period of time with a relatively new car.

We’ll be back on the salt this year, with our eyes firmly set on breaking into one of the most exclusive clubs in history. In the meantime, keep checking the blog, as we have hard drives filled with photography and high def video – so the movies and content have only just begun.

We would also like to thank all those who made this possible: Steve Schmalz, the man with the plan from Performance Fabrication in San Carlos, California. His dedicated crew: Curt, Greg, Scott and Taylor. Courtney Hines and Chris from the Cad Company, who built the heart of the beast and knew from the beginning that a Cadillac could break world records. Josh Held, who has put incredible sweat equity into this project. Ken Rappaport, who not only designed the tail section but also acted as our defacto team photographer. Last but certainly not least, Kenny Hoover: our inside man. We inherited Kenny with the project, and he has been our ambassador to the world of land speed racing since the beginning of the project. He was the first to drive the car, the first to break 300mph, helped us navigate the waters of SCTA rules and regulations and was – run after run – the first man to get to the car to help Amir out of the cockpit and get a rundown on how it went. Kenny is the heart of our team.

SpeedWeek is over, but we’ll be back, going faster, pushing harder and we will break the 400mph barrier. In the meantime, get ready for some great video.

Engine Swaps and Storm Fronts: Wednesday on the Salt Flats

admin — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 14:02:17 +0000

The hurt motor on Tuesday prompted an engine swap to the larger cubic inch Caddy mill, and a whole new class, AA/BGS. Removing and replacing an engine on the salt is a difficult task, even with a stripped down streamliner, so Wednesday morning found us still with quite a bit to do before we could run.

The talented crew was undaunted, and not only was the new engine fitted, but the gas and brake pedals were moved to give Amir more room and there was still time to do an interview with a reporter from the Salt Lake Tribune!

Just as the car was getting buttoned up to head for staging, dark clouds piled up overhead and it began to rain. Amir and Kenny spent the time rehearsing the run and discussing driving technique, and as quickly as the weather moved in, it was gone, and the sun was back in force.

Attrition has taken its toll on the Bonneville racers, and the line at staging was short and quick. There’s still some amazing cars running and driving, and there’s no lack of surprises. We even saw a Ferrari Enzo in the tech lanes. Amir might have to bring the F40 out to hold his record!

Speaking of records, the new SpeedLiner engine had a conservative tune, so the 344 run didn’t exactly have the crew jumping for joy. Still, it beat the old AA/BGS record we set in October 2009, and the Speedliner is back in Impound until the back-up run.

Wednesday night was the 200mph club banquet, and along with the new 200mph inductees for 2009/2010, Kenny and Amir were recognized for their 300mph runs. Amir had the whole audience in stiches during his acceptance speech, and Kenny had quite a few jokes of his own. If this racing thing doesn’t pan out, maybe they can start a comedy act.

The weather is a full blown thunder and lightning show this morning, but if/when it clears up, we’re going to hit it again with a more aggressive tune on the big engine and see what happens.

Good News, Bad News

admin — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 18:43:29 +0000

It’s about noon on Tuesday and we have a good news/bad news scenario. The good news: on our backup run this morning we made it official and broke our own A/BGS record running 351mph and creating a two-way average of 356mph. That beats the original record by 70 mph and our new record by over 20mph.

The bad news: we dropped a cylinder on the run, which is why the final velocity was lower than we hoped. So… now for more good news: we’re pulling the “A” motor and swapping in the 529 cubic inch “AA” motor that makes even more power. We’re hoping to have the new engine in the car by end of day, and will be running hard tomorrow morning looking to break the AA/BGS record we set back in October at the World Finals and possibly even break the 400mph barrier. Stay tuned!

Breaking our own Record: Back in Impound

admin — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 00:35:38 +0000

Wow, after the drama this morning, we had a fantastic afternoon. The Cad Company and Performance Fabrication crews worked their butts off, did a full chassis inspection, fixed the sheetmetal, raised the suspension slightly and tuned the motor. Then we hit the salt again about 3:00pm, and Amir accelerated hard from 1st through 5th and exited the course at an incredible 366mph! That qualifies us for a new record, breaking the old record we set about 24 hours ago. The car is back in impound, and tomorrow morning at sunrise we back it up in the fresh cool air, which will hopefully make more power. Stay tuned. In the meantime, we offer a bird’s eye view of Amir in the cockpit, driving the SpeedLiner like it’s a landlocked intercontinental ballistic missile. Check out the G-forces as he accelerates through 3rd (it gets good around 1:10)

Drama on the Salt

admin — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 19:52:20 +0000

Well, we thought this morning would be our big run. The car was in impound for a record run, the weather was cool with zero wind and our engine guru Courtney from Cad Company had just tuned up the boost profile for extra power. Amir said the car felt extremely strong off the start and the car was throwing a huge rooster tail of salt spray, and it was well over 300mph by the half course mark. Then he heard a loud “bang” noise, throttled the car down and pulled the shoots. At first we thought it was a blown tire, but as it turns out we think we hit a pot hole or a large chunk of salt… it tore an aluminum belly panel and made a lot of noise, but nothing else was damaged. We consider it a lucky run.

Metal master Troy Trepanier from Rad Rides by Troy (builder of the BlowFish land speed Barracuda) stepped up and TIG welded the panel for us, since we don’t have a welding rig on site.

The car is back on the ground now, and we’re planning on running again in the late afternoon. If all goes according to plan, we’ll make another strong run and hopefully be back in impound tonight.

The Ultimate Filter Proving Ground

admin — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 00:19:15 +0000

At Spectre, we pride ourselves on building the ultimate high performance air filters, and we call them hpR Filters – for HorsePower Rated. We tell everyone that our filters offer the ultimate in performance and protection, but unlike other companies on the market, we prove it – BIG TIME. How? By punishing our filters in the most brutal environment on the planet, the Bonneville Salt Flats.

Most streamliners run a single air intake scoop on top of the fuselage, where they can get nice clean air and they don’t have to run a filter at all. We run dual scoops on the bottom of the body close to the ground in a high-pressure zone, so we get a ram-air effect (which is good), but also vacuum up salt the entire length of the five mile course (which is bad). We typically pick up over 20 pounds of salt PER RUN, and most of it goes into the airbox. How do we prevent the turbos from ingesting big hunks of salt and grenading? With hpR filters.

What you see here is the first sneak preview of our new “Black” series ultra high performance hpR Filters. They look cool, flow an incredible amount of air and offer unmatched protection. As you can see, the outside of the filter is loaded with salt, but the inside is clean. As for power, our twin turbocharged Caddy powered SpeedLiner is (as of this writing) the fastest car of the meet at 349mph and has already set a record. We hope our good fortune will continue and we’ll continue to post big numbers for the rest of SpeedWeek. In the meantime, we thought everyone would get a kick out of knowing that we believe in our own product enough to punish it in with pounds and pounds of salt blown into the airbox at 350 mph.