BAR to run car at Bonneville to test top speed of an F1 car

[rubystone]

ermmm if they'd wanted to test just how fast the car could have travelled, why choose the crappy Bonneville salt flats - why not the Black Rock desert or a stretch of Spanish autoroute or the bus lane on the M4. I'll tell you why - 'cos Bonneville somehow links them with the real pioneers of World Speed Records...or so they think.

I agree with Eric - biggest load of codswallop ever seen - even Button didn't want to have a go at it!

Didn't Rosemeyer actually crack 270 before thumping that motorway bridge support?

[Eric Mc]

A quick check on Rosemeyer related web sites indicate that he was travelling at between 270 and 280 mph when the car literally took off and flew into the trees.

[rubystone]

Did those sites also mention the fact that Caracciola allegedly told him not to try to break his record as he'd just been blown across the autoroute on his previous run?...I recall reading about this ages ago but can't be sure whether it was fact or rose tinted fiction!

[Eric Mc]

It does.

[rubystone]

In point of fairness, I have just opened Autosport and read that they broke the record at an airstrip in the Mohave Desert...so no need to go to Bonneville next year then is there?

[Eric Mc]

Looks like Mojave Airport - site of Burt Rutan's Scaled Projects and Spaceship 1, amongst other weird and wonderful aircraft.

[williamp]

rubystone said:

Did those sites also mention the fact that Caracciola allegedly told him not to try to break his record as he'd just been blown across the autoroute on his previous run?...I recall reading about this ages ago but can't be sure whether it was fact or rose tinted fiction!

If you evcer get the chance, read the Chrtis Nixon book called "Racing the silver arrows".
The drivers were rock and roll before rock and roll had been invented

[jacobyte]

Eric Mc said:

The point I was making is that it is a record that no-one apart from BAR seemed to be at all interested in.

You seem interested enough to join in a discussion about it.

Come on, it's a harmless publicity stunt. People always wonder how fast an F1 car might be able to go with minimal aero drag. Bonneville is steeped in charismatic history of men pushing technology to achieve their top speed goals. BAR have to display diversity and intrigue to their sponsors. It all fits together very nicely.

I don't think BAR will have done anything of historic significance, but they are living their dream, and you can't fault them for that.

[Eric Mc]

Do they?

I wonder.

I join in discussions on WW2 as well. It doesn't mean I think it was a good thing.

[jacobyte]

I'm not saying it's a good or a bad thing - I was just highlighting (with a ) that you are showing an interest after saying you're not interested.

[rubystone]

I'd love to see an F1 car run at somewhere like Edwards airforce base - I guess the longest stretch of consistent surface in the world?...that way we'd see just how fast the cars could run at

[Andy Mac]

I think its good. All records have to start somehwere. Who knows, maybe this will start a one-upmanship thing with the other F1 teams, and this could well be a regular occurence? Its not so much a question of Why? but a question of Why not? which seems to fit in with the whole Honda mentality, and emphasis at the moment. Why climb a mountain, why run a marathan? because you can, and you want to...

[FourWheelDrift]

I think it certainly is interesting to know how fast a wingless F1 car can go since I keep reading on threads here so many people asking for wingless cars in F1.

[Eric Mc]

I am NOT interested in the outcome of this stunt. I AM interested in discussing why BAR think it's worthwhile. Quite different areas of discussion actually.

The point of running a car on the lakebed at Edwards is actually quite interesting. How big is Rogers Dry Lake (Edwards) compared to the Bonneville Salt Flats? Has it ever been used for any sort of speed running?

I would rather doubt that it has (not officially anyway) as it is a restricted area.

[hammerwerfer]

I think it would be interesting if a top speed trial was contested at the end of the season between all the teams. Even better if it was a points scoring event. The old AVUS circuit was practically a top speed test in its day.

Wasn't the Indy 500 on the calendar for years? Why not Bonneville?

[Eric Mc]

The Indy 500 was an offical point scoring GP until 1961 I think. Nowadays, nearly all the points and other statistics relating to the Indy 500s run bewteen 1950 and 1961 tend to be ignored.