Mormon Missile at Bonneville......

[Subman]

Shootout is over. What was the result?

World's Fastest Motorcycle, BUB 367mph
World's Fastest Snowmobile, ~205mph
World's Fastest Hydrogen Powered car, Ohio State University 303mph
World's Fastest single-engined Diesel, Mormon Missile 341mph
Top Speed 425+ running just a small block, Speed Demon
200mph Jet Bike, Mike Carlton.

Congrats to all!

This was a private meet at Bonneville, and if my info is correct, the entry fee is about $10,000.

That's very impressive congratulations to all!!

 

[Utahski]

This was a private meet at Bonneville, and if my info is correct, the entry fee is about $10,000.

More like about $20,000 this time.

 

[Utahski]

Last week the Missile blew a freeze plug and lost most of the coolant. Two blown pistons and one head destroyed. The engine was removed and torn down Friday morning, then taken to Hutchinson in SLC for reboring. Another set of pistons were machined at Steve Cole's shop - he had a set of .060" over - and they were overnighted to Wide Open Diesel in SLC for Sat. morning pickup.

*******Edit: Not that important, but for accuracy sake.....pistons were actually machined on the CNC at a place across the street from Wide Open Diesel.


Tuesday Curtis gave it a little more and did a two way ave. of 241 for a new record. Traction was marginal. Wed. was spent working on the car. This morning both batteries were replaced and we got to the line about 9:30. Starting the engine, 1st gear engaged immediately and killed the engine. Second time, same thing. Back in the pits......a destroyed throwout bearing, demolished clutch, and a driveshaft twisted about 180*. A new driveshaft is on it's way back here from Salt Lake City. Also 1/2" steel place to machine into a solid spacer in place of the clutch. If all goes well, we should be running tomorrow Friday.

********Edit: Ave. speed was 341, not 241. Fastest single engine 2wd diesel anywhere.

Mike L.......Volker, Jim and I hit colored golf balls on the salt this afternoon. Seldom Seen Jim posted it on landracing.com.

******Seldom Seen SLIM.

The Missile engine is way up there in power and it's very well put together. Anyone who'd say otherwise just doesn't know. The heads swapped were from a Curtis-built street engine that was in the back of Volker's truck. The difference between those heads and the ones taken off the Missile engine......the Missile engine had titanium keepers and 80lbs heavier valve springs to handle 80+ lbs boost. With heads off a street engine the car went 351. Both engines have the same cam, rods, etc. The Missile engine has forged pistons, girdle, and filled block. That's basically it. Also some personal things he doesn't talk about. The race engine does have a 101mm large turbo, two water cooled heat exchangers, and Volker's 29% injectors along with his tune. The engine gets all the fuel it can handle and power isn't a problem.

Running flatout 5 or 6 miles is hard on an engine making that much power. There were cars that broke at Speed Week, last week's meet, and the one this week. Cars with no budget limitations and engines by the very best, they also have failures. It happens out there.

Last night the Missile crew did an unbelievable job of getting everything back together. Hard even to describe how it all went, but this is a really good crew. The car ran at about 9:30 this morning with no clutch and solid coupling. Push was to 80mph and 1st gear engaged fine. Shift to 2nd at about the 1 mile marker and it just went bang.....both u-joints sheared. And that was it. Another shaft was being made in Salt Lake with the old u-joints and it could've been back and installed by afternoon sometime. But the rear end needed attention. It wasn't a matter of giving up, there just wasn't enough time. A lot of effort goes into one of these things. The days are long and busy. We were out there every morning at 6:30-7:00 am and left the salt either at dark or after dark. After dark meant parking the trucks around and working under the headlights. Then back to the hotel, get something to eat, and be out there the next morning. It's a great experience, and it's also a lot of work.

 

[Subman]

Sounds like you all had fun, again great job!!

 

[dmaxvaz]

Congrats to curtis, volker and the rest of their crew for doing what they could to make things work and for the lsr record!