The kind of men who do this are old school and humble. That should teach us all something about success. Hard work, long hours, attention to detail, and most importantly, eye on the prize. Never settle for anything less than your dream.
Thank you for your comment...it made my day. I shot and edited this...along!! Most productions have a host of production personnel, but budgets just wouldn't allow it.
It is noteworthy that almost all of these men are as white-haired as I am. One does not achieve what they have overnight ! Considering Mickey Thompson's accomplishments of so many years ago, only a few MPH less, with so much less tech- but so much more motor is amazing to this day. At 400 + MPH , each one mile per hour comes with a gargantuan effort of time, hard work, and desire to be the best and fastest on the planet. For my money Jets are aircraft that skim the salt. Wheel driven records are TRUE land speed records. That being said, I never failed to marvel at an F-4 on the catapult of the USS RANGER in 1965/6!
At 70 years old I ran 215 mph on Ted Rich's turbo Hayabusa at the Mojave Mile April 2018. I was ready to drive his new 300 mph bike at Bonneville but Ted Rich and Elaine Carpenter were killed in their new racing Acroduster airplane in Phoenix, AZ Aug. 20, 2018. I have no intention of slowing down.
Passion drive for sure. I've raced open class solo events for 40 years, I'm sporting lots of white hair these days, and although it breaks my heart, I realize the internal combustion engine's days are numbered. Electric driven vehicles are gaining fast and it kills me to think, but one day all this knowledge we've accumulated will be obsolete. In my world of Autocross, hill climb, and slalom, electric vehicles are already posting fastest times. Prototype for the Tesla Roadster runs a 1.9 sec 0-60 and top speed of over 260mph... in a production car.
I'm a big block Ford guy (385 series)but, I love the sound of that small block raging down the salt. Also the international truck, wonderful sound of coal burning❤
You can't learn or buy experience. That's why these guys succeed, it's year after year trying and trying to be that little bit better. Hats off to you Sirs!
Piston powered wheel driven is the best record to go for. These guys showed what years of experience can achieve. Yes jet engines, and rockets can go faster, but the challenge of wheel driven requires a different skill set, these guys nailed it. Thanks for the video.
I love to see how they and anyone want to push to the limits. One of the best ones that comes to mind was Burt Munro, from New Zealand who set many records with a motorcycle with less than 1000 cc engines. Some of the movie 'The World's Fastest Indian' was made at the Bonneville Speedway Salt Flats. Anthony Hopkins played the part of Burt Munro. The real Burt faced many obstacles to actually participate but many others helped get to go for it. It's a good movie
@@mynaimrie I also like that 'The Hobbit' and the 'Lord of the Ring' trilogy was filmed in New Zealand. There's quite a lot of wonderful scenic views down there.
You all had company in the Drag racing world. My Dad used to own and operate the Main and Martinets top alcohol dragster in the 2000's . We used to hit 267 in a 1/4 mile from a standing start. The name Main likely relates us as it isn't very common. My father passed away last year but I plan to field my own Top Alcohol car when I can make it to a bigger airline and earn a fatter paycheck!
Amazing people and amazing machines from the racing teams to those who run the event and those who support it. Thanks for posting and helping to inspire people from kids to those at a point in life of just setting in a rocker chair and cant make the trip Thanks
WoW well done Ron 👏 great to see you still racing ! I actually met you in Bakersville many many years ago when you had flatfire at the car show , myself and girlfriend at the time actually went out for a meal you guys in the evening. Great work on the Salt 👍🏻 I'll be keeping an eye out for more . Regard Mike Vinton - England 🇬🇧
All I can say is you guys are doing Spitfire speed can't believe that you do it on Terra Firma all the power to you love what you do beautiful beautiful car godspeed
Poteet is in Yeager company. To hang on to the wheel at those kinds of speed, speeds no one driving a piston car has been IS as was Chuck Yeager hanging on to the controls of the X15. Awesome skill and NO FEAR piloting. [edit] We have to mention the tire companys,, just saw how shredded the tires were after his 439mph pass and WOW! How those tires held together to help Poteed get slowed down is incredible,, absolutely incredible.
*_"Awesome skill and NO FEAR piloting."_* Do you really think these people have _no_ fear? Think again. Only lunatics are completely fearless... oh, and Hollywood heroes.
Yeah but that car was pretty beaten up after 66 runs. It had to deal with things that will never be a factor for Speed Demon. Shockwaves to bad things to large panel areas, like the flat sections behind the two jet engines.
It's by design, trust me. Not a part on that car that hasn't been looked at very, very closely. You don't go over 380 mph with hold-my-beer-and-watch-this "engineering".
+Martin Willett yeah, right ,quibble records. its easy to go 400 plus with piston power. that must be why the brits have done it with all british parts .
+Martin Willett enjoy your thrust powered everyday road car , and don't forget to take a look at all the 2016 thrust powered road cars from all the major manufacturers
electricman5010 Breaking records is about breaking records, because they are there. Breaking land speed records is a very inefficient way to research technology for everyday cars. Road cars do not need tyres which can last for about 30 miles and cope with speeds of 400 MPH.
I saw the Bonneville salt flats a couple years ago. I was surprised to see it was soggy wet and just under a layer of a few inches of salt is a thick mud layer. The must do their speed runs in the dry season. The area is a stark desert which made me assume it was always the dry season in that area.
And when LSR cars first went over 400 mph they were using V-12 aircraft engines. Some cars can two. I still think it sucks that the SoCal Timing Association basically banned turbines
I don’t mind some music to kill “dead” air, time without comment or most important, the sound of a vehicle coming or going by. Thanks for the vlog, great, and thanks for sharing, great! You get a new subscriber and a high five!
Due to the time/space chrono synclastic infudibilum I think the back or tail of the "car" is actually moving faster than the front or nose. Technically speaking the driver is not moving at all while experiencing what he/she feels as zero gravity and timelessness. The speed record is experienced in the collective concsiousness of the spectators in the moment. You had to be there !
A few guys running cars in the desert doesn`t make america a great place. It`s a country full of idiots, racists, corrupted politicians, gun toting bible freaks and people who are so ignorant they can`t spell their own name. Their military is basically employed by private corporations and commit atrocities around the world just about every year. The LEADER of the nation is a billionaire tv showhost playboy with the scientific literacy of DIRT, and the diplomatic skill of an avalanche. 160 million are FAT, and even more have no idea what even goes on in the world outside their country and probably not even their city. Institutionalized racism and private prisons being run as a business, inequality and poverty is wide spread and most of the planet think little more of them than being hyper religious gun collectors who may or may not actually *choose* between the sheep and their cousin. "Great" place.. It`s a nation filled with illiterate assholes and juvenile assholes who think "good" means being able to kick someone`s ass, or "justice" or "freedom", is when they invade some shithle to steal their resources or to bomb civilians into oblivion so their companies and come in and rebuild.. "we`re nr.1!" As in, the nr.1 bully in the schoolyard.. Even worse is that these RATS are proud of it.
@@afrog2666 That is one of the most accurate, succinct and powerful explanations I have heard of the USA since the opening scene from The Newsroom ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-VMqcLUqYqrs.html Well done sir, have a thumbs up.
If McLaren, Ilmor and Cosworth decided to put the effort in these guys would be toast. It would take them a couple of seasons to get up to speed but as after that. Name one, just one truly international form of motorsports that is dominated by US teams, cars and engines. I'm waiting.
@@chrisbaker2903 Yah, and they would hire Ilmor, Cosworth or McLaren to do the job. The US race sanctioning bodies are very conservative. The NHRA for example when the guy from Australia came up with a better motor for dragsters that just happened to be OHC they banned it. Nascar. Gotta ban that 427 Cammer. Loves me them thar pushrods. Indy went ape over that pushrod motor Ilmor built for Penske. Ilmor took the rule book and stretched the hell out of it. Get that thing out of here. The Offy cant keep up anymore. We'll just give it more boost. When it comes to automotive engine technology the US still lags behind the rest of the world. The reason in my opinion comes from one thing. Cheap gas. It was easier to just punch the motors out bigger. And they are still doing it with the LS and the New Hemi, aka the Cam Eater. I spent 30+ years working in the US automotive industry and I personally find it embarrassing the way the industry operates. And there's plenty of blame to go around. Labor wants more. Well, that's human nature. But how much is enough. I'd rather keep working than get more and put the company out of business. On the management side its squeeze every cent of cost out and every cent of profit in. OK, I get it. It's a business. Not a charity. But if it costs $1.00 to make a component properly the bean counters will find a way to make it for 95 cents and it won't be worth spit.
Brilliant achievement! What's going on with those front tyres? At 20:41 (after the outward run), you can see a 'groove' around the centre of the contact patch as if the tyre has shed the rubber? I know he said they were 'experimental' Dunlop tyres but what's going on there?!
They need to put traction control on it or some wider rear tires on it thats always the problem with most auto racing is getting the power to the ground great video.
Oh wow what a great idea I wonder why they never thought of that. Years of fine tuning and loads of engineering to get a vehicle up to 400+mph and they forgot to address one of the most important aspects of racing...traction control. Maybe they should push the traction control button before they make their next run. It's like they never even considered traction to be a problem in all that time and didn't think to run a spooled axle or fit the widest high performance tires possible or design the body of the car to provide downforce to those tires either. Fucking amateurs, am I right?
their record in 2012 @ 239mph was not broken until Speedweek 2018 @ 448 mph, I think it was using twin 2500hp v8's so while Poteet an co were really fastfast, they haven't progressed since then but so admirable for the size of engines they were using!
Damned right, if you are going to borrow from Skakespeare, get it right. Next thing thing they'll be saying "in one foul swoop" instead of "at one fell swoop". Or "alas, poor Yorick, I knew him well", instead of "alas, poor Yorick. I knew him, Horatio"
I was straining to hear that engine but for some reason all these guys think you've got to run that annoying twangy guitar music. The sound of the car is half the fun.
