Many sport cars and regular production vehicles are currently competing for maximum acceleration speeds at the dried-out, salt-crusted surface of Lake Bonneville. The first title was claimed by a half-a-century-old Challenger 2 racecar.
The vehicle has achieved best time in the AA/FS category (racecars with streamliner engines).
Famous racing driver Mickey Thompson built the original Challenger vehicle in 1960 and used it to attain a top speed of 644 km/h (400 mph) at Bonneville. However, the racing regulations at the time required the car to perform a total of two runs, so that the average top acceleration value could be recorded. The second run never happened due to a mechanical breakdown, and so the record was never officially registered.
Eight years later, Mickey Thompson built the Challenger 2, but the competition was canceled due to stormy weather. The car stayed in the driver’s garage until 1988, when he finally decided to take it out for the Bonneville race again. His fate had other plans in store for him, though. Later than year, Mickey Thompson and his wife were shot dead.
Danny Thompson decided to follow in his father’s footsteps and finish what he had started. He assembled a team of experts to have the Challenger 2 restored to top condition. the team also boosted the engine from the original 1,800 hp (1,350 kW) to 2,500 hp (1,865 kW), enabling Danny to leave Lake Bonneville in 2016 with a new world record of 654.6 km/h (407 mph). This time around, he managed to accelerate to 718 km/h (446 mph) on his first run and 725 km/h (450 mph) on his second try, thus averaging 722 km/h (448.6 mph).
Photo: newatlas.com