It's all over at Bonneville.

After what has been a hugely tough week on the Salt at Bonneville for many of the crews, not least the Speed Scotland one the final full day dawned calm and bright.
The EFG Flower of Scotland was ready to run early and we made a great start on the improved Salt surface and were quickly up to 200mph. However the Flower was only on 3 cylinders as a spark plug had failed by splitting in half something very rarely seen by our engine guy in over 30yrs.
The crew checked the car over, changed the plugs and by lunchtime we were ready to go again.

Another perfect start off the push truck, I’ve certainly had a bit of practice this week and this time she pulled hard to 240mph when suddenly the traditional cacophony from behind my head, and the rev’s flared as the car lost drive. A gearbox failure now would mean we would be over and done and for the 3rd time this week I have to record the “it’s all over” interview with the BBC. But in fact the intermediate sprocket set has broken free and it’s a quick fix.

So come 5pm and I’m climbing back into the fire suit for one last shot at this record. It truly is now or never.

First gear pulling hard, second gear... 150mph and the car steering began to feel a bit odd... BUT I wasn't stopping for anything or anyone on this pass.
Into third and I ripped all the studs out of the rear axle. No drive. The roughness of the Salt that has broken so many team this year had struck again.
So I coasted to a halt and returned to pit.
Where we discovered that in addition to the damage to the rear end, the roughness of the track had damaged the steering a little and while our systems had ensured it wasn’t an issue on track, for safety reason there is no quick fix.
So it didn't happen in 2012.
The team are extremely disappointed because with the support of EFG we’d finally solved our gearbox issues that had plagued us in previous years. But the one error from the external engine builder that caused the failure on Sunday afternoon has put us on the back foot for the rest of the week: losing Monday to the engine change, the fire on Tuesday due to a split union that would probably have been fine if not changed etc. which then left us with damaged electronics for the rest of the week.

But myself and the car are in 1 piece after being smoked, on fire, on 2 wheels and directionless so there is plenty to be thankful for.

Tough week. But the Salt has been rough and many teams have suffered. Sometime Bonneville is like that.

All our thanks to EFG International, without whom we wouldn’t have been on the Salt this year.

Your battered/bruised/smoked/roasted/shaken and a bit stirred correspondent.

Rick Pearson

Broadside at Bonneville!

Wednesday and Speed Scotland’s adventures at Bonneville go on!

The team were on the Salt early and the EFG Flower of Scotland was prepared for an early pass.

We got off the line well but the engine was struggling for boost and felt a little sluggish. We were still well over 220mph by the 3 mile mark but it was obvious that there was an issue when suddenly the chain failed (no boost = no cooling water) which sounded bad as it welded itself in a lump and smashed its way around the engine bay.

Convinced that a chain failure is usually due to gearbox issues I was devastated. We’re too late in the week for the team to be changing the engine again so a major failure now and it’s all over. An emulsion of water/oil and salt dripping out the back of the Flower looked bad, but in fact the chain had made just a small hole in the oil filler which was easily fixed. The chain was replaced and the cooling water system for the chain checked. Our very melted boost controller was also checked and another burnt wire found: legacy of our fire yesterday so that was back to full health and astonishingly the little car once again had bounced back from a potentially week ending experience.

So we were back on the Long course for a run last thing this evening. Unfortunately during the day, the course had cut up quite a bit and was rutted with large amounts of loose Salt. So as soon as I tried to launch from the push truck the rear wheels span and the back end stepped out throwing the Flower broadside across the track. I had to get out of the power to save the drift and was then hit by the push truck!!! This stuck me up on 2 wheels but I managed to save it from toppling over with luck and quick reactions. In traditional Scottish fashion, Malcolm, our push truck driver was heard to yell “He reversed into me!” as I gathered it up and headed off down the course.

By now of course the start was too poor and the surface too loose to make a really good pass but the Flower pulled well through the full 5 miles of the course, exiting at 244mph, so officially our second fastest pass (although we’ve been quicker and not made end of track) and our first full pass of the week. Things are looking up!!!

The car is 100% good for tomorrow. It seems our engine and gearbox solutions are holding for now (touch wood). SO TURN UP THE B-HOOOOST and lets go fast.

Your Streamliner Drifting Correspondent

Rick Pearson

Flower in Flames at 245mph at Bonneville

Speed Scotland were on the Salt early on Tuesday with high hopes following the all-day install of the new motor yesterday.

Final prep complete, we towed down to the start line for 11am, but it was to be 2pm before we arrived at the front of the queue... a long wait in the heat of a Bonneville Summer.

On arrival, I strapped in as normal and we got the go signal from the starter, but suddenly the EFG Flower of Scotland refused to fire up. We missed our slot and are pushed back a couple of cars while the crew check the engine bay over and find nothing, but the car decides to start behaving and fires up.

So back on the start line and back in the heat and cramped confines of the cockpit once again... this time we fire up, the perfect push start off the truck and we’re away: 1st gear and she’s pulling well, but there’s a stronger smell of methanol in the cockpit than usual. No matter, I’ve got plenty of other things to focus on as the speed builds and airflow into the drivers compartment blows away the fumes. 2nd gear and we’re flying... 191mph by the 2 mile mark and pulling ok... I’m being gentle with the car and the brand new engine but we’re up thru 3rd gear and the 3rd mile at a 221mph average... suddenly though a cough from the engine and I immediately grab 4th in case we’re spinning the wheels but the car won’t accelerate anymore. Have I shifted too soon? Dropped out of the power band?

No. A fuel pipe coupling has failed in the engine bay and neat Methanol is being sprayed onto the exhaust manifolds. The Flower is burning at 245mph. The engine cuts and unaware of the fire but aware we have smoke and a major issue, I throw the ‘chute and lift the canopy for fresh air, checking the infra-red screen to see if there are flames in the engine bay. The screen is dark, so reassured I pull off the course and bail out.

As I stop though, I am surrounded by emergency vehicles, and fire extinguishers are being emptied at the car. The paint is blistering and there is clearly fire burning under the engine cover but the fast response time of the Emergency teams mean it’s quickly under control.

On returning to the pit, it is clear the first thing destroyed by the fire was the infra-red camera! The entire wiring of the car is crispy and the boost controller/engine management box has melted.
It is all over for 2012.

Except I am lucky enough to have a team of Scots that never gives in and on finding the engine and gearbox to be intact, they try and start the motor. The mortally wounded control box astonishingly lights up and the engine fires! So all the toasted wiring is ripped out and replaced and by sun down on the Salt the car is basically ready to race once again tomorrow morning. It seems extremely unlikely to me that the fire didn’t cause further damage or that our boost controller can work for long in its melted state but the crew are completely happy that she should be good to go!

So perhaps today the Salt Gods were smiling on us in their own way... surely now we’ve paid our dues and a decent run is in the offing?? Optimism is lacking, but perseverance does sometimes prevail.

We’ll find out at dawn.

Rick Pearson

Motionless on Monday

No running today after last night’s engine failure, but the Speed Scotland crew worked flat out all day to ensure that we should be ready to go after 1 hr of final prep tomorrow morning...

The crew would have had it done in time to run tonight, but the weather changed (as it has done a few times this week) and the wind got pretty serious on us. The decision had to be made to leave the Salt before we were blown away!

New engine has been stripped to check it doesn’t have the same issues as the first one and then installed; meanwhile, that first engine has a hole in the block where the conrod made it's break for freedom.

Could be a fast day tomorrow... it seems like we deserve a bit of luck at last and the car has felt so fast and good so far that 300mph feels very close. If I can hold the EFG International Flower of Scotland together for a full pass, then I’m hoping for big numbers.

Assuming the Racing Gods allow....

Meanwhile, I had a wander down to see the “Target 550” crew. Rumoured to have spent over $10million already on this twin engine car, this monster is aiming to become the fastest wheel driven car ever at over 500mph. All I can say is that it makes the Flower look like a tadpole!

Your baked and frazzled correspondent (who thinks the BBC have stolen his sunglasses to stop him wearing them on camera!)

Rick Pearson

Sunday on the Salt

The Speed Scotland crew put the EFG International Flower of Scotland to bed on Saturday night ready to run first thing Sunday morning and so we were on the Salt for a spectacular dawn.

A quick check of the car threw up a slight issue with the clutch, but there was an early morning wind from the canyon alongside the Speedway that would have stopped us running anyway initially, but we were on the line in perfect conditions ready to go before 9am. A short wait and the Flower was away and running for the first time in Speedweek in 2012!

A great launch, up through the first couple of gears and running well but some smoke in the cockpit suddenly got very serious and while I was quite relaxed at 200mph with limited visibility, once we got to the point with limited oxygen then I thought it was time to throw the chute... in fact I was forced to open the canopy as quickly as possible and to do this, I had to undo the belts so ended up doing around 150mph one handed unbelted!
A quick check over and it's nothing serious, just a seal that's failed and a couple of hours later, it's all fixed and we're ready to go again.

On arrival at the Start, the whole World seems to have had the same idea... and we join a lengthy queue to run.
A long wait then turns into a very long wait as the weather turns and rain blows across the course, and lightning strikes one of the timing beams so the course is shut-down. Eventually, having joined the line around 2.30, it's 6pm when we make it to the start line of the legendary long course. A worse launch but she's soon up on the cam and fires through the first 2 gears and is heading towards the 2 mile marker at great pace in 3rd gear when the familiar ?300 monkeys with hammers? break loose behind my head. Another major failure and its dip the clutch and coast off the course.

After the Flower had run so well on the first run, this is total heartbreak for the Speed Scotland crew, but on return to the pits it becomes obvious we've had a conrod failure in piston 1. Nothing we've ever experienced before and not our traditional transmission problem. One of those things sadly when you try and stretch limits on the Great White Dyno. It is of limited consolation that the fastest car of the meeting, the 'Speed Demon', also broke a conrod on his engine (although his conrod actually felt the need to see the big wide World and punched a hole thru the bottom of the block.

We’ve got another motor and the crew will start changing it first thing tomorrow hopefully for us to run again by last thing.

It’ll be a long hard hot day for all, and we’re a bit broken right now but we’ll fight on

Your "heat soaked and miserable" correspondent.

Rick Pearson

Saturday on the Salt

Heavy rain storms overnight meant that Bonneville Speedweek started without the famous "long course" which was still soggy.

For the EFG Flower of Scotland crew we had to await the arrival of our fire bottles which had been revitalised (once the boat had arrived finally in Long Beach). Once installed final checks and cleaning of all the electrics took up a few hours by which time the wind was gusting and reports suggesting the #2 course was very rough were coming in to us.

The guy who holds our record, Rick Yaccoucci, is running here on another record and after a 305mph run conceeded that the visibility was too poor due to the vibrations from the surface.
We made sure that the Flower was 100% ready for a dawn pass tomorrow when the #1 course is opened for business.

Not a wasted day, but a waiting day.

Tomorrow if the wind has dropped we'll get to attack the Salt.

Your ready to rock and roll correspondent!

Rick Pearson

Friday and The Flower is Ready to go

Friday at Bonneville is traditionally given over to tech inspection and setting up the pits. This time last year however the Flower had no engine in her and no crew to tend to her after flight cancellations and delays meant we were effectively a day behind before we could run. 2012 is definitely treating us better so far, despite a minor panic when the Fire Bottle manufacturers hadn't realised that they had received our bottles, let alone filled them and sent them back it looks as if the Flower will be good to make the first pass soon after the courses open at 10am tomorrow.

Dawn over the casino town of West Wendover was spectacular, although not quite as impressive as the thunderstorms that had blown through the area all night and were to revisit the Salt by mid afternoon. In the hours in between the Speed Scotland crew managed to get the EFG Flower of Scotland through Tech Inspection early on and spent the rest of the day checking the car over ahead of a planned 300 mile per hour run tomorrow.
West Wendover is only a few miles from the Bonneville Speedway turning, although by the time we drive out on the Flats to our pits, we're some 20 miles from the overnight camp ground, and actually in a different time zone! Yes, the line between Mountain Time and Pacific Time runs between the two and with the town operating on the latter while the Salt operates on the former, it can get a bit confusing...

The weather was scalding hot during the day before the storms blew back through later on and the crew were glad that we weren't trying to desperately fit an engine like this time last year when we had to hightail it off the Salt to avoid the lightning storms (given how flat the "Flats" are, you clearly don't want to be roaming around on something that conducts as well as the Salt when large bolts of electricity are being thrown around!).
So early night for the crew, which is pretty helpful given we're all a touch jet-lagged right now still. And despite having to put on a few "performances" for our ever present BBC camera crew, we even had a little time this afternoon to have a wander through the pits and see some of the other great racecars out there. Particularly impressive is an original Indy 500 roadster which will run here at Speedweek and which looked absolutely fabulous including the drivers helmet painted to resemble the old fashion open-face/handkerchief over the nose style. Superb!

Plan for tomorrow is to shake down the Flower over the first couple of miles, see how she feels and if all is good push her out there hard and fast to see what she'll do. I am licensed to run unlimited speeds now at Bonneville, one of only 2 Brits, (the other being Andy Green!) so no need to try and hit a targeted speed. If the going is good, then the good will be going fast! The track was hard and grippy until the rain came in, although there are a few holes in the surface which while not a problem for stability etc will put extra loads on the transmission which is already an issue with all bike-engined cars. I'll have to pick my line well if I'm to avoid further failures this year, but we're confident the updates we've made since 2011 will see us being able to hold together long enough to break the magic 300mph barrier and perhaps finally the 313mph existing record...
Think fast thoughts for us!

Your ready to go quick correspondent

Rick Pearson

Welcome to the preview of Bonneville Speed Week 2012

Those of you who followed our adventures here on EFGMotorracing.com last year will recall the trials and tribulations of a small Scottish team as we try to become the fastest ever with a 1 litre car by breaking the South California Timing Associations record of 313mph.
For those of you who missed it, the blog can be seen further down.

Today is a big day.

The "EFG International Flower of Scotland powered by Atlantic Methanol" Land Speed Car ends her voyage across the Atlantic, through the Panama Canal and up the West Coast of America to finally arrive in Long Beach California this afternoon. Our logistics crew are waiting and as soon as she clears customs formalities they'll liberate her from the container that's been her home for the last 6 weeks and try and assess any Salt damage/clean her up before the main crew arrive from Scotland next Thursday. Last year we had a parachute failure on the first pass due to the rusting of components during the voyage and given I'm hoping to approach, if not break, 300 mph on the first pass of 2012 we can't afford for that to happen again. To quote team boss, Derek Palmer, it looked as if The Flower had been "deck cargo on a submarine" when she came out of the container!

Reports from the Speedway suggest that the Salt is hard and fast for this year which is great news. Rain could arrive at any point and stop proceedings, but a flatter surface than last year might be what we need to minimise the strains going though the transmission of the car. People imagine the Salt to be billiard smooth like a traditional race track, but in fact driving the support truck down the course after the Drivers briefing last year (traditionally our first look at the race track) we found it began to shake apart above about 60mph! It really is that rough.

So 7 days from today we fly out and while the anticipation is enormous, the waiting is horrendous. Sleep is not coming easily at night... I shut my eyes and see fast moving Salt... my concentration on anything not Bonneville related has gone to the dogs... and I've packed and repacked my bags 5 times already.

LSR legend Art Arfons used to say "Bonneville is the only place where you hate every second you are there but as you drive out of the place you are already planning to come back."

The food is terrible, the accommodation worse, the heat is oppressive but if the Salt is fast nothing else matters!

We will, as ever, either break Records or break parts!

The plan is to put the Flower through tech inspection on Friday 10th, and be ready to run when the Salt opens on Saturday morning after the drivers briefing. No mucking around this year, we have no low speed passes planned to check everything, it's really going to be a case of climb aboard, strap in and foot down. If I have the confidence and can build enough familiarity with the car during the first 60 seconds or so between the start line and the first speed trap then the plan is to run her right out as fast as she'll go.

Perhaps by the end of the week I'll be able to answer the ultimate school-boy question: "What'll she do Mister??"

As usual, you'll be able to read all about it here first on EFGMotorracing.com so join us daily for our Bonneville adventures at Speedweek 2012 from Saturday 11th of August.

As ever, I'd like to thank EFG International for their support and also our other sponsors, the Methanol Institute, Atlantic Methanol and Maurice de Mauriac Watches.

Your "dreaming of 300mph" correspondent.

Rick Pearson

Thursday and the Flower is Flying at Bonneville

The day dawned bright and still at Bonneville. Real "Go Fast" weather and the Flower was at the line ready to run as the lanes opened to qualifying.

First pass, up the gearbox and she's feeling good and pulling strongly... 4th gear and boogying on we're through the 2mile speed trap at 200mph... but she's not got quite enough boost and I'm bouncing in the seat like an amateur go-kart racer trying to drag more speed out of her as she levels out at 240mph... finally I click 5th and the final mile passes at 253mph, out the last speed trap (known as the "Back Door" in Bonneville parlance) at 259.259mph and I'm qualified for an A license and free to run up to 300mph on the next pass. What's more, the Flower is in good shape and we turn her round in 2 hours to run again.

The second run, despite a bit more boost, the Flower was still struggling to pull through 4th gear, our trailer built motor not perfect clearly, but this time we're through the final mile in 268mph and out the Back Door at 270mph. 435kph! Handing me the AA license and the right to run over 300mph.

Both runs were a little exciting: on the first pass, I left the course after throwing the 'chute, doing over a mile on virgin salt before getting it back under control... as Dickie Meaden from EVO magazine described it, a "1 mile moment" and I passed close enough to the 5.25 mile marker that the chute took it out on the way past....

Second run, I was ready for the chute to tug me one way or the other so a "dab of oppo" at 270mph and had it under control,but once again, the 5.25mile marker looked pretty nervous as I went by about 6 inches away! And of course, the idea of opposite locking a car at 270mph is pretty terrifying AFTER the event, although it's pure reactions at the time.

Checking the car over  after the 2nd pass and 4th gear is broken in half so no more running for us. But as it is, Bonneville Friday morning was windy so we couldn't have run anyway.

Reflecting on an amazing week, lots of lows, then 2 fabulous passes at over 250mph. It's been amazing. I can assure readers that 270mph is VERY quick, even on Salt without many way markers to indicate the speed, especially as the car is constantly moving around, fills with Methanol fumes during the pass and is "quite entertaining" to get stopped!

Back at the airport now, coming home. Crew in much better moods than last year as NEXT year, we can run straight at that 313mph record.

What a week.

Rick