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Lest anyone think that this kind of driving is anything but dangerous, TV personality and land speed record holding driver Jessi Combs was killed yesterday in an accident on a dry lake near here. She was trying to break her existing 400+MPH jet car speed record. Many know her from her All Girls Garage series on Discovery/MT, and lots of other car-related programs. Search is your friend for more details.
I have read this three times over two days and still I do not think I can reply as eloquently as you have written it.
I am very grateful for your comment and deeply touched. I am sharing it with my sons.
Thank you very much!
Carl
Carl,
You are quite welcome, and I'm not surprised that you relate to the sentiments expressed. Super honored that you shared it with your sons...
Continue undaunted by Jessi's untimely demise, you have come far and have a long road ahead of you to complete this adventure.
Perhaps I'll spring free to provide some freebie pit crew support when you schedule the next run.
I never met her, but I certainly was aware of her career both on and off the racetrack. She imprinted and affected many. Jessi will be impossible to replace.
The guys from Ängelholm, Sweden made their speed tests on Nevada’s Route 160 between Las Vegas and Pahrump. Carl is that not an alternative for you?
Åke
We'll see what kind of $$ it takes to put up all those support vehicles, close the road, and set up a certified set of timers. It ain't cheap. I'll try to find out if I can play too, but I'm just betting it will be out of my budget.
Enjoyed the video. This will be fun to watch the Bugatti vs. Koenigsegg battle.
Of course everything is a matter of costs. Right now Bugatti is in the lead getting very close to the 500 kph barrier. Mattias, who is on this Forum sometimes, told me Koenigsegg went off the road and crashed one of their pricey cars not far from his parents house in the Ängelholm area in southern Sweden. Wonder why they cannot find a suitable road for high speed testing here in Sweden. Suppose the authorities are heavily against it. To drive fast is incompatible with the traffic safety propaganda authorities in this country are trying to indoctrinate us poor motorists with and do not mention emissions.
Åke
Random thought, and I realize that it's a long shot...
But the old KI Sawyer SAC base up in Gwinn MI (up in da Yoo Pee, der hey) has a very, very long runway. They flew nuke armed B-52s out of there. It's still an airport (and trying to be an industrial park), but it's pretty much deserted.
Since it is an active airport, getting all the permissions to drive up and down the runway would not be simple. But it's only a couple hundred miles from your place (mine too).
Holy Cow - that airstrip is 2.34 miles long! I will be giving them a call!
Sawyer has been closed since 1994 and is operating as a commercial airport with only five flights in and out per day. So there is not a great deal of activity to contend with, plus it has parallel 2.34 mile runways to spread out on...
I am not at all sure what the condition of the runways is, but if they are anything like Sebring in Florida get ready to for some seriously uneven pavement. They built these runways for B52's with massive landing gear travel and not auto racing (the salt flats are pretty trashed these days though.)
That said, the Upper Peninsula is severely economically challenged and if you can present a case for an event that would bring competitors and spectators you are more likely to have a winner. I have a friend that is part of an economic development council in the far western UP and I'll get in touch with her and find a contact at Sawyer that might be able to front run the idea.
Some other random thoughts:
At 1,158 ft it is inherently thicker air than the 4,219 ft altitude of the salt flats... Should we obtain their climatological data to verify that it is a viable environment?
Do you think that the Bonneville Salt Flat crowd would buy into a replacement venue that was reliable and unsalted? I do know that there is a serious racing contingent in the midwest that might buy in to
Sawyer Speed Week does have a marketable ring to it...
I appreciate your effort. I called there and left a voicemail for the Airport Admin but as of yet, have not spoken to anyone. As to distance: 2.34 miles is not long enough really, but it should be able to allow me to be on the throttle for about 2 miles, with a short decel area of .34 miles. That's a bit sketchy - I might have to get out of the throttle at 1.8 miles instead... but because of its proximity to me, it is definitely worth a look at.
On the photo above does it look like you can come in from the left runway onto the main runway at a reasonable speed and hit it?
I am across Lake Michigan 30 miles south of the Mackinaw Bridge and can run up there to scout the runway for smoothness if you want. Nothing back from my friends contacts either...
08-27-2019, 07:03 PM
