Honda F1 goes 400 kph (248 mph) at Bonneville

Originally posted by RJS
It's a great record to set, but my cynical mindset can't help thinking that resources might be more useful elsewhere (that is of course if their aim is to use F1 as a platform for publicising the brand).

Originally posted by Franklin Ratliff
I'd like to see Honda build a purpose-built Bonneville streamliner with multiple F1 engines and go after the record for normally aspirated piston-engine wheel-driven cars set in 1965 by the Summers brothers with Goldenrod.

Originally posted by scheivlak
Well, one-way speed doesn't count for the books!

And a 2006 Honda F1 record breaker is still not as fast as Caracciola and Rosemeyer in the 1930s with their streamlined Mercedes and Auto Union GP cars!


My admiration for those 400+ km/h records and record attempts at the Autobahn grows and grows.......

Originally posted by scheivlak


And a 2006 Honda F1 record breaker is still not as fast as Caracciola and Rosemeyer in the 1930s with their streamlined Mercedes and Auto Union GP cars!


My admiration for those 400+ km/h records and record attempts at the Autobahn grows and grows.......

Originally posted by Franklin Ratliff
www.bonneville400.com

The Honda F1 team set a new FIA record for the AII-8 class (special construction, normally aspirated, 2 to 3 liters), breaking the record set nineteen years ago by Jeff Nish's streamliner. Their one-way speed of 400.9 kph equaled the fastest speeds run at Bonneville by an SCTA normally aspirated gas lakester of the same displacement.

Originally posted by Sith
I thought they were going for 500km/h??? I saw Champcars do 400km/h on the back straight at Fontana in 99'...

Originally posted by kamix
Their progress so far seems underwhelming.

Originally posted by FAUST!!!





Rosemeyer in describing his record setting run stated that "... at about 240 mph the joints in the concrete road surface are felt like blows, setting up a corresponding resonance through the car, but this disappears at a greater speed. Passing under bridges the driver receives a terrific blow to the chest, because the car is pushing air aside, which is trapped by the bridge. When you go under a bridge, for a split second the engine noise completely disappears and then returns like a thunderclap when you are through.

Originally posted by kNt
Doing such a record with an open-wheel car is just very very stupid. They were faster in the 30s as stated before.

Originally posted by Imperial


Well it really just proves that F1 is just another vehicle (excuse the pun) to promote their brand (which of course only an idiot would think it's not).

Is your F1 team a bit slow and your not getting good press? What better a thing to do than some stupid publicity stunt to get in the papers.

Honda (like all the manufacturers) don't give a **** about anything unless they're winning. They're not winning so it's time for the crazy stunts.

Originally posted by kamix
I noticed they only did 370 or so in the other direction, making use of a tailwind?

Their progress so far seems underwhelming.

Originally posted by Franklin Ratliff


Your knowledge of the context seems so far underwhelming.

For example, you seem to have no concept of how poor the traction on salt is compared to pavement.

Or the fact Bonneville is at an elevation of 4,500 feet.

Or the fact that even with radiators and conventional F1 tires they're still going as fast as their direct SCTA lakester counterpart did with narrow LSR tires, ultra narrow body, full canopy and water tank cooling.

Originally posted by JForce
I'm not that impressed for some reason. They've hit what, 370km/h at Monza? In race trim? How hard can it be to tune the car for a run to just get a little faster? Am I missing something?

Originally posted by HBoss


Which is?

Originally posted by hedges


Maybe it's just me but beating a 20 year old record for speed seems pretty naff. Is that as far as we've got in 20 years?

Originally posted by MPea3
I'm more impressed by runs such as those done by Campbell in the various incarnations of Bluebird at Daytona in the early 30's. When you stand on and look down the beach, the thought of 275 mph is very humbling.

Congrats to Honda on whatever they accomplish.

Originally posted by marcus123
I think they had to maintain 400kpf for a full mile, which means full throttle for something like 45 seconds.

Originally posted by ehagar


and Gil DeFerran went 241.428 mph around Fontana (388.457652 km/hr) in a car that had to turn!

Originally posted by Franklin Ratliff


409 mph.

Goldenrod is the only normally aspirated car ever to exceed 400 mph.

Driver Bob Summers set the record with his 7th and 8th runs.

On his 9th run he went 425 mph one-way through the mile.

Originally posted by dgsg
Some interesting LSR info; http://www.peterrenn....net/l.s.r.html

Originally posted by HBoss



And what engine did that have???

Originally posted by djellison


But if you're going to set a record for A MODERN F1 CAR...then you have to have open wheels

Originally posted by kNt

The car is quite heavily modified, it has no Rearwing and very narrow Radiator inlets, so I'd atleast do a special with enclosed wheels.

Originally posted by Franklin Ratliff


An ignorant mindset free of any imagination but showing not the least comprehension of the demands and dangers of record breaking at Bonneville.

Originally posted by Imperial


Sorry to interrupt your thread (although I'm sure I saw a post by someone else in here ) but yours is not to state that I have no imagination.

I have nothing but admiration for people who go ahead and try real challenges, but not at the expense of the day job.

And I of course would not dare do anything else but bow down to one who is clearly the master of knowledge in the field and has the most comprehension of the demands and dangers of record breaking at Bonneville. I wouldn't dream of commenting on the technicalities of this endeavour, to be honest I don't particularly care either, but I wouldn't and so haven't commented on that area, because it's not the main issue for me.

I do however understand the concept of spreading something too thin and diversifying to the detriment of the core, and as such it's plainly obvious that Honda should be concentrating on their F1 team, not some bastardised hybrid to achieve some record that few will ever hear or even care about. There's a lot of people out there laughing at their F1 team right now though and they would be obviously better served concentrating on that alone.

Unless Honda are just doing this as a publicity stunt of course....

But would one of the biggest companies on earth think of doing such a thing?

Why no Alfons, they care only for the spectacle !!!!!

My arse they do.....

Originally posted by Franklin Ratliff


And yet you wouldn't know a real challenge if it kicked you in the arse.

Originally posted by Franklin Ratliff

Many of the "biggest companies on earth" missed the biggest motorsports challenge on earth last century when they failed to support Richard Noble's Thrust SSC project.

At least Honda is showing some imagination.

Originally posted by Imperial


Ah yes, this is why I love forums. It's only ever a matter of time until the personal comments come out! Great that you know so much about me that I do or do not know what a challenge in life is.

I didn't recall that we'd met, my apologies.



Of course they are, I'm not doubting that at all mate.

It just smacks of bad timing that's all. The first time they went to do this I thought it was a little bit of bad timing and that they really should be getting their heads down and concentrating on the race team.

This time round I would rather say I was gobsmacked they were doing it, considering their F1 team is really in the **** in 2006.

Of course it's imaginative and as far as I recall they are the first F1 team to try such a thing. Good on them in that respect, but a bit silly when their core product (and let's face it, they are a business not a race team, so phrases like "core product" are fair game), the race team, is completely going down the pan.

And if this has nothing to do with the race team then the story has no business being on either Autosport or this "Racing Comments" forum, because speed-record challenges have nothing to do with motor racing.

Originally posted by Franklin Ratliff


Now that Honda has demonstrated what can be done with what is still recognizably an F1 car, it would be a logical step to consider building on that experience for next year by seeing what can be done with an F1 chassis inside a full envelope body. Assuming tires are not a problem, somewhere in the low 300 mph range should be possible with the chassis and engine they have now.

Originally posted by dgsg


I would hope so, a Ford Flathead V8 has gone 300! It did have a SC, but my god it was a flathead.
http://www.bluebird-...et/flatfire.htm

Originally posted by Franklin Ratliff


We're discussing it because it's about a Honda F1 car.

But in general speed record challenges do, in fact, don't have much to do with motor racing. For a variety of reasons.

http://www.landracin...opic.php?t=1379

Perhaps either because of the publicity the project has been getting or the fact it has shown some of the cherished concepts of how to go fast on Bonneville to be just myths, you might be surprised at the sniping and jealousy some Bonneville racers have been showing toward the project. Despite the fact the car had to break a legitimate long standing FIA record.

Originally posted by Imperial


Ah yes, this is why I love forums. It's only ever a matter of time until the personal comments come out! Great that you know so much about me that I do or do not know what a challenge in life is.

I didn't recall that we'd met, my apologies.



Of course they are, I'm not doubting that at all mate.

It just smacks of bad timing that's all. The first time they went to do this I thought it was a little bit of bad timing and that they really should be getting their heads down and concentrating on the race team.

This time round I would rather say I was gobsmacked they were doing it, considering their F1 team is really in the **** in 2006.

Of course it's imaginative and as far as I recall they are the first F1 team to try such a thing. Good on them in that respect, but a bit silly when their core product (and let's face it, they are a business not a race team, so phrases like "core product" are fair game), the race team, is completely going down the pan.

And if this has nothing to do with the race team then the story has no business being on either Autosport or this "Racing Comments" forum, because speed-record challenges have nothing to do with motor racing.

Originally posted by Franklin Ratliff


Your knowledge of the context seems so far underwhelming.

For example, you seem to have no concept of how poor the traction on salt is compared to pavement.

Or the fact Bonneville is at an elevation of 4,500 feet.

Originally posted by Hiatt
Congratulation to Honda for bulding the fastest F1 car in the world, ever!