Full Throttle

Earlier this week the F1 Honda team announced they had set new speed records at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. Driver Alan van der Merwe took his race legal Honda 007 along a a measured mile achieving an aggregate speed of 220.571mph (354.975 kph).

Wednesday they upped the ante when van der Merwe broke the 400kph barrier, setting a speed of 400.459kph (248.832 mph). Unfortunately on the return run they missed the mark and will make another try at the aggregated 400kph barrier.

Although it’s a bit of an “apples and oranges” comparison it’s interesting to recall Rusty Wallace’s speeds at Talladega Superspeedway. Back in June 2004 Wallace hit a trap speed of 228 mph (366.931 kph) in his unrestricted Miller Lite Dodge.

“We hit 228 at the end of the straightaway,” he said. Wallace’s top lap speed was 216.306 and was 25 to 30 mph faster than with a restrictor plate. “It was a helluva deal that I certainly will remember for the rest of my life,” Wallace added. “We’d all been wondering what it would feel like to run at Talladega again without the plates, and now I know. I’ll bet we could be running speeds up to 235 without the plates if we spent time doing some tweaking.

But I’ll tell you this