"Challenger II" completes at 246mph test run at Bonneville

Danny Thompson got his "Challenger II" Land Speed Record car up to speed on the Bonneville Salt Flats Friday, as he and his team moved closer to attempting a challenge to the existing wheel-driven LSR with the twin-engined car.

"We got to run the car on the salt today, and I can't describe how cool it was," Thompson related. "We made a clean 246mph checkout pass early in themorning. We have lots of these slower tests to look forward to as we work our way up the safety certification stairway and gather performance data about the car.

"I'm pleased to say that both engines started immediately and warmed well. The nose did not demonstrate any notable lift during the run, and our RacePak data acquisition systems performed flawlessly. We've been working on the car for four years, but it's all been largely theoretical. Getting to actually run and find out whether we've been making the right decisions has been an amazing opportunity.

"We prepped the car for a second test later in the day, but the wind speed started fluctuating between 10-15mph, so we decided to cancel."

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