Rick Byrne's Quest for Speed
September 20-23, 2000
Utah Salt Flat Racing Association World of Speed
This year Rick and his RB
Motorsports team ran in the FALT class and attained a world land speed
record of 172.278mph - beating the old
record of 167.552. No, not the 200mph+ Rick achieved a few years ago, but
this is with a normally aspirated engine! He was running on
regular gas and next year (yes, Rick is already talking about next year!) he
plans to run over 185mph on Methanol.
Rick & Jim were making a try for 180mph on the five mile course and while accelerating hard through 7500rpm, the oil pump decided to give up its teeth. Jim shut down the moment he noticed the oil pressure drop and did manage to save the engine with only minor damage.
We'll have a full story for you soon, but here are some great shots to whet your appetite.
Photos of the event.
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Rick's car on the salt flats |  |
A front view of the engine.
More details to come later |
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A Side view.
Note the front air dam. What a fiberglass job Rick! Well done! |
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Side view of Rick's 'stroker' engine. |
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This page was last updated: Saturday, March 10, 2001 11:32 AM