Ok all, yes, I stand corrected. The coupe was a 34, but I wanted to type my
reply quickly last night and so got that fact wrong. I do know the story of
the car and it is one of my ultimate favorite cars ever...
Mayf, I didn't know the guys' attitude on the salt. I wasn't there -wish I
was- and didn't meet them. So I will leave that part to you and if it is
true, which I don't doubt, that is a sad thing. They should have been 'one
of the boys'. JCB now walked with a record that gives them recognition here
in Europe. Brilliant British engineering? Well, that story has been told
since the beginning of land-speed racing, right? Just take a quick look at
Rover to see how brilliant their British engineering is... It is just as
brilliant as any other engineering in the world. Anyone could do this, if
enough time and or money is spent on it. That was my basic point. And more
and more shade-tree mechanics are calling in the help of friends who do CAD
or know how to attach string to a car to monitor airflow. Nothing new there
eiter, I would say. And yes, the effort of the one man against the one
record with his one home-handbuilt car demands respect. I second that, and I
love it. But more and more record breakers are team efforts. Maybe small
teams, but still.
I agree that it would be sad to lose the sport to sole commercialism. But
the attention drawn to the sport by teams like this could get more people
involved at different levels. I remember a certain mr. Noble started by
strapping a whopping big jet engine to something alike a cart... That was a
grassroots effort. And he did it because he saw a big outfit do it in the
first place. And years later, he conquerred the record twice. With a team
and a multi million dollar budget. Still, he did it. With Andy Green. And I
still recon that deserves respect as well.
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