Doug & List
I do not know why the airport authority allowed the use of the Wendover
facility for running the Dieselmax, as Pork Pie has confirmed they did and
photos reproduced over here show the car testing with its body off on a
runway surface - but it could be the taxiway concrete.
Use of the hanger at Wendover Airfield, as I said earlier, has become a
British 'tradition'. I would doubt that the National Security of the USA
was endangered by having a car running on Wendover airfield, so it appears
to have been permitted without any compromises. I would hope that if
anyone else from within the US asked and presumably paid a fee, then they
too could garage and test there. I doubt that the JCB cheque book alone
would have created the right conditions to run the car.
I was able to gain access to, and be licence to have fast cars on, the
USAF/RAF base at Fairford Gloucestershire, England in July this year,
thanks to the co-operation of the local military and the
Washington/Pentagon political folk. This runway had not been made
available for nearly 30 years for LSR use. If there had been a need to
bring in aircraft, or the Shuttle, I am sure that the record team and
their cars and all of the timing lights would have been swept off the main
runway in about ten minutes flat. No implications at all to National
Security here either. It took many months of patient negotiation to
achieve use of this runway, with many agencies and with a bit of necessary
help from the air tattoo organisers.
Didn't tech inspection for speedweek take place at the Wendover airfield
some decades ago?
My question in return would be has anyone approached the airfield manager
for permission during any recent speedweek event to trial a car on his
site?
Here in the UK we have access to privately owned runways, that the military
have sold. But expect to pay $6,000 to $16,000 per day for exclusive use
of the facility.
Malcolm Pittwood, Derby, England
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