A new national electric record has been set at the Bonneville Salt Flats. It was set in the E3 class by team Vesco 444 reVolt System's streamliner, which was driven by Eric Ritter of New York City. The road to the current record was long, but the team managed to break the old one and then broke their record a day later.
At first, the National Electric E3 Record was broken on the last day of September 2021, with 322 MPH (ca. 518 km/h). Just 24 hours later, the team set to make another attempt, and this time the vehicle was clocked at an average speed of 353 MPH (ca. 568 km/h), which became the new national record for electric vehicles.
The team did note that the current record is 12 mph (ca. 19 km/h) faster than the current world record, unfortunately, the latter involves a different requirement to validate an attempt. Let us explain.
For a record to be valid, a vehicle must be driven twice on the racecourse, and the average speed between the two attempts is the one that is compared with each existing record.
If a world record is at stake, both attempts, which means each drive on the racecourse, must be completed within 60 minutes of each other.
These records have a history of over a century with vehicles, and trains were also previously used.
At first, you might think that electric vehicles have only recently been introduced into the entire flying mile or flying kilometer land speed record challenge, but you would be wrong.
Instead, the first Land speed record that was officially measured and set was with an electric vehicle driven by French aristocrat and race car driver Count Gaston de Chaseeloup-Laubat.
As you can imagine, one cannot find high-power charging plugs at the Bonneville Salt Flats, so each team must bring its technical solution. In the case of Vesco 444, a Tier 4 solar trailer was used for recharging.
Photo: Team Vesco
Its power is not specified, but it is clear that the team did not manage to charge the batteries to a sufficient level and finish the run within the 60-minute time limit.
The streamlined vehicle you can see in the photo gallery is dubbed Little Giant (just like John Vesco's first streamliner), and it features two “heavily modified” Tesla motors. One cannot help but wonder what Elon Musk thinks of this feat. The pair of modified Tesla motors get the required energy from 1,152 prismatic lithium-ion batteries.
The team has not specified the total capacity of their batteries nor the resulting power of the modified Tesla electric motors. Revealing such details would shed more light on what is possible with the modification of an electric motor once fitted to a Tesla.
The same goes for battery technology, which is more than just a set of Tesla batteries that have been arranged in a different form. If the vehicle respects ongoing FIA regulations on the matter, the team's secrets are safe from prying eyes.
Photo: Team Vesco
With the record set at an average land speed of 353 MPH (ca. 568 km/h), with a maximum speed of 357 MPH (ca. 574 km/h), the team is convinced that they could go even faster. The next goal is 400 MPH (ca. 643 km/h), which would raise the stakes for anyone involved.
Mind you, this team is not new at this, as those who remember the Vesco name might have already figured it out. Don Vesco's Turbinator set a 458 MPH (737 km/h) FIA World Land Speed Record back in 2001. The team honors his memory and legacy by attempting new land speed records.
With that in mind, it will be interesting to see who will be next to try their shot at the World Land Speed Record, in the form of a Flying Mile.
Sebastian's love for cars began at a young age. Little did he know that a career would emerge from this passion (and that it would not, sadly, involve being a professional racecar driver). In over fourteen years, he got behind the wheel of several hundred vehicles and in the offices of the most important car publications in his homeland. Full profile
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