Due to bad weather conditions and wet salt trails, the Bonneville Speed Week was shut down for the second summer in a row. This, however, wasn't able to deter French electric car specialist Venturi and the Ohio State University Center for Automotive Research from attempting to set a new land speed record this past week — and they succeeded.
The 2014 Venturi Buckeye Bullet 3 streamliner was able to set a new world record of 240 mph, although the vehicle's engineers expect it to be able to reach speeds of up to 440 mph.
Due to subpar weather conditions, the track surface was rendered wet, slushy and muddy — hampering speed and causing the track itself to be two miles shorter than the traditional 12-mile length. Preparations for the track began on August 15th, where initial runs were hindered by severe vibrations, causing different vehicle parts to shake loose or rupture entirely.
On the official record-setting run itself, the bumps and inconsistencies in the track were so severe that they caused the coolant tank attached to the car to crack completely.
The VBB-3 is the fourth electric streamliner built by the two partners, powered by two electric motors to crunch out a combined 3,000 horsepower, making it the most powerful electric car in the world.
It belongs to the 3.5-ton category and is still waiting for FIA approval on the official setting of the record.
