19 September 2011
Bonneville Salt Flats, Wendover, Utah, USA
Land Speed Records Commission Milestone
The Land Speed Records Commission, which is charged with overseeing all automobile land speed records on behalf of the FIA, recently made history with its first meeting and official trip outside of Europe, as it ventured to the legendary Bonneville Salt Flats, in the western United States of America, near Wendover, Utah. In the course of the trip, the Commission, held its formal annual meeting, hosted a social event to meet U.S. Land Speed Record competitors and their teams, and spent a day on the Bonneville Salt Flats, observing the first day of an annual FIA land speed record event, sanctioned by the American ASN, ACCUS, the Automobile Competition Committee for the United States. During the course of the event the Commission also learned of the long history of land speed record attempts on the Bonneville Salt Flats, dating back to the 1930's, as well as gaining an appreciation for the unique geography and beauty of the site.
Their one day visit to "The Salt" gave the Commission an opportunity to observe what was at the time the fastest mile speed ever recorded by a piston engined, wheel driver vehicle, when the Poteet & Main "Speed Demon" streamliner, driven by George Poteet, broke the timing lights at a speed in excess of 442 mph (711 kph). Unfortunately, the Speed Demon was unable to make a run in the reverse direction within 60 minutes, as required by FIA regulations, and was therefore not able to claim an official international record, however, it was a most impressive feat nevertheless and gave the Commission a most unique memory to take home.
In addition to its normal business of reviewing dossiers from record attempts around the world and homologating (approving) them, as well as considering potential changes to the rules governing record attempts, the principal focus of the Commission at this meeting was on changes to the rules to encourage efficient use of energy in automobiles so as to be more environmentally conscious in record attempts. In support of that focus, the Commission confirmed an initiative with a new classification structure and recommended a change in the definition of hybrid vehicles for the use of future competitors.
In June 2013, the Land Speed Records Commission intends to propose to the World Council a new automobile speed record class structure and supporting rules for Series Production Cars (Category B) only which will promote speed record competition based principally on the automobile’s energy efficiency in attaining those speeds.
- Once approved, this class structure will take effect on 1 January 2014, and will exist in parallel with the current class structure which is based principally on engine displacement, without regard to energy consumption.
- On 31 December 2018, unless subsequently changed by the Land Speed Records Commission, the current, displacement based class structure will be removed from competition for Category B. From 1 January 2019 on, all FIA sanctioned Category B speed records will be based on the energy efficient class structure.
- It is emphasized that the freezing of the speed records for Series Production Cars in 2019 will not impact in any way the “traditional” land speed records which have been competed for by specialized vehicles in Categories A, C and D for more than 100 years.
At the Bonneville meeting the Commission reviewed the progress on related initiatives that are required in order to implement the above new class structure and is pleased to confirm that those initiatives remain on schedule and should support the 1 January 2014 implementation previously announced.
There remains considerable interest world-wide in land speed record attempts involving hybrid vehicles. In order to clarify the current rules and assist potential competitors in making plans for such attempts, the Commission approved an updated definition of a hybrid vehicle, which will be effective from 1 January 2012 after approval by the World Motorsports Council. The proposed definition is as follows: A hybrid vehicle is a vehicle in which an alternative power source is able not only to assist the internal combustion engine driving the wheels, but also to propel the vehicle via its wheels without the help of the internal combustion engine (the so-called zero emission mode). The range of the zero emission mode in a full hybrid must be at least 10 km at an average speed of at least 30 kph.