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An attempt by the BAR Honda team so set the first official Formula 1 Land Speed record has been postponed due to bad weather conditions.

The team was scheduled to make the attempt between the 5th and 8th of October however heavy rain has fallen on the Bonneville Salt Flats and the water isn't expected to evaporare in time!

BAR Honda Sporting Director Gil de Ferran said:

The adverse weather conditions in Bonneville have given us no other option but to postpone the scheduled running of the B*A*R Honda 067 on the Bonneville Salt Flats. This is a short term disappointment to the team, but the very nature of attempting to run a car at speeds in excess of 400 km/h on a natural surface means it is always susceptible to bad weather and we were fully prepared for this eventuality. We will be rescheduling our record attempt once our observation team returns to Brackley, but are determined to get back out to Utah again as soon as possible

Full BAR Honda Statement

Bonneville 400 Site

They could switch to Lake Eyre. With our drought, theres little chance of rain affecting the track !

Or even in the southern part of India

Here's the link in case anyone's interested:
www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/formulaone/20616/

Apparently, according to the above SpeedTV.com article, BAR-Honda(soon to be Honda) recently tested its' land-speed record F1 car in the Mojave Desert in the past few weeks. Driven by Alan van der Merwe, the car passed 400kph(248.6 mph) three times, with the fastest run around 415kph(257.9 mph). Their land-speed attempt in the Bonneville Salt Flats is tentatively scheduled for either May or June of 2006.

Which tyres would be used to stop the 400kmph F1 car on salt pans?
Does anyone know the braking distance of a F1 car on a natural surface?

From the rear-facing photo SpeedTV.com had with the article, it looked like the tires were racing slicks and not the usual F1-style grooved tires. Plus the test they held, kapel, was on the Mojave sands and NOT Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats, so the speeds were liekly a little higher than they'll be when they run on the salts.

The tyres used at the ten thousand foot tarmac at Mojave Airport were the current F1 grooved tyres.

The car actually ran in full F1 spec (it ran without a rear wing and that isn't illegal and the stabilising rudder was kept in neutral).

According to the official Bonneville400 website (http://www.bonneville400.com), the top speed reached 413.25 km/H (265.754 mph). This speed wasn't an official record attempt but a shakedown for the Bonneville 400 run now expected in late May/early June.

The tyres to be used at the Bonneville Salt Flats will be F1 intermediate tyres as the tread pattern provides more grip on salt. The tyres will also be inflated to nearly double their usual pressures.

As for the braking distance, it takes a Formula 1 car 55 metres to stop from 200 km/H to a stand still and it does that in around 1.9 seconds creating deceleration forces of up to 5 G in the process!.

There is no documented data for the distance required to stop a Formula 1 car on salt!
The BAR Honda at Bonneville will be fitted with a parachute in accordance with the required regulations.

BAR Honda statement on Mojave

Thanks a lot Ed.

The car looks wierd to me without the rear wings!!!

I did say it looked like they were running on slicks. Thanks for the correction on it, Ed.

Kapel wrote:Thanks a lot Ed.

The car looks wierd to me without the rear wings!!!

And wouldnt it make overtaking a tad easier

mlittle wrote:I did say it looked like they were running on slicks. Thanks for the correction on it, Ed.

No worries mlittle! You were the one who mentioned this event at Mojave

I know, I know. I didn't think they would do a test attempt this far out, though.

Julian Mayo wrote:

Kapel wrote:Thanks a lot Ed.

The car looks wierd to me without the rear wings!!!

And wouldnt it make overtaking a tad easier

I thought without a rear wing the car has no grip ???

It does look weird! Imagine how weird it will look with the CDG thingymajiggie

mlittle wrote: Driven by Alan van der Merwe, the car passed 400kph

Its good to see BAR making a South African do the really dangerous stuff....