Re: IHC at Bonneville

[n9ads@domain.elided (Howard R Pletcher)]

On Tue, 03 Mar 1998 19:53:02 -0500 Eric Walter <ewalter@domain.elided> writes:
>All this talk of binders going triple digits made me go dig out an old
>Hot Rod Mechanix from '90. In an article about the speed trials at
>Bonneville, they show a '43 IHC running in the Modified diesel truck
>catagory, clocked at over 180 mph. I wonder if thats an overall IHC
>speed record or not.
>Eric
>PS Gives Tom M. a goal to shoot for anyway....
>
>
Not the record.  There was a much-modified Navistar model 8300 with a
12V-71 engine with 4 turbos putting out 2000 hp at 4000RPM that was put
together by Doug McComb, the Detroit Diesel distributor from Spokane, WA 
and driven by his son that holds the world's record.  I think they
started in 1990, ran 179 mph.  In 91 or 92, they ran 195 on the short
course which was a record at that time, blew a tire at an estimated 225
on the long course and lost most of the body work in a wild spin
(Goodyear said the tires were only good for 200 and they were right). 
They returned through 1994 and gradually got the speed up to 226, with
the fastest 1-way run 232 mph (the record is for the average of a two-way
run).  In addition to the IH K-line, there was a new Peterbilt or
Freightliner that was also running competitive speeds.

The rules have been changed and the truck can no longer compete and it
has been retired to the National Automotive and Truck Museum of the US in
Auburn, IN.   There's a photo of the 1990 version on page 576 of
Crismon's book.  The final version was a lot better streamlined after a
lot of assistance from Navistar.

I treat all reports of 175-200 mph with a lot of skepticism, remembering
that only in relatively recent years have NASCAR and even Indy cars
really been able to run 200, not to mention the tires.  Further, one of
the automotive mags like Car and Driver ran a test a couple years ago
where they took some Porsches that could really run 180+ out to a track
with their staff who were in the business of driving fast.  Only one out
of 15 or 20 drivers could actually drive the cars at 180.  Most began to
lose their nerve around 150 when the handling began to change radically. 
Their conclusion:Be skeptical when someone in a bar says they've driven
at these speeds unless they are professional race car drivers that do
this frequently.  Wish I had a copy of that article now.

Howard Pletcher
Howteron Products Scout Parts

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