Judgment day for the big banana
View at Times Online
Wendover is a frontier town. Shimmering on the edge of the Bonneville salt flats and straddling the state line between Nevada and Utah, it began life as a petrol station in the 1920s. It’s main claim to fame is that the Enola Gay B-29 aircraft took off from here in the summer of 1945 at the start of its mission to drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
Today its gaudy casinos attract gamblers from across the plains. A dusty neon cowboy on interstate 20 welcomes them and a sign reads: “You’ve missed Las Vegas, don’t miss Wendover”.
Last week a British team were in town, busy preparing to risk a lot more than money. They are here to race a banana yellow streamliner built by JCB, the brand more usually associated with construction site diggers, across the salt flats at more than 235mph and break the world land speed record for a diesel powered car. The odds are stacked against them.
In the inhospitable surroundings and baking heat of the salt desert the small team resemble a cross between the casts of The Right Stuff and Top Gun. The 30ft-long Dieselmax machine will be piloted by Wing Commander Andy Green, the man who already holds the outright land speed record after reaching 763mph in the ThrustSSC in 1997.
Wendover is a frontier town. Shimmering on the edge of the Bonneville salt flats and straddling the state line between Nevada and Utah, it began life as a petrol station in the 1920s. It’s main claim to fame is that the Enola Gay B-29 aircraft took off from here in the summer of 1945 at the start of its mission to drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
Today its gaudy casinos attract gamblers from across the plains. A dusty neon cowboy on interstate 20 welcomes them and a sign reads: “You’ve missed Las Vegas, don’t miss Wendover”.
Last week a British team were in town, busy preparing to risk a lot more than money. They are here to race a banana yellow streamliner built by JCB, the brand more usually associated with construction site diggers, across the salt flats at more than 235mph and break the world land speed record for a diesel powered car. The odds are stacked against them.
In the inhospitable surroundings and baking heat of the salt desert the small team resemble a cross between the casts of The Right Stuff and Top Gun. The 30ft-long Dieselmax machine will be piloted by Wing Commander Andy Green, the man who already holds the outright land speed record after reaching 763mph in the ThrustSSC in 1997.
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