Friday, August 20th, 5:25PM MT
Friends of the Bullet:
Another great Buckeye Bullet adventure has come to the end. After a day spent by Maria
Soliman and Craig Taylor tracking the FedEX differential shipment from the U.K. (we use a custom part made by Quaife
in the U.K.), all hopes of receiving the part ended around 1AM today when the FedEx tracking desk confirmed that the
package had been delayed by customs in Memphis and would not make the 2AM FedEx flight to Salt Lake City. Team members
Isaac Harper, Keith King and Ed Hillstrom were ready for a night pick up in SLC, and had already prepared all the tools necessary
for the assembly of the differential, so that they could perform part of the work in the car during the drive back to Bonneville.
The
Buckeye Bullet team is proud of its historic accomplishment dating back to Monday. The Bullet is the first electric
vehicle to officially break the 300-mph barrier, joining a list of only 54 other teams in the history of Bonneville.
The
Bullet will resume testing at TRC, Inc., in the next few weeks, and will see some minor adjustments in the aerodynamics and
electronics in preparation for the World Finals, to be held next October 13-16 at Bonneville, when the team will attempt to
set a new FIA world land speed record. FIA rules require that two runs be completed within one hour. The existing
FIA record stands at 245 mph, and dates back to 1999.
We are immensely proud of this bright, hard-working and resilient
team. See you in October!
Go Bucks, Go Fast!
Giorgio
Thursday, August 19th , 11:10PM MT
By the time most of you read this on Friday morning, this plan will be well underway. The replacement differential has
been held up in shipping and was being heavily expedited tonight through the combined efforts of Maria Soliman in Wendover,
Craig Taylor in Texas and FedEx in Memphis. Thanks to Craig's efforts, the differential was due to arrive in Salt Lake City
by 4:30AM Friday morning on a FedEx flight.
Could the Team drive to Salt Lake City, get the differential, return to Bonneville and reassemble the Bullet in time to
make two land speed runs by 2PM on Friday, the last day of racing?
After a lengthy and detailed analysis of the time available and the tasks at hand, Team leaders and driver Roger Schroer
decided to go for it. The Team's number one goal is to set a new USELSR and their analysis said that, if things go their way,
it was still possible to do it.
We will update you via e-mail from The Salt as the day unfolds. If you are not already on our e-mail list and would like
to receive these updates, please send your e-mail address and organization affiliation to Pat Hall at The Ohio State University.
Pat's e-mail address is hall.420@osu.edu.
Go Bucks!!
Wednesday, August 18th, 10:55PM MT
The world is recognizing the significance of the Buckeye Bullet's historic 308-MPH land speed run last Monday night. The
Team is receiving hundreds of congratulatory e-mails from sponsors, other automotive companies, competitors, other race teams,
fans of electric vehicles, the media and automotive related websites, Buckeye students and alumni, family and friends.
Team member Kim Stevens, webmaster for www.BuckeyeBullet.com reports greatly increased traffic on The Bullet's website, and this website is receiving on average 300 visitors
per day. This Road To Bonneville site is so busy that the ISP, Earthlink, has threatened to shut us down unless we convert
to a commercial site, which we are in the process of doing. (See note on our Homepage.)
The Team has been too busy working on the car to realize what they and all of the Buckeye Bullet teams before them have
accomplished. The Buckeye Bullet is the first electric car in history to go over 300 MPH, demonstrating in just 90 seconds
that electric car technology is real.
Bullet driver Roger Schroer received his Unlimited Speed Driver's License from SCTA today. Roger is now qualified to go
over 300 MPH to any speed the Bullet will go. Congratulations Roger!!
Did Roger go over 315 MPH on Monday? The time sheet showed Roger's exit speed at the end of the run to be 314.925 MPH.
Exit speed is the average speed of the last quarter mile of the fifth track mile (third and last timed mile). The Bullet was
accelerating faster than even our onboard electronic diagnostic system could measure. We will never know if he was running
faster than 315 MPH when he passed the end of the fifth mile, but that will become a mute point very soon.
The replacement rear differential gearing system is enroute from the supplier and is scheduled to arrive Thursday. The
student engineering team continued to pour over the hardware and will not rest until they know what happened. They are anxious
to return to OSU to analyze the failure using lab and computer techniques.
Other land speed racing teams, including the General Motors/So Cal Speed Shop factory sponsored combo, and several old
time salt racers, came to the Bullet pit area today asking for help in the form of advice, analysis and equipment. Our OSU
students have gained the respect of everyone here at Bonneville both on and off the track.
Two former Buckeye Bullet Team members came in today for the final push. Chrysler's Ed Hillstrom and Keith King and his
father Dale were up to their elbows in grease and oil by mid-afternoon.
The first ever hybrid car to hold a land speed record was trailered into the Bullet Pit this afternoon. Crew Chief Jim
Leininger brought Toyota's record setting Prius by for the students to see and inspect. Jim, himself a 35-year veteran of
salt racing, gave our team advice and answered their questions for well over an hour about preparing electric and hybrid cars
for land speed racing.
This stock production Prius, down to including a radio and power windows, was prepared in Japan with only minor modifications
to accommodate the topography of Bonneville. The car went 134.5 MPH beating the long standing H Production LSR. Jim will now
work with SCTA to establish a land speed racing class for hybrid vehicles and 134.5 MPH will be the time to beat. This Prius
will be returned to Japan and will be shown at the Tokyo Auto Show. You will be able to read all about this particular car
i at Bonneville this week in an upcoming issue of Car & Driver Magazine.
Congratulations to all of our friends at Toyota. Toyota also sponsors the Buckeye Bullet.
Jim also passed along his Rules for Salt Racing that we will post on our website, sage advice from a real veteran of The
Salt. It was a pleasure to meet him.
Thursday will be another really high adrenaline day and you all may get to see the action, or some of it, on TV later this
fall. While the Team is installing the replacement differential, reassembling the car and racing to get to the starting line
for another USELSR qualifying run, a TV production crew will be filming part of an episode of "Driver" in our Pit Area. Driver
is a new TV reality show about a racing team from Utah trying to break into NASCAR. The show stars Rick Craig and his Number
5 Craig Racing Team. Rick was impressed with information we sent him, including a DVD featuring The Bullet, and offered us
national TV exposure as a way of helping to sponsor our team.
Rick's business is the Millennium Sign Company that makes electronic signs, some of which are used at the Wendover casinos.
He became intrigued with the Buckeye Bullet when I sent him an e-mail asking if a Millennium sign would work at 300 MPH. Hopefully
tomorrow we will all get to see another historic electric car land speed run.
Go Bucks!!
Wednesday, August 18th, 9:15AM MT, Rain
Friends of the Bullet: Unfortunately the problem detected by Roger Schroer during yesterday's
record attempt turned
out to be a damaged differential. The ring and pinion need to be replaced. It is not a major problem, but it must
be repaired. With Craig Taylor's invaluable assistance, replacement parts have already been ordered, and we hope that they
will arrive in time to make a couple more runs towards the end of the week. The team is upbeat, in spite of the setback.
We all understand that these things can happen when one pushes the envelope.
We will send an update tomorrow.
Go Bucks!
Giorgio
Tuesday, August 17th, 10:45PM MT
The Team was up at 4:30AM and out on The Salt at first light. Pressure was on to top off the battery charge, close up the
car and be out of Impound by 8AM or be disqualified. They left Impound at 7:30AM and were roughly the 20th vehicle
in line to Back Up a new USELSR.
It took about an hour and a half to get to the start line. Roger and The Bullet were off at 8:50AM and hopes were high
all around. Soon after The Bullet accelerated away from the push truck, it went right of course. The public address announcer
confirmed that the Bullet had stopped and gave our push truck permission to cross the course to push the car back to the Pit
Area. Monday's hugging and crying were replaced by solemn concern for Roger and The Bullet.
Moments later the nearest SCTA official confirmed that Roger was OK and reported that Roger had heard a strange noise,
and not wanting to damage anything, pulled off and stopped. A flood of emotions came over the team, relief that Roger was
OK, disappointment that no record could be set today and that The Bullet had to qualify for a new record all over again, and
a firm resolve to find the problem, fix it and run again.
The student engineering team set to work disassembling the car, analyzing the problem and developing a fix that would allow
them to still set a new record this week. The analysis has been underway most of the day and we are waiting a final report
from Team Leader Isaac Harper through Giorgio Rizzoni, Director of CAR. When that happens we will post it on our website.
The vice-president of research & development of Toyota Japan visited the team and toured the Bullet's Pit Area in mid-afternoon.
Toyota and Car & Driver magazine are jointly running a stock production Prius hybrid car here at Bonneville, while working
with SCTA to establish a hybrid car LSR class. The Toyota VP was impressed with the Bullet and its 308 MPH speed, and asked
if the Prius and Buckeye Bullet could be photographed side-by-side for Car & Driver. That photo shoot will take place
on Wednesday.
Then another strong wind, rain and salt storm swept over Bonneville stopping LSR runs for the day and sending everyone
running for cover back in Wendover. The land is so flat out here that you can see the storms coming, but they travel so fast
that it is difficult to out run them. The salt covers everything and the ground looks like it has been snowing!
Roger, The Rocket, Schroer made good on his promise tonight to buy the whole team dinner if he ran over 300 MPH. And we
said good bye to Tony and Beverley Davis from Saminco, who had to return to the clean up process in Florida in the wake of
Hurricane Charlie.
In world class racing, your emotions are either way up or down, never in the middle. And world class racers experience
both all the time. If it were easy, someone else would have done it. In almost six decades of land speed racing, there are
only about 55 members of the 300 MPH Club, racers who hold LSR's from 300-399 MPH. Our goal is to make Roger Schroer
the first electric car driver to be inducted.
Go Bucks!
Tuesay, August 17th, 5:38AM MT
The Buckcye Bullet will be racing this morning sometime between 8AM and 11AM MT (10AM and 1PM EST) to back up a new USELSR.
We will notify you of the results by e-mail as soon as they are known.
Go Bucks!!
Monday, August 16th, 10:45PM MT
Roger Schroer and the Buckeye Bullet qualified tonight for a new USELSR with a peak timed fifth mile of 308.317 MPH! This
is also the fastest timed mile for any electric car ever! Breaking the 300 MPH barrier is a triumph for Roger, all Buckeye
Bullet Teams over the years and for all of our sponsors, their suppliers, our families and friends who have supported and
worked so hard to make today possible. Thank you!
Immediately after the qualifying run the Bullet was towed to "Impound ", the batteries were recharged and the car is now
impounded out on The Salt overnight. The Bullet must be moved from Impound to the starting line by 8AM Tuesday morning or
face disqualification. Then Roger and the Buckeye Bullet will run again, and the average of the fifth mile time will be the
new USELSR.
Look closely at the SCTA Time Sheet on our home page. Roger was actually accelerating through the fifth mile and had an
exit speed of 314.925 MPH! His comment back in the Pit Area was "The Bullet will go faster."
The morning began with cleanup from a strong wind storm that had raked the salt flats Sunday night blowing down tarps and
sending the Bullet's detached nose cone down the course at 70 MPH. Fortunately, a spotter chased it down and held it until
daylight. The storm, which is common here, delayed the start of today's runs by near 3 hours. When runs did begin, Roger and
The Bullet qualified easily at 236 MPH and were now licensed for unlimited speed runs.
About an hour before the record qualifying run, Isaac Harper and Roger Schroer were featured in a live Internet and radio
broadcast from our ever-advancing position in the starting line que. Thank you Tom Wiebell of WOSU-AM in Columbus for your
continued support over many years of all student automotive projects and teams at CAR.
So the stage is set for another record breaking day. As OSU quarterback Craig Krenzel once told his team, "That's why we
go to OSU, to play in the Big Games."
God speed, Roger Schroer and the Buckeye Bullet. What ever happens tomorrow is in your destiny and you both "Did something
great " today.
And we added a photo of Scott Anderson, at the starting line for the record qualifying run, to our Latest Photos page for all of our friends at Dana Corporation. Thanks for loaning him to us for this exciting event.
Go Bucks!!
Sunday, August 15th, 10:33PM MT
Roger Schroer drove the Buckeye Bullet to a conservative 186 MPH Sunday afternoon, well within the second licensing range
of 150 to 200 MPH. The Bullet was moved to the starting grid Sunday night to be sure of another licensing run first thing
Monday morning from 200 to 250 MPH. If successful, The Bullet will make a USLSR qualifying run Monday afternoon above 257
MPH.
The Buckeye Bullet continues to run smoothly, thanks to Roger and the student team who arrive on The Salt each morning
at 6AM with their assignments and ready to go. They usually stay until 8PM before returning to Wendover, a clean shower and
supper.
Several of our sponsors are here, including Tony and Beverley Davis from Saminco in Florida, Scott Anderson from Dana Corporation's
Vehicle Development Group in Michigan, and Jim Lyon (and driver Roger Schroer) from TRC in Marysville, OH. Tony and Beverley
live near Fort Myers and flew out on Saturday shortly after Hurricane Charley brushed by about 50 miles to the north. They
had no power, but only minor damage to their home and property. Thank you all for coming out to support the team!
We will do a live radio broadcast on Monday evening directly from the Bonneville Salt Flats. Tom Wiebell will feature us
on his "Open Line" program from 7PM to 8PM EST. The program can be heard in the Columbus, OH area on WOSU-AM and over the
Internet at www.wosu.org. Click on the "NPR Live 820" link. Team leader Isaac Harper and driver Roger Schroer will be interviewed and
the entire team will be introduced. We hope to be able to announce having just qualified for a new USLSR, so be sure to tune
in and tell your friends and family to listen, too.
Conditions on The Salt are so extreme that we have decided to add a new page to this website called "Life on The Salt"
in the next day or two. And we continue to update "Team Speak" with new phrases and little known facts that you can only find
here at Bonneville and Wendover.
And we are sad to report that The Great White is seriously broken after the long trip out from Ohio. Our favorite truck
stopped working Friday morning and had to be towed all the way back to Salt Lake City to be repaired. Until we were able to
rent another truck, one of the other LSR teams came to our rescue and towed the Bullet to the start line and push started
it on its practice run last Friday. Two team members repaid the favor when the other team's transmission broke and they needed
some expert consultation on possible repairs. Our OSU students have gained the respect of their fellow LSR racers and are
now a part of the history and legion of Bonneville. But that legion and history has just begun!
Go Bucks!!
Sunday, August 15th
12:42AM MT
TRC's Roger Schroer wasted no time in showing what he and the Buckeye Bullet could do on the Bonneville
Salt Flats Saturday. The first time out he drove the Bullet to 259 MPH, 2 MPH higher than the Bullet's current
USLSR. But this was practice. Sunday Roger begins the licensing runs at 200 MPH.
Craig Taylor holds the ESLR peak timed mile of 272 MPH, but that record could fall this week. The Bullet continues to run
smoothly and the team "celebrated" the day's events with a now-traditional supper at the Wendover Pizza Hut.
We heard the news by cell phone as we raced the setting sun across the salt flats from Salt Lake City to Wendover. Lights
from trailers and motor homes lit up the darkness as we approached the entrance to Bonneville Speedway. The temperature at
9PM was 91 degrees and a classic hot rod show was in full swing at the Nugget Casino when we pulled into town.
Saturday night in Wendover, NV . . . cool cars . . . Tim McGraw on the radio . . . and land speed racing in the morning
. . . Does it get any better than that?!
Go Bucks!!
Saturday, August 14th
4AM MT
We thank our friends at SCTA for providing the first photo of the Buckeye Bullet
on The Salt at Bonneville during Tech Inspection yesterday. Go to the SCTA Website and click on “Speed Week Results/Photos Short Cut" to see many more photos of the vehicles that will be
racing starting today.
The Buckeye Bullet team is in high spirits and will be on The Salt early this
morning getting ready for the start of land speed runs, which begin after the drivers meeting at 11AM
MT. The Bullet was near the front of the line and passed Tech Inspection yesterday in early morning.
They hope to be near the start line today when racing begins, probably at about Noon MT (2PM
EST)
For safety reasons, new LSR drivers are not allowed to drive as fast as then
can on the first time out. The driver and the vehicle must be licensed as a pair by making runs at ever increasing speeds
until they reach the range where they will try to set a new record. Roger Schroer and The Bullet will be making runs
at 150 MPH, 200MPH and 250 MPH. After reaching 250 MPH, Roger and the Bullet will be clear to break a new USLSR and
go to 300 MPH.
The team will use these early runs for research and development. The
Bullet has an onboard diagnostic system and camera. The data is analyzed immediately after each run and adjustments
are made, if needed.
During the coming week, we hope to share with you some of the behind-the-scenes
drama and pure excitement as we push this state-of-the-art vehicle to its limit. What we will learn will be factored into
the electric and hybrid cars we all may be driving five or 10 years from now.
We have an e-mail list of over 500 people around the world, including car manufacturers,
component makers, academic collogues, radio, TV, print media, family and friends. When news breaks we will be sending
out e-mail bulletins and updating this website.
We hope all of you in
Florida
are safe, especially all of our friends at Saminco who were in direct line of Hurricane Charlie.
Donna and I fly out to Bonneville later today, so the next update will be late
tonight or tomorrow. As they say
out there . . . See you on The Salt!
Go Bucks!!
Bonneville Salt Flats
Friday,
August 13th
Noon
Mountain Time
Team
leader Isaac Harper reported from out on The Salt that the Buckeye Bullet passed Technical Inspection by the SCTA this morning. The inspection went smoothly. After buttoning
up the Bullet, the team returned to Wendover to plan strategy for their land speed runs which begin tomorrow. The next major event is the drivers meeting at 11AM local time tomorrow, after which the cars can go to the starting line. The team is in high spirits and eager to let the racing begin.
Go Bucks!!.
Friday, August 13th
Wendover, UT
4AM MT
Updated 10:30AM MT
The Buckey Bullet has been in line for Tech Inspection for over two hours. We will update this report when the
car clears the SCTA inspectors.
Bonneville National's Speed Week begins today with Technical Inspection of the 600+ cars, motorcycles and trucks
that are expected to go for new land speed records over the next eight days. The Buckeye Bullet arrived on The
Salt yesterday and had been prepared for Tech Inpection before leaving CAR in Columbus.
Everyone arrived safely in Wendover late yesterday afternoon and enjoyed some qualiy time together before the land speed
racing begins today and tomorrow.
On a personal note, we hope that all of our good friends at Saminco in Fort Myers are safe as Hurricane Charlie
roars in on Florida this morning. My wife Donna escaped the storm on one of the last planes out of Tampa airport last
night.
God speed, Buckeye Bullet!
Go Bucks!!
Wednesday, August 11th,
10:17PM EST, Updated at 11:05PM
The big Dana truck with its valuable cargo, the world's fastest electric car, has
arrived in Salt Lake City, UT. The two team members and team advisor driving the Great White are not far behind.
They checked in from high in the northern Rockies passing out of Wyoming and into Utah. They will overnight in Park
City, UT, and catch up with the Bullet on Thursday. By noon both will reach their final destination - the Bonneville
Salt Flats.
The Southern California Timing Association (See Related Links) will allow teams to go out onto the salt on Thursday and set up their pit area. Tech
Inspection happens on Friday and land speed runs begin Saturday.
The remainder of the Buckeye Bullet Electric Land Speed Racing Team (sounds great
desn't it!) flies to Bonneville Thursday via Salt Lake City.
Thanks for all of your e-mails of well wishes and support. The team really
appreciates everything that you are doing to support them.
Update:
Then the team called back. Their
long road trip had developed some excitement.
At about 11PM EST (9PM MT), as the Great
White was entering Evanston, WY, population 11,000, it became sandwiched between an 18-wheeler and a concrete abutment, and
having no place to go, ran over something on Interstate 80. Three miles later
the trailer, carrying the Cummins generator, had a flat tire. No one was injured
and the generator is fine. The high-tech Buckeye Bullet ELSR Team members sprang
into action, changed the tire without unloading the 1,000 pound generator, and they were back on the road within 45 minutes.
Some additional observations: The Great White covered over 850 miles on Wednesday and crossed only two states, NE and WY. The crew reported seeing hundreds of power generating windmills high in the Rockies.
Thursday, everyone meets on the Bonneville
Salt Flats. Let the games begin!
Go Bucks!!
Wednesday, August 11th
Team Leader Isaac Harper reported in at 9PM last night from 70 miles east of
Omaha,
NE where the group of
two team members and one advisor spent their first night on the Road to Bonneville.
They are driving the “Great White” (See Team Speak) and towing a utility trailer containing a Cummins generator.
Isaac reported no equipment problems and wants to assure everyone that there will
be no shortage of corn and soybeans this year! The traveling Buckeyes also reported
passing a motorcade of 25 while Chevy Suburbans and wondered if they had run into one of the presidential campaigns.
Back here in
Columbus the remaining team members are buying
up suntan lotion by the gallons and otherwise getting ready to fly out to Bonneville via
Salt Lake City Thursday morning.
Thank you all for supporting our website. As of this morning, our site has had 239 visitors,
an average of 47 per day, who have each spent 5 minutes and 45 seconds viewing 1,334 pages!
Isn’t technology wonderful? J
Go Bucks!!
Tuesday, August 10th
This morning, two team members and an advisor began the 31-hour, 1,800 mile
drive to Bonneville in a support truck and towing a power generator donated by Cummins. Two overnight stops are planned
in
Nebraska
and Utah. Yesterday was spent buying last minute supplies and packing.
The remainder of the team flies out on Thursday.
Judging by the growing number of hits, you like this website. Please send a link to everyone who would enjoy keeping track of the team and especially OSU alumni.
The real excitement will begin on Friday with Tech Inspection. Land Speed Runs (LSR) begin Friday.
Go Bucks!
Monday, August 9th
1:45PM
The Buckeye Bullet left
Columbus
early this morning and headed for the Bonneville Salt Flats at
Wendover,
UT. All systems were go for Bonneville Tech Inspection as the Bullet was carefully
packed into its custom 18-wheeler at 3AM. The truck is provided by the Dana Corporation.
Team Leader Isaac Harper and Team member Andy Marquand gave Dana's driver Owen and his wife a tour of CAR before the Bullet
left at about 9AM..
We owe a big Buckeye thank you to Larry Heckendorn of OSU's Ag Engineering
Department for spending most of three days and nights welding a heavy iron ramp to load the Bullet into the truck. We will have photos on the ramp from Bonneville.
A flurry of activity continues around the clock at CAR as the Team prepares
to leave. We will post many photos from last night's activities to load the Bullet on this website tonight.
Go Bucks!
Sunday, Agust 8th
9:50PM
The students worked on the Bullet and equipment most of Saturday night and started again about mid-morning today.
The goal is to have the Bullet ready for Tech Inpection at Bonneville when it is loaded onto Dana's 18-wheeler tonight.
It looks like another all-nighter, so keep checking back during the day on Monday for a news update and photos.
Saturday, August 7th
The OSU Center for Automotive Research (CAR) is a bee-hive of last minuite activity as the Buckeye Bullet Team gets ready
to head for Bonneville. Sponsor logos are being applied to the Bullet which will be loaded Sunday on a huge 18-wheeler
that was donated by Dana Corporation. Thank you Dana!
This morning's team meeting was short and sweet as team leader Isaac Harper issued final instructions and passed out
team shirts. Everyone has their assignments and is working hard to get the Bullet on its way on time.
The latest version of the Buckeye Bullet DVD was previewed showing in-car footage from testing at TRC. All I can
tell you is that the video is better than NASCAR! The camera will be used for research at Bonneville, and we are
hoping for some great footage there, too.
Bullet Driver Roger Schroer does what every professional driver does in his off time . . . he goes racing! Last
weekend Roger qualified for the Valvoline Run Offs, the Sports Car Club of America's (SCCA) national championships which
will be held right here at Mid-Ohio later this fall. Congraulations Roger!
Stay tuned . . . . Go Bucks!
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