Latest News

We are all home in Ohio now, but the ride isn't over by a long shot. Local newspapers are picking up the story and featuring team members who live in their area. Popular Science Magazine is running an article in their November issue comparing five major EV land speed racing programs, including the Buckeye Bullet. SolidWorks Corporation posted a press release on their website today. Go to our Media page for links to all of the latest stories and keep checking back.

Hollywood is calling Ohio State, too. DLE Entertainment in Los Angeles is putting together a network promo tape this weekend for their new TV series American Speed Kings. The Buckeye Bullet team is supplying video from Bonneville for the demo. DLE visited us several times last week on The Salt Flats. They said they would feature the Buckeye Bullet in one entire episode next year. The series will be about the fastest Americans.

This morning at 9:40am mountain time the Buckeye Bullet, driven by Roger Schroer, set a new Land Speed Record for the E-III class at 314.958 MPH. The vehicle duplicated the previous day's run with very similar timed miles and an exit speed of over 318 MPH.

Following the run Roger Schroer was inducted into both the exclusive Bonneville 200 MPH and 300 MPH Clubs. Roger becomes only the 60th person in the 56 year history of Bonneville Salt Flats International Speedway to set a land speed record above 300 MPH. He joins such other famous racers on the exclusive short list as Craig Breedlove, Donald & Malcolm Campbell, Gary Gabelich and Mickey Thompson. Click here to see the entire list of 300 MPH Club Members.

The Team was also visited by Andy Green of England. Andy is the all-time land speed record holder at 763 MPH in the Thrust SSC. One of the reasons Andy came to Bonneville was to see the Buckeye Bullet.

The Thrust SSC was powered by two Rolls-Royce Phantom 21,000 pound thrust jet engines. Andy and the Thrust SSC made 14 runs over 700 MPH and broke the sound barrier five times. The car generated a shock wave out 10-miles in front of the car that broke windows and took off roof tiles in neighboring towns. The car, which is now in a museum, ran in wind gusts up to 20 MPH.

We were also told that the Buckeye Bullet may now hold the record for the fastest measured speed of any electric vehicle:

This has been a very proud day for all involved. Thank you all for your good wishes and continued support!

Thursday was another spectacular day on the Salt. Perfect temperature, in the 70s, and ideal salt conditions. The team had the car ready at the start line for a new U.S. Record attempt around 3pm. The run went flawlessly, and Roger Schroer set a new ceiling for electric racers with a third mile clocked at 316.658 mph. The Bullet was "out the back door" at almost 322 mph!

.
The Bullet has now qualified for a new U.S. Record and has a chance to back up the record early tomorrow morning, when the return runs are scheduled.

Ed Mantey, OSU alumnus and Vice President of Engineering Design and Information Technology at the Toyota Technical Center, USA, in Ann Arbor, MI visited us today. Ed presented the team with a check for $10,000. Thank you Ed and Toyota!

The backup run for the U.S. record is scheduled for 8AM MT (10AM ET). We will send an e-mail as soon as results are known.

The Ohio State University Buckeye Bullet, a vehicle designed, built, and maintained by OSU students, set the new international land speed (LSR) record in the E-III category (the top class of electric vehicles) at 271.737 mph (427.225 km/hr) around 3:30pm MT.

The international LSR is set by running a set 1-km course in opposite directions within the span of sixty minutes. Run-up to the "flying kilometer" section consists of a three-mile stretch of the salt flats. After a forward run, the vehicle must complete the flying kilometer in the reverse direction within 60 minutes.

Today, the Bullet was the first vehicle to line up for the international record run - the first opportunity at the 2004 World Finals, around 2:30pm. With driver Roger Schroer of TRC, Inc. at the wheel, the forward run resulted in a speed of over 267 mph at the end of the measured km, and the return run was close to 276 mph. The average speed over the kilometer in both directions was timed at 271.737. These runs eclipse the 245 mph record previously held by White Lightning in 1999.

The Bullet also holds the U.S. LSR at around 257 mph, set last October 18th,2003. The Bullet team will attempt to surpass its own U.S. record during remainder of the World Finals, which last through Saturday, October 16th. National record attempts are set according to a different set of rules, which include a 4-hour impound period between runs. The Bullet came close to re-setting its record last August during SpeedWeek with a forward run averaging 308 mph, but the return run was foiled by a driveline mechanical failure.

The Buckeye Bullet successfully passed Technical Inspection today and was declared "Go for the 2004 Bonneville World Finals."

A driver's meeting is scheduled for 8AM Wednesday morning. The Buckeye Bullet will go for a new world electric land speed record beginning at 3PM Mountain Time (5PM EST) Wednesday afternoon.

The FIA is not coming to Bonneville this year. Instead SCTA will be the governing body over new world land speed records set this week.

We have been told that SCTA has decided to do the return run in the reverse direction with a one-hour maximum turn around time between the first and second runs to duplicate the FIA requirements as close as possible. This means that all vehicles will be headed back toward the start line plus heading toward a gas station and Interstate 80, both about three miles from the start line. We have also been told that one team has had a net constructed in case their brakes fail on the return run.

We will update this website Wednesday evening with the results and send out an e-mail to our master e-mail list as soon as the results are known. Contact Pat Hall (See below) if you are not already on our master e-mail list.

While passing through the Las Vegas International Airport en route to Bonneville this afternoon, Captain Terry Mayo, Commander of the Airport Bureau of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police asked us to wish the Buckeye Bullet Team Good Luck. Captain Mayo's is very proud of his daughter who is a student at the Ohio State College of Pharmacy!

Wednesday is shaping up to be another historic day for the Buckeye Bullet Team. We will send out an e-mail as soon as results are known and update this site Wednesday night.

We have had over 5,000 visitors and over 21,000 web pages viewed on this website in just over two months! Thank You all Buckeye Bullet Fans!

The Buckeye Bullet left Columbus yesterday on its 31-hour journey to the Bonneville Salt Flats for the World Finals next week. God Speed, Buckeye Bullet! Go Fast!

The team is packing, doing home work and getting ready to fly to Bonneville Monday. We will join them Tuesday afternoon.

We hope that you have enjoyed watching Kevin Ponziani's new Buckeye Bullet video on our homepage. It will take a few minutes to download if you are using dial-up Internet access, but the few minutes wait will be more than worth it.

We are planning several upgrades to our Bonneville coverage including streaming video and "live" updates directly from the Salt of the International and U.S. Land Speed Record runs, so keep checking back, and some other surprises are planned that we can't tell you about, yet.

Have a great weekend . . . and get ready for one of the most exciting weeks in Buckeye Land Speed Racing history!

The Buckeye Bullet is packed and ready. All week the team has been loading the same Dana Corporation Truck with parts, shelves and provisions. Tomorrow they load the most precious cargo, the world's fastest electric car, The Buckeye Bullet. And Dana's Owen Carey, once again, will be driving the load to Bonneville.

A big Buckeye Thank You to Caterpillar and CAT's Scott Rohrbach for the loan of a CAT generator set for the world record runs.

Today, LandRacing.com posted very nice comments about the Buckeye Bullet on its site. Click here and read the third paragraph. Editor and webmaster, Jonathan Amo, granted us permission to reprint the comments on our website. Thank you!!

As the team gets ready to go back to Bonneville to set a world land speed record and possibly another U.S. record, they would like to express their thanks to everyone who has helped to make this all possible.

Just the list of the wonderful people and organizations who have contributed to the Buckeye Bullet Program is extensive. Check out our new Thank You webpage!

Buckeye Bullet Team Leader Isaac Harper was informed by Mike Cook, President of Bonneville Nationals, Inc. (BNI), that BNI, not FIA, will certify international land speed records during the World Finals October 12th-16th.

Furthermore, the BNI procedure will be that both world land speed record runs will be made going in the same direction. After a qualifying run, vehicles will be given 30 minutes to return to the starting line and then must make the second back up run within one hour.

BNI made the decision over safety concerns for the drivers. Under FIA procedures, the two runs are made in opposite directions. That means that the return run at Bonneville brings the driver and vehicle back toward the edge of the Salt, a gas station and Interstate 80.

Land Speed Driver Nolan Ryan was killed a few years ago on his return run back towards the high way. BNI is concerned that with cars exceeding 300mph a similar danger is always present on the return run.

These determinations and BNI procedures don't make the task of setting a world land speed record any easier. There is now the added tasks, after the qualifying run, of getting the car off the track, hoisted on Junk Yard Wars and towed five to seven miles back to the starting line, all within 30 minutes without incident.

Isaac thanked Mike for his concern and agreed that the Bullet would attempt an international record sponsored by the BNI.

Go Bucks!!

Writing proposals asking companies to sponsor the Buckeye Bullet is fun and rewarding, especially when someone says "Tell us more!" What makes it really fun is getting to ignite people's enthusiasm, telling them about this wonderful group of college students that has done, what only 55 people have done before in Bonneville history, build a car that carried a person over 300 MPH!

Please let us know if your company would like to sponsor the Buckeye Bullet, and we will send you a media packet full of excitement, history making accomplishments and goals for the future. We will also promise you the moon, but in reality, having your company's logo on the side of the world's fastest electric car is where the fun and rewards only begin.

We are also getting ready for another full weekend of testing at TRC Inc. Behind the scenes, discussions are underway with SCTA and FIA about the World Finals at Bonneville October 12-16th. Both the U.S. and World Electric Land Speed Records will be in play on the Salt, so stay tuned! :-)

Send us an e-mail if you are planning to join the team at Bonneville. We can help with arrangements and travel tips. Bonneville is a relatively inexpensive destination, especially if you book airfare early, and there are neat side trips, too, to ghost towns, Salt lake City and Las Vegas, just to name a few locales. We encourage our sponsors to give this once-in-a-lifetime experience to their outstanding employees. Donna and I will be there to guide you along and you will feel right at home on The Salt.

As the end of 2004 approaches, we also encourage you to add the Buckeye Bullet to your company's Student 2005 Project Fund, and to consider a donation this year, if there are monies left in the account. Any amount will be greatly appreciated and put to immediate good use.

Just 15 days left until the World Finals on the Bonneville Salt Flats. The students are adjusting to their fall class schedules, doing homework and working on the Bullet in their off hours. Another photo shoot, this time for Engineering News, is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.

Behind-the-scene preparations for Bonneville are moving along, too. Several companies are requesting permission to add links from their website to this site, so that all of their customers, suppliers and employees can keep up with team activities.

We are working on wireless datalink hardware and software that will give us the capability of live website updates directly from the Buckeye Bullet pits out on The Salt. That's the good news . . . so far we haven't been able to make it work, but we have only had the gear for two hours :-)

And it is not too late for you to make plans to join us for the world land speed trials next month. We will be posting more travel information in the next few days.

Buckeye Bullet driver Roger Schroer captured third place in the 2004 Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) Showroom Stock C (SSC) National Championship Race today at Mid-Ohio. Go to SCCA for our excusive photos!

Roger fought off a locking right rear wheel and an aggressive field of SSC drivers from across America to come from fifth place to third place and a "podium finish" in the final minutes of the 20-lap championship race.

Earlier in the week, Roger set a new Mid-Ohio SCCA SSC qualifying record and took the pole position, the first pole position ever won by his sponsor, Hankook Tires.

The enthusiastic crowd was clearly rooting for Roger and the PA announcers were calling his name during most of the race. They even commented that he was a professional driver at TRC, Inc.

Roger was interviewed by Speed Channel before and after the race. His interviews and the race, itself, are scheduled to be shown on Speed Channel on Sunday, December 5th. We will update you if that date changes.

Roger's family, many of the Buckeye Bullet Team and Craig Taylor, Buckeye Bullet driver and himself an SCCA National Champion, were there to cheer him on.

We hope that you had a chance to see the Buckeye Bullet in Craig Taylor's booth at the SCCA National Championships at Mid-Ohio over the past two days. The car was being brought back to Columbus tonight for a magazine photo shoot!

Buckeye Bullet driver Roger Schroer qualified for the pole position for the Showroom Stock C national championship race to be held this coming Sunday morning at 10AM. Roger will be driving a black Honda Civic #41.

This morning Roger was interviewed by Chris Neville of Speed Channel about the Buckeye Bullet Program. The interview is expected to be included in Speed Channel's coverage of the SCCA National Championships which will air later this year. Keep checking back to this website for updates on when the interview can be seen.

The Buckeye Bullet Team put their wrenches down today to go back to college and to sort out a mix of day and evening classes. Mechanical Engineering students on the team are taking mostly evening classes while a new mechanical engineering building is under construction.

If you are at Mid-Ohio Raceway tomorrow, stop by the Paddock Area at 10AM to watch taping of the Speed Channel interview with driver Roger Schroer.

The Buckeye Bullet completed two days of shakedown and software development testing at TRC Inc. over the weekend and was pronounced ready for high speed runs on October 2nd.

After every trip to the Bonneville Salt Flats, the car must be completely disassembled and cleaned to remove every grain of salt from every part, nut and bolt. The students worked 48 hours without sleep to have the car ready for testing on Saturday morning, and then worked all day Saturday to test the car.

To emphasize the importance of the Buckeye Bullet's trip to the World Finals in less than one month, four key sponsors, Dana Corporation, Edison Welding Institute (EWI), Saminco, Inc. and TRC Inc. sent executives and top technical people to support this weekend's testing. These companies exemplify the up close and personal support

Just one example is Tony Davis, Vice President of Engineering at Saminco, Inc. in Fort Meyers, FL. Not only did Tony give up this and other weekends to come to Ohio , he and his wife, Beverley, left their damaged home during Hurricane Charley to go with us to Bonneville this August to make sure they were there if we needed help. And with their help and the help of all of our sponsors and donors, the Buckeye Bullet became the first electric car in history to go faster than 300MPH.

Our driver, TRC Inc.'s Roger Schroer, has been invited to be part of Speed Channel's coverage of the 2004 SCCA National Championship Runoffs being held this coming weekend at Mid-Ohio. Roger will be competing in the SSC (Showroom Stock C) class. His race will occur on Sunday morning, September 26th at 10AM. He will be interviewed by Speed Channel this coming Thursday for broadcast during their SCCA Championship coverage to be televised later this year.

We were pleased that the Speed Channel announcement also stated that this website was the go-to place for Buckeye Bullet news!!!

International Truck & Engine has donated $1,000 from their student project fund to help cover some of the cost of going for a new world land speed record at Bonneville next month. Thank you!!

Tropical storm Ivan is brushing the Columbus area today and is expected to move out of the state by tomorrow morning. Many sponsors will be here to support testing which is scheduled to begin on Saturday at TRC Inc. We will be there, too, and will give you a complete report over the weekend so keep checking back to this website.

All of our sponsors have been really great and super enthusiastic. We talk with several almost every day by phone, e-mail or in person. If your company would like to join the Buckeye Bullet Electric Land Speed Racing Team, send us an e-mail and tell us how you can help.

Everyone knows that it takes a lot of money to operate a race team. The Buckeye Bullet is no exception. Two trips each year to Bonneville, spare parts and other expenses really add up fast. Thanks to your generosity and to the support of all of our sponsors, the Team is well on its way to meeting its fundraising goal.

Team member Kim Stevens designed the catchy Buckeye Bullet Battery Charge graphic on our homepage that we will use to keep you all posted on how we are doing.

Assembly of the Buckeye Bullet continues in the CAR garage, as we keep a wary eye on Hurricane Ivan, which is expected to arrive in Ohio sometime this weekend. We are hoping and praying that the storm will hold off so that we can get some testing time in at TRC Inc.

Behind the scenes, the phones are ringing off the hook and our e-mail inboxes are full of enthusiastic good wishes. All of you are excited, really excited, and we can hear and feel it in your messages. Thank you!

We are already planning to come out and visit some of you in the off-season to share, in person, the thrill of Buckeye Bullet land speed racing at Bonneville. Check out our Buckeye Bullet Sightings for our current schedule and how you can request an appearance by the car and team, a speaker or an autographed photo to hang in your favorite Buckeye Corner!

A big Buckeye Thank You to everyone who sent in donations and gifts to support the Buckeye Bullet Team. During yesterday's team meeting, I was overwhelmed by your generosity and support when Maria Soliman pointed to an impressive pile of checks on her desk. Your donations of frequent flyer miles are also starting to add up.

We are developing additional ways in which you can support your favorite students and ELSR Team, so please keep checking back to this website.

There are only 29 days left until the World Finals. The Buckeye Bullet is being reassembled and, with testing scheduled to resume this weekend at TRC Inc., we, like most of you, are watching Hurricane Ivan which is forecasted to enter Ohio sometime Saturday with wind and rain.

Two Columbus area eateries, Quaker Steak & Lube and Tommy's Diner, have agreed to post an autographed Buckeye Bullet Team photo for all of their patrons to see. We will be adding a new feature called Buckeye Bullet Sightings to our website, where you can find out where to see the car, the team, one of us on the speaking circuit or a team photo.

We will also tell you how to schedule appearances and how to get an autographed team photo for yourself and/or to hang in your favorite public location. So please keep checking back for the latest news and website updates.

Brutus Buckeye and POTUS (President of The United States) were in Central Ohio this weekend, but neither are licensed to drive the world's fastest electric car :-)

There was also another great football game in The Shoe as Centerville's Mike Nugent kicked a career long 55 yard field goal with just 2 seconds left on the clock to pull out the win from a tenacious Marshall team. Final score Ohio State 24, Marshall 21.

A couple of miles to the west, the Detroit Alumni Club was having a tail-gate at the CAR garage and had invited the Buckeye Bullet Team for lunch.

After an early Saturday morning meeting, the Team set about to get the car ready for testing at TRC, Inc. next weekend. Parts of the Buckeye Bullet are coming back from suppliers and sponsors who are located all over the U.S. The Buckeye Bullet will be fully assembled and ready to roll at the end of the week. More 24 hour days are ahead!

Word spread quickly through our neighborhood that the two fastest electric car drivers in the world were eating breakfast on our deck Sunday morning. Two by two they came to meet USELSR holder and 200 MPH Club Member Craig Taylor (256.894 MPH) and the first man to exceed 300 MPH in an electric car, Roger Schroer (308.317 MPH).

Craig and Roger were hatching a winning race strategy for the Bonneville World Finals with Buckeye Bullet Team Leader Isaac Harper in between meeting the neighbors, eating eggs, sausage and bacon, and watching golfers attack the 2nd hole at Muirfield, home of Jack Nichlaus's PGA Memorial Golf Tournament.

That strategy breakfast topped off a busy weekend that began with an Ohio State College of Engineering Buckeye Reunion Under the Stars on Friday night. The Buckeye Bullet car and team were there. Thanks to everyone who stopped by to meet the Team and examine the car. A special thanks to those of you who said they enjoyed our website.

On Saturday the Buckeye football team beat cross-state rival Cincinnati 27-6 at Ohio Stadium in front of 104,604 cheering fans. Giorgio Rizzoni hosted a reunion for Ohio State's first electric car teams, those who designed and built the Smokin' Buckeye. The reunion was held at CAR after the game with old videos being shown and a tour of the CAR student project garage. You can see game and reunion photos at Smokin' Buckeye Reunion. Send us an e-mail if you want a full size reunion photo.

Ward Engineering President and Ohio State Alumni Tom Ward said today that his company will provide ISO 9000 certified engineering and production services to the team, including engineering and component manufacturing support.

The students will receive an education in ISO 9000 production practices and procedures.

Ward Engineering is a Columbus-based supplier of instruments and equipment, research, development and fabrication to the worldwide medical services market.

CAR's Senior Research Associate Engineer, Don Butler, has become a sponsor of a Buckeye Bullet Battery Pack.

Three key sponsors, Honda, Saminco and Nigel McQuin of McQuin Electrical Power Consulting have volunteered to have key technical support people on-site during Buckeye Bullet testing for the WELSR at TRC next month. TRC will also provide their expert driving and technical staff to do whatever is necessary to help make the testing successful. We thank all sponsors in advance for your encouragement and support.

The Columbus Dispatch has given us permission to post their August 21st article on this website. Go to Media Coverage and click on Columbus Dispatch to read it. Thank you, Andy Murphy, Managing Editor!

We are also receiving an average of one contact per day from a major media outlet wanting to do a story on the Bullet. We will keep you posted on where and when coverage appears and will provide a link on our Media Coverage page.

The pace at CAR is quickening, and we will share with you what we can of the behind-the-scenes drama and excitement. Already, there are not enough hours in day or night to get everything done, but these moments come only once in a lifetime.

We all offer our congratulations to Ryan Somogye who received his masters degree during OSU Summer Commencement yesterday on campus. Ryan has become one of the foremost experts on automotive battery applications thru his leadership of the Buckeye Bullet Electrical Team. His services were highly sought after, and Ryan now joins other Buckeye Bullet teammates, Tom & Jenny Sopko, at Caterpillar in Peoria, IL. You can congratulate Ryan by sending an e-mail to BuckeyeBulletTeam@RoadToBonneville.com

The current Bullet electrical team worked through the weekend designing new components for the car and went out for sushi with Ryan the night before he graduated.

Discussions with potential sponsors continued over the weekend and several important meetings are scheduled later today.

Many of the students on the Buckeye Bullet Team have slipped away from Columbus to spend quality time with family and friends and to share their incredible, for many first time, experiences at Bonneville.

The students drove or flew home last weekend and went straight to their summer jobs on Monday morning. For example, Team Leader Isaac Harper interns at Honda R&D America in Marysville, OH; video wiz Kevin Ponziani works at the Air Force Development Labs at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Andrea Barger works at Cummins in Columbus, IN and Mechanical Leader Andy Marquand interns at OSU’s CAR.

It is raining and the CAR garage is quiet this morning. The normal Saturday morning team meeting was held last Wednesday night so that the students could get away on the weekend. Across campus the football team practices for their opening game against Cincinnati at home on September 7th. Incoming freshmen and their families wonder around town, maps in hand, getting acquainted with this large city that has a small town feeling.

The Bullet Team considers Speed Week a moderate success. Becoming the first electric car to exceed 300 MPH was one of their goals. The other was to set a new USELSR.

The focus is now on setting a new world electric land speed record (WELSR) at Bonneville in October. The team had successfully dealt with engineering design, development and application issues that arose at speeds above 260 MPH. Now there are new issues as we cross the 300 MPH threshold that no one has ever faced before with an electric car. The team has identified them and has action plans and assignments in place. Can an electric car meet the stringent FIA one-hour turn around time between speed runs and go faster than the current record of 245 MPH? Is a new WELSR above 300 MPH possible with this technology? We will know in just 46 days.

So for now, let’s get some rest. Enjoy being with friends and loved-ones. Get a pop or beer and a pizza and watch the famous night race at Bristol tonight. Think about what was and what will be. The gathering storm will be here soon enough!