13 August 2006

BONNEVILLE SALT FLATS - Utah

Time: 18:37 (US)

Temperature: 30°C

Location: Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah

No longer rookies the JCB joined the queue to run today soon after 08.00 but it was three hours before the car reached the head of the line of cars and its second run on the salt.

Such was the interest in the car that the marshals had to move the crowd back before it could run.

11.30 The car ran in a very similar way to yesterday with the front engine working well but the rear one failing to go on to turbo boost. After hitting 156mph Andy Green made three attempts to bring the rear engine up on to boost without success so pulled off the course after four miles.

The analysis shows the rear turbo is not getting hot enough- the air needs to be above 650C for the turbo to produce its power. The pipes on the rear turbo are longer than those on the front engine and consequently there is more air to heat up.

There was some suspicion that the low pressure fuel pump was also below par so this was changed together with the regulator. The low pressure unit pumps fuel from tank to the high pressure pump.

After completing this work at the JCB pits on the salt the car was put back in line in the hope of getting one more late run in before racing halts at 17.00. The cars moved forward but only slowly so the JCB DIESELMAX ran out of time.

The yellow streamliner is now locked up in the trailer and waiting in-line for an early run tomorrow.

It will be an earlier night for the race team!