SEE IT: Danny Thompson's 435.735 MPH Speed Week pass his cockpit camera
Danny Thompson delivered a scorching performance over the weekend during Speed Week at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. Driving the twin-engine Challenger II on Saturday, Thompson clocked at 435.735 pass—the fastest of the day.
The pass certainly hints at the progress the Challenger II team has made in chasing the wheel driven land speed record. Unfortunately, it would be the car’s final recorded pass of the weekend.
On Sunday, Challenger II suffered a hiccup on its backup run, ending Thompson’s weekend at Speed Week.
"During the backup run, the front engine lost a connecting rod,” the Challenger II team reported on Facebook. “When Danny felt it go, he pulled off of the course safely. Beyond that, there does not appear to be any other major damage. That said, we don’t plan on running again. We’ll head back to Santa Ana, (California), for now, then return for the SCTA World Finals on Oct. 3. This will give us time to go through everything carefully, and make sure that nothing gets rushed or overlooked. As always, thanks for your support!”
Thompson was still thrilled with the team’s Speed Week performance.
"Absolutely thrilling to go that fast. Certainly the fastest I've ever been, the fastest Challenger II's ever been,” Thompson told RACER Magazine after the Sunday backup run. “The car came out unscathed.
"The car performed really well. The track is very, very marginal. It's real rough between two-and-a-quarter and the three-mile mark, then it gets fairly nice, but overall I couldn't pick up the throttle nearly as much as I would have liked to. You like to try to run full throttle as soon as you can off the truck and I don't think I got to full throttle until almost third gear. But the thing went fast, so sometimes your theories don't work out right and you go better!"
