VOL. 54 ISSUE 30 AUGUST 1, 2017 P107
present a challenge, but, once
again, the remoteness of Bonn-
eville is dwarfed by that of the
Bolivian Andes.
"We can't get parts overnight-
ed. They just don't have it over
there. You're so far out there;
there's absolutely nothing."
The odds of everything going
exactly to plan are never expected
to be high in land-speed racing,
or any world-record attempt for
that matter. And even with exten-
sive calculations in hand, they are
headed for uncharted territory.
"We went to a company called
Swift engineering in Camarillo.
They had just got a brand new
Cray supercomputer with all the
latest fluid dynamics stuff on it
and we did a whole lot of work
with them. They told us, 'At 200
mph, if we change this on a
champ car, this is what's going
to happen. We can tell you very
accurately, because we have
lots of data. But a motorcycle
at half the speed of sound, we
don't have any data. We don't
know what the hell happens
then!'" Akatiff said with a laugh.
With the prospect of 450 mph
now in the team's scope, Akatiff
The Salar de
Uyuni is no
stranger to
motorsports
events. Red
Bull stunt rider
Aaron Colton
wheelies
across the
otherworldly
landscape.
PHOTO
BY
PATRICIO
CROOKER/RED
BULL
CONTENT
POOL
