FEATURE
TOP OF THE WORLD LAND SPEED TRIAL
AUGUST 3-8, 2017
SALAR DE UYUNI / UYUNI, BOLIVIA
P100
options in Uyuni. If you didn't
bring it there, you won't find it
there. Whispers in the pits drew
comparisons to the movie Apollo
13. The Salar de Uyuni might as
well be the surface of the moon,
without so much as a stick or a
rock to use as a tool. But failure
The midday hour left time for
some sizeable repairs, including
replacing the brakes that had
been roached. Akatiff shouted
orders in the pits, anxiously trying
to locate the needed parts. Un-
like Bonneville with a major U.S.
city nearby, there are no such
himself heading too fast into the
pits. Without much air pressure to
slow him down, even the para-
chute did surprisingly little.
Rocky blew past the pits and off
the groomed track into the rough
popcorn-like salt. Worse yet, he
was forced to cook the brakes as
he finally came to a stop nearly a
mile further than intended.
The 'liner glided to a halt safely,
wheels out this time to prevent
it from tipping over. The team
rushed to his aid, immediately
removing the bodywork to take a
look at the engines. They as-
sumed that one or both were
busted, signaling an end to their
effort.
"Right there," push-car driver
Beto Recalde pointed to a loose
hose that popped off the turbo
manifold. An easy fix.
"Let's see if it'll start up," Akatiff
said. With a flick of a switch, the
twin Hayabusa engines roared
the life. Brief cheers erupted from
the team as they simultaneously
sprang into action. They had
work to do if they were going to
beat the daylight.
"I thought the motors had prob-
ably blown," Akatiff said. "The
turbo hose blew off. We went
from 30 pounds boost to zero
boost at 12,000 feet, so we had
no power. We're still in the game.
That's the important part. And it's
still early."
"YOU GOT ALL THAT BOOST AND NO ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE
OUTSIDE. IT'S JUST… NOTHING WE WOULD HAVE THOUGHT ABOUT.
THE NEXT GUY THAT TRIES THIS WILL LEARN FROM US."
