Project Update
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(Please note, the latest events are first, to read about the day's progress please scroll down the page.)
Pendine Sands, 17th June, 2000
Final Update.
It has been a fantastic day... every member of the team has put a lot of effort into making it a safe and secure event.
As you are probably aware by now the new record achieved in Bluebird Electric over the measured mile which is yet to be ratified by the RAC is 128mph. Top speeds coming out of the measured mile indicate we would have broken the 146mph objective comfortably if we had been able to complete a return run and had more distance to run on the beach. Unfortunately the enemy of the day was the tide, we had insufficient time to re-charge batteries fully before a final run. It is not generally appreciated how much time it takes to clear the beach after a final run of all the markers and timing equipment as well as the equipment at the pits either end.
We have some dates in mind for returning to Pendine to better our new record... The team now have a lot to do before then to organize that next event.
The Bluebird car worked brilliantly and is very stable on the sand. The new cars design has proven to be a huge success.
A big party was held later and everybody are now on their way home happy but a little worse for wear!!!
A big thank you to everybody who sent in messages of good luck to us. We are amazed by your support. A big thank you also to the media for being supportive.
16:00 - Fourth Update.
We have achieved an improvement on our current UK Land Speed Record. The team are charging the batteries right now. Don and Bluebird hope to get going again to squeeze in one last attempt at a faster record before the tide forces us off the beach.
14:00 - Third Update.
The car has made one complete run of the beach and back... No news has come from Don other than he is unhappy with the condition of the sand. He has been left with 500m less sand to use than yesterday which will hamper proceedings. The engineers seem to be very happy with the car's progress though. More news to follow later.
10:30 - Second Update.
Don is pleased with the condition of the beach... the tide is not fully out when he inspected it at 8:00am, but what he saw he is satisfied with. The engineers are completing final checks on the car and will soon be loading the car onto the trailer for the short journey to the sand.
07:30 - First Update.
The weather is almost perfect for us today. The Bluebird Team have always been fortunate on attempt days of having glorious sunshine. The engineers were busy into the night once again and as yet there are no reports from the workshops on the condition of the Bluebird Electric car.
I would like to thank everybody for the greetings sent in through this web site... we are humbled by the sheer number of visitors the site has received and by the good luck messages sent in from all over the world. Don sends his thanks to you all for the kind messages you have sent him.
The tide will allow us to have the beach prepared by 11:00am... then Don and those in charge of the beach and the course will begin the familiarisation process. This is necessary because the condition of the beach is different with every tide. As always Don will be fighting what is now fondly known as "The Porridge" - an underground stream runs across the track at a critical point in the course. The width of this soft piece of sand is approximately 2 lengths of the car and is sufficient to slow Don and Bluebird down considerably. It is one of the drawbacks of running on a beach that we have to live with, as have every other team that have raced here. It would be interesting to know what previous teams learnt about this piece of the course during Pendine's early history of land speed racing.
We will add pictures soon...
Emyr Wyn Morris
WebMaster, Bluebird Electric
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