What's the most exciting part of setting a land speed record in an electric vehicle? Roger Schroer, who drove the student-built Buckeye Bullet to a record-breaking 307.7 mph, says the true thrill comes from witnessing the teamwork involved in building the car.
No, that's not the feel-good copy of a cheesy press release. He says setting a land speed record in the Buckeye Bullet feels more like a successful experiment than a thrill ride. We caught up with Schroer as he returned home from the Bonneville Salt Flats after his third time setting a record in the Ohio State University streamliner. It turns out going that fast doesn't really feel all that fast.
"Most of your sensation of speed is a visual sense, but at Bonneville it's just a huge open plain of salt. It's all white," he says. "If you combine the relative lack of visibility with the lack of visual reference points and add in the control tests you have to do, you don't quite get the sensation of speed I expected."
Not to mention an EV offers a unique soundtrack, even at high speeds.
"In our car, I can hear the tires on the salt, the spinning of the electric motor and the noises from the rotating brake rotors and the drivetrain," Schroer says. "I've got to think that's somewhat unique amongst cars that go over 300."
Schroer's nonchalant attitude might come from his 26-year career as a test and development driver at the Transportation Research Center in East Liberty, Ohio, or his hobby of racing cars.
"It's a lot different than the road racing, because in road racing, you're concerned with how fast you exit a corner," he says. "The challenge here is simply to keep the car pointed straight. At first glance, it seems pretty simple. I know that's what I thought. But there's a whole set of issues. At those speeds, aerodynamic issues come into play."
Famed Bonneville racer Tom Burkland gave Schroer some advice: Think of the car as an airplane on the ground.
"The forces at those speeds are very significant -- you have to pay attention to the longitudinal center of gravity and the aerodynamic center of pressure," Schroer says.
That's where experience is vital. In addition to keeping the car straight, Schroer concentrates on reducing wheel spin, shifting at the engine speeds specified by the car's engineers and staying within mile markers.
"I'm trying to pay attention to whether things feel different and at what points," he says. "At the end I want to deploy the parachutes and note the condition of the car -- that's a critical issue. That's what's going through my mind. I'm paying attention and trying to stay out of trouble."
The Bullet, built by student engineers at Ohio State University’s Center for Automotive Research with help from Monaco-based boutique EV manufacturer Venturi, started its run for the record Aug. 23. Schroer hit a new record of 291 mph, then topped it Aug. 24 when he averaged 307.7 mph during two back-to-back runs. The team called off further runs after the Bullet’s clutch shot craps.
The time must be ratified by the rules-makers at the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile. But Dave Petrali, chief steward for U.S. Auto Club and an FIA timer, said there is no doubt the previous record of 245.5 mph, set in 1999 by Pat Rummerfield at the wheel of White Lightning, fell.
The EV is version 2.5 of the original Buckeye Bullet, whose 314.9 mph run in 2004 didn’t meet the FIA specs for a world record run. Version 2 was powered by hydrogen fuel cells and set the land speed record for a fuel cell vehicle at 302.877 in September 2009.
It took 11 months for the team to swap Bullet 2’s Ballard fuel cell for lithium-ion batteries from A123 Systems. The team is mum on details about the battery pack but it reportedly uses 1,600 cells. Only the power source has been changed — the body, chassis and electric traction system are all the same as the speeding Bullet’s previous incarnation.
If anything were to go wrong, Schroer has the benefit of a carbon fiber survival cell bolted within the car's chrome-moly space frame. He's also secured by the same six-point harness and the same foam padding used by Top Fuel dragsters.
Still, any queasy stomachs were the result of last-minute technical glitches and not the thought of driving nearly five times the speed limit.
"The last 12 days or so we've been so full of problems that it's not such a matter of nerves as can we do it this time? Are we going to have any electronic issues, is everything going to work?" Schroer says. "It's a complicated vehicle and everything has to be right. It's not to say that I'm not excited. Your heart pounds a bit, but you try to downplay that."
If anyone could pull off the record-setting run, it's the folks at OSU, Venturi and A123Systems, he says.
"The whole deal is this team," he says. "The point of the project is to expose the new young engineers to problem solving and challenges. It took three years to get the [original Buckeye Bullet 2] hydrogen fuel cell car right, but if you think of it in terms of what the team is supposed to accomplish, they work together and learn to solve problems. That's what this is supposed to be about."
With a successful record that's sure to be ratified, the team's attention has turned to building the Buckeye Bullet 3 and topping 400 mph.
"As far as I know, I'll be involved with that and I'll be looking forward to it," Schroer says. "When I first went 300, one of my first thoughts was, 'Can we go 400?'"
Photos: Ohio State University
See Also:
- Buckeye Bullet Sets EV Land-Speed Record
- Top Fuel Racing: Propelled by the Hand of God
- Mild-Mannered Suzuki Sedan Tops 200 MPH
- King of All Cars Tops 267 MPH
- What's It Like Doing 268 MPH?
- Steam-Powered Car Breaks Century-Old Record
- Supercharged Jag XF Does 225 MPH at Bonneville
- This Day In Tech, Sept. 3, 1935: Campbell Shatters 300 MPH Barrier at Bonneville
