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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe fastest woman on four wheels, ever
Jessi Combs has firmly established herself as the fastest woman on four wheels. Today she surpassed the existing womens land speed record with a two-way average speed of nearly 392 miles per hour through a measured mile on the dry lakebed at the Alvord Desert in southeastern Oregon. That speed beat her own 344 mph mark from yesterday, a speed that already surpassed the previous record of 308 mph set in 1965 by Lee Breedlove, wife of former world land speed record holder Craig Breedlove.
At one point during her run, Jessi reached a top speed of 440.709 mph. That felt so unbelievably good, exclaimed Combs when told of her new record. I knew that one was really, really fast.
Combs made two runs today in the Eagle. The rules require that a driver make two passes across a measured course, once in each direction, with the second pass completed within 60 minutes of the first. Officials then average the two speeds. On her first run, she passed through the measured mile at 354.931 mph, exiting the mile at 2:25 pm. But she was not entirely pleased with that first pass. The car ran great, but I kept getting pulled into the ruts from yesterdays runs, she said.
After coming to a stop at the south end of the lakebed, the team turned and serviced the Eagle so that Jessi could re-fire the jet engine to make her return run. At 3:15 pm, she re-entered the measured mile and recorded a speed of 430.978 mph, for a two-way average of 392.954 mph.
The vehicle that Combs drove, the North American Eagle (NAE) Supersonic Speed Challenger, is considered a car because it has at least four wheels. But it is certainly not a car you would see on any road. The Eagle is a 14,000 pound, 50,000 horsepower converted F-104 Lockheed Starfighter jet that once served as a chase plane for the X-15 and SR-71. The all-volunteer team of American and Canadian engineers and former military personnel removed the wings and added wheels to convert the F-104 into a jet-powered car that may ultimately travel at more than 800 mph.
Combs is an automotive metal fabricator and currently co-hosts All Girls Garage (Velocity by the Discovery Channel) and The List: 1001 Car Things to do Before You Die (AutoBlog). Previous television appearances include Mythbusters and Overhaulin (Discovery Channel), Xtreme 4x4 (Spike TV), and Two Guys Garage (Speed Channel).
http://landspeed.com/press/233-jessi-combs-is-the-fastest-woman-on-four-wheels
440 MPH becuse she can.
Eleanors38
(18,318 posts)fitman
(482 posts).. Watch All Girls Garage all the time..the other 2 girls are not bad either
JackRiddler
(24,979 posts)DainBramaged
(39,191 posts)JackRiddler
(24,979 posts)Very important.
DainBramaged
(39,191 posts)Just another of the fine long-term members who think they know better than the rest of us. thanks for the lesson in casting asparagus.
Take a hike.
JackRiddler
(24,979 posts)Codeine
(25,586 posts)when she was out having a baby! She's really quite cool.
madokie
(51,076 posts)Thats cool.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. The best thing to happen to man is woman.
I love the women of this world
reddread
(6,896 posts)put the wings back on and go really fast.
Squeeze that speed from some actual automobile technology and get back to me.
Congratulations to her, of course, on making history.
The race for speed records has taken many wrong turns.
Jet propulsion is not very interesting compared to many other historic attempts
by serious salt junkies.
It didn't even have a steering wheel. The only "...actual automobile technology..." appears to be the four wheels on the ground. Not much driving required....IMHO.
.
DainBramaged
(39,191 posts)reddread
(6,896 posts)If you want to talk serious cars, Im always available.
You want to ride a jet engine, go for it.
Id rather fly.
the only problem I have with Jay Leno is he has one of these, and I dont.
thats as close as I would ever want to come.
DainBramaged
(39,191 posts)I didn't just bracket race wiith mom's Rambler.
Have a nice day ya here.
reddread
(6,896 posts)then you realize there's no sideoilers in those pictures.
you like Ramblers, you should see my 61 Falcon.
DainBramaged
(39,191 posts)I am just not interested in your Ford BS. period.
Goodbye
JackRiddler
(24,979 posts)DainBramaged
(39,191 posts)when did you become the GD nanny?
11 years here and you just can't leave people alone..........sad being a thread troll.
I won't reciprocate in kind, I can't be bothered with being so petty.
JackRiddler
(24,979 posts)I do get an opinion. Your insistence on talking about big loud land-rockets and other motorized trivia is stuff for the lounge.
reddread
(6,896 posts)Cant help it if I like fast 60's FE Fords and the championship heritage they have.
They make driving fun.
BS? whatever dude.
Tell me about your wins.
I'm all ears.
NYC_SKP
(68,644 posts)Last edited Sun Oct 20, 2013, 01:19 PM - Edit history (1)
ICE rides are dinosaurs. EVs are the future, and they were the past. Oil is a blip in the course of human history.
EV Record Holder back in the day:
Internal combustion engines are very quaint, but they still have a speed category for them.
Burkland's Streamliner, is, I believe, the current record holder:
reddread
(6,896 posts)no argument.
of course a 270 mph flattie streamliner has a lot to offer in terms of inspiration and historical value.
Everything that is interesting about the American Automotive artform has already happened.
Nostalgia is the main thing behind so much of the hobby.
randome
(34,845 posts)But Combs is interesting, too.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font][hr]
hunter
(38,317 posts)Thanks for the post, DainBramaged!
REP
(21,691 posts)That must've have been incredibly fun.
Liberal_in_LA
(44,397 posts)Monk06
(7,675 posts)The so-called "Deal of the Century" produced considerable income for Lockheed, but considerable political controversy in Europe, particularly in Germany, where minister of defence Franz Josef Strauss was almost forced to resign over the issue. Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands was also connected to being bribed by Lockheed, and he later confessed having received more than 1 mill. USD. Many considered the Starfighter program a politically motivated enterprise, with governments browbeaten into accepting a USAF cast-off out of U.S. political pressure. This debate was exacerbated by the F-104's alarming accident rate (in German service alone 292 of the 916 Starfighters crashed, claiming the lives of 115 pilots), leading to cries that the Starfighter was fundamentally unsafe. In the 1970s it was revealed that Lockheed had engaged in an extensive campaign of bribery of foreign officials to obtain sales, a scandal that nearly led to the ailing corporation's downfall.
IDemo
(16,926 posts)Turns out, they often were.
B Calm
(28,762 posts)which. I do know there is no freakin' way I would do anything like this!