The Carbinite LSR streamliner is powered by a twin-turbo, fuel-injected 540 cubic-inch big block Chevy engine that makes about 2,600 horsepower at 30 pounds of boost. “Basically, you’re trying to fly an airplane on the ground,” Freyvogel said. In land speed racing, horsepower plays second fiddle to optimized aerodynamics and drag reduction. “I’m going: I don’t think there’s anything to hit, but this doesn’t feel right,” he said, sitting behind the SMP grandstand where even among a huge group of head-turning, eye-catching vehicles, the streamliner catches the most eyes and turns the most heads.

They got the streamliner out to “Area 52” last September where Freyvogel set a new personal speed record of 360 mph, before the cockpit filled with dust, completely blinding him. He’s keeping the location a secret, so unless you’re a skilled donkey hunter, you’re probably not finding it. Other than the wild donkeys running around (again, seriously) it was perfect.įreyvogel and his land speed race team have dubbed the location “Area 52,” because: A. It’s in Nevada, like the infamous Area 51 U.S. He found three he believed might work, then flew to Las Vegas, NV with his wife to check them out in-person and found a 7.2-mile stretch of super-flat public land covered in dirt which he said is legitimately flatter than the Bonneville Salt Flats. Using Google Earth ( seriously), Freyvogel, who lives in Butler, PA scouted potential locations out west for running his Carbinite LSR Streamliner REALLY fast without destroying the car and/or dying.

We had the opportunity to ask Rob Freyvogel that very question when we bumped into him at Super Summit at Summit Motorsports Park, where he was displaying his Carbinite LSR Streamliner (which we wrote about in July last year). So what’s a guy with a 500-mph fighter jet-looking race car to do for testing and tuning before attempting to break several land speed records at Bonneville’s Speed Week slated for August 13-19? Outside of the famed Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, only south Australia’s Lake Gairdner and Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni provide sanctioned salt flats racing. NORWALK, OH - It’s a big world, but not even Earth offers many places for 500-miles-per-hour land speed racing.

Bonneville salt flats racing 2017