A Formula 1 race pilot intends to beat a speed record set by Hoot Gibson and help promote a “green” fuel in the doing. Richard “Smokey” Young told AWIN yesterday that he believes a new unleaded biomass fuel will give him the extra performance to easily set a new world record for a closed 100-kilometer course. The attempt is scheduled for Sept. 11.
Gibson, a former astronaut, set a record of 238 mph in 2004. Young, a former F-111 pilot who runs the aviation program at Orange Coast College, Costa Mesa, Calif., believes his Swift fuel-powered racer will reach 260 mph flying out of Thermal Airport.
Swift Enterprises, of West Lafayette, Ind., is a co-sponsoring the record attempt, along with Tradition Aviation of Jacqueline Cochran Regional Airport, Thermal.
Young said he approached Swift with the record-setting idea as a way to draw attention to their new, experimental fuel, and help establish its claims of being a powerful alternative to 100LL avgas. He said the only change made to his aircraft is the replacement of the 5-gal tank used in Reno races with a 12-gal tank to accommodate the longer flight. There have been no alternations to the aircraft’s Continental O-200 engine or carburetor.
“I’m very concerned about the environment and what we do to it at all levels,” Young said. He believes demonstrating the capability of new lead-less fuel “is a way to do something positive.”
Source: http://www.aviationweek.com/
