Originally Posted by
Turbocabbie
The fastest ever recorded speed for a F1 car was a Honda/BAR at the end of 2005, set an FIA ratified record of 400 km/h (249 mph) on a one way run on 21 July 2006 at Bonneville Salt Flats. On this occasion the car did not fully meet FIA Formula One regulations, as it used a moveable aerodynamic rudder for stability control, breaching article 3.15 of the 2006 Formula One technical regulations which states that any specific part of the car influencing its aerodynamic performance must be rigidly secured
I was at Honda Racing F1 when we did the Bonneville400 - the rudder was a safety feature during testing - it was basically a gyro controlled system that if the car went into a drift - the rudder would compensate without the driver having any steering input. Mainly because Alans visor went opaque due to the salt 'salt blasting' it...
For the actual run the rudder was locked off as i remember, to allow it to pass certain FIA regulations.
There was some discussion as to how 'legal' it was as we didn't run a rear wing for the attempt.
But it did average over 400 kmph across the two runs.
If the site is still up it was
www.bonneville400.com 