High-speed, skinny tires are hard to find, so 15" Goodyear drag tires were mounted on steel wheels with Moon disc covers. Small wheels mean the F40's 15" brakes had to likewise be trashed; big brakes are worthless with slim tires on a slick surface. Hence the parachutes...
To get the feel for flat-out speed, Amir made some trial runs at El Mirage dry lakebed, 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles. Hot rodders have been racing there since the '30s and still do. The record for the 1.3 mile course is 305.809mph. The surface of the dry lake is similar to a pie crust: a hard, thin surface with soft dust underneath. This was a great opportunity to test Spectre's High Flow Air Filters, which worked extremely well, despite the rather abysmal conditions.
With 300mph gearing, the F40...
With 300mph gearing, the F40 needs a push-truck to get it off the line
On his first runs, Amir managed 180mph in less than three-quarters of a mile and practiced popping the 'chutes. The dust gets everywhere, even in places you've only seen with a mirror. It makes a complete mess of your car.
It ain't as bad as salt, though. Salt is worse because unlike dust, it rots your car; especially if the Bonneville lakebed is flooded, which it often is. In August '06, however, the salt was good for racing: hard and smooth.
New gears had been installed, giving the F40 a theoretical top speed of 300mph at 8000rpm. And, because of the high gearing, a push-truck is used to get the car up to speed and accelerating fast. Even though you have a lot of room, you need to get up to speed.
Rookies, newbies to the salt, have to run on a short 3-mile course and make a safe run exceeding 175mph in the first timed quarter mile. Amir soon graduated to the 7-mile course, only to discover the front suspension geometry was wrong. Not anticipating this problem, precious hours were lost finding the necessary parts and equipment to affect the correction. Finally, after a frustrating weekend, the eight driven wheels of Spectre's Dually were churning up the salt, pushing Amir's butt and the F40 across the salt. Once the Ferrari was up to 50mph, the truck peeled away and Amir was on the gas. The puck was proverbially smacked.
The push-truck peels off the...
The push-truck peels off the course and the F40 is away, target 225mph. The course is so long and the lakebed is so flat that the cars disappear out of sight over the curvature of the earth
At the first mile he was doing 203.907mph. By the third mile, 216.485. Not bad for his first run on the long course. With much to learn, Amir said, "You don't so much steer it as you sail it."
Because of the steep learning curve at Bonneville, his speed was down on Tuesday, but on Wednesday he hit 217.950mph and by Thursday his exit speed was 221.005mph. And suddenly, it was over.
Amir felt he'd achieved as much as he could at that time. Basically, he needed more horsepower, so the winter was spent going through the motor. It had been fatigued by hillclimbing and bumped from around 425hp to something in excess of 650whp without so much as a rebuild.
Oh, we almost forgot: He purchased a proven 350mph streamliner record car that he hopes will reach 400. What a guy!