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From Stuff website this morning.
Eddie Freeman has broken a second speed record at Ohakea Air Force Base today, beating the 16-year-old road registered speed record by 19kmh.
He managed to get his Lamborghini Superleggera up to 335kmh using standard petrol, beating the 316kmh benchmark set by Ray Williams' in 1996.
While Freeman got his heavily modified Lamborghini Superleggera up to 355.485kmh earlier today to break the overall land speed record, he was using C-16 aviation fuel.
The Aucklander beat the previous record of 348.23kmh, which was set in 1996 by Owen Evans.
To break the road registered record, he had to change to standard petrol.
Freeman said he was not aiming to go any faster this weekend.
''The simple fact is the car won't go much faster.
''The risk is greater than the reward.''
Freeman said earlier that the attempt had been two years in the planning.
"It's a long buildup for a short period of time."
Freeman was driving a heavily-modified Lamborghini Superleggera - worth more than $450,000 - down the Ohakea runway.
He was aiming to reach speeds in the high-300kmh zone.
The car hit 310kmh in the United States during testing, which Freeman said was not difficult to achieve.
"It's not the extreme limits of the vehicle."
Ohakea was chosen after other options fell through.
"We tried really hard to get Auckland Airport because it's the longest runway in the country, but they didn't want to have a bar of it.
"The road, which was used for previous attempts, at the speeds we're hoping to achieve . . . it was going to be pretty dangerous.
"If anything goes wrong you could almost guarantee for it to be all over."
Tackling the record was partly because it would be achievable in his car.
"I thought it was a level which was achievable in a modified car, while in most countries you need to be in a rocket."
Not everyone has the money to splash out on fast modified cars, but Freeman owns FreemanX Supercars, which leases out fast cars.
"I'm fortunate to have a business . . . so I can have the cars to launch a challenge."
While the project had cost a fair amount of money, Freeman said he did not want to put a dollar figure on it.
"You can put a price on things and measure the money spent, but with this project I didn't try put a dollar figure on it. It takes away from the passion and the work and the heart behind the project."
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A couple of questions?
For this record to be official does it have to be over a measured distance? I understood that all recognised records were in that format, and normally a mile or kilometre, and in both directions, or has that changed?
Perhaps then the GPS type speeds have now been recognised, in which case any "old" versions would still stand?
Don't get me wrong, this is a very creditable speed, but does make the old versions a different issue.
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now now oldfart you asked where was this 355 done so i told you ohakea, so whats up with that cant make you out at all.as for rays record i think eddie said on the radio he would have to use avgas for the road record maybe eddie could put the record right on this.
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just had a look at what shano has put up still cant work it out what time on saturday did he set the record at 355.485kmh ,was this on the last too runs or what because i was there and he was on the radio ,not long after saying he had just done 355.485kmh eddie will be on tv3 on monday so he can put this right.
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"Campbell Live" on TV3 tonight was a little confusing.
Seems Eddie took the Flying Kilometre and Road Car records. Owen Evans (who was on the show with Campbell and Freeman) still holds the "Castrol Flying Lady" Trophy which is for the Flying Mile. Brian Budd (General Manager of MNZ) was non-committal but the impression I got was that because there was a trophy for the Flying Mile (the Castrol Trophy) but no mention was made of a trophy for the Flying Kilometre, the Flying Mile was considered to be the 'ultimate' accolade.
Maybe we just need an outright LSR, irrespective of what distance is covered.
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In my opinion it needs to be over measured distance, that distance had always been a mile for the overall record, so that is the distance that really should be covered. Freeman even admitted to an overheating car after the kilometre, so would he have made the mile? how many times has someone broken down in the last lap of a race in the lead? You `win` the race when you cover the race distance in first place.......Just my opinion.
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I got the impression from the TV3 interview tonight that MSNZ (Brian Budd GM MSNZ) had advised Freeman that he would get the Castrol Trophy if he broke the NZ Land Speed Record - MSNZ seemed to now be retracting from that position.
Interesting that the official description of the Castrol Trophy in the MSNZ Manual says nothing about it being for a flying mile or any other distance - just that it is for the NZ land speed record. All it says is : "The Castrol Trophy for the New Zealand Land Speed Record ...". It goes on to say that the current holder was "Owen Evans .... at a speed of 216.386 mph ...".
The other records listed in the MSNZ Manual definitely list that they are for flying mile, flying kilometre etc but apparently not for the Castrol Trophy.
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owen evans still holds the castrol flying lady trophy land speed record,for me records are done in mph over a mile and thats the way it should be.the out right nzlsr you could bring any car for that jet powered cars etc but they are free wheeling cars owen and eddies cars are wheel driven cars for me thats the way it should be the world land speed record for wheel driven cars with pistons and con rods and thats with one chev motor with 2500 hp i think is round about 432mph thats what i call putting it all on the line there are jet powered cars in nz so maybe someone could have some fun and have a run at it one day.
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A possible theory on this;
Roger Freeth risked his neck attempting the speed record on a public road (Canal Road near Ngatea) because a flying mile wasn't available anywhere like Ohakea. Likewise Owen Evans used a more dangerous closed public road because perhaps a flying mile wasn't likely to be achieved at Ohakea. Ohakea does get used for plenty of non-air force activity so could it be that the extra 600 meters (over a kilometer) would simply put Ohakea out of reach?
On the other hand at 355kph 600 metres doesn't seem like a whole lot of extra road. Rules are rules I guess, especially with records as historic as NZLSR.
PS - has anyone posted video of the effort?
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On researching I found this blog from Ray Williams who filled a gap between the late Rodger Freeth who set the bar at 313kph in 1993 and Owen Evans 348kph on 1996.
http://racingray.wordpress.com/2012/...ds-re-visited/
Ray mentions some interesting things, firstly how dangerous Rodger's effort on Canal Road, Hauraki Plains was. (Bumpy and narrow, I can vouch for that having ripped down it in a road car a couple of times.)
Ray observed the rule stipulating how close to level the start and end points of the flying mile need to be and going on to say that airport runways are not suitable because "they have 2% fall, to help water to disperse".
Ray told of having timekeepers AND "MANZ officials" present and some prior paperwork.
So questions emerge about Eddie Freeman's attempt not just on the length of the timed section.
Was the measure kilometer level within 1%?
Was the attempt correctly observed by officials?
No disrespect to Eddie as that's a fantastic speed to achieve. Also i believe records are preserved for flying kilometre as well as flying mile even if the Castrol Trophy is specifically for the mile.
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as for some who have had there say about the runway they had surveyors in before making any runs and fitted in with the rule book,and they had the right timekeepers and officials there allso.
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this is some of what eddie freeman had to say, we successfully broke the flying km record and now hold the fastest absolute record in nz.the fact is that the castrol trophy due to its age no longer represents what people thought it did.he also went on to say the castrol trophy was a side issue for us, which motorsport nz said was not attached to any particular distance and they happily added to our 1k course permit. now for me this is not right, and what the hell has age got to do with it.
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just having a look on the net today,and here is all this talk about a eddie freeman with a lot of pissed off people over money,is this the same eddie freeman we have been talking about.
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