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Jesse James' hydrogen-powered land speed record claim comes under assault

Jesse James' hydrogen-powered land speed record claim comes under assault

James Martinez June 23rd, 2009 James Martinez By James Martinez Author June 23rd, 2009
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December 31st, 1969 Jesse James, American engineer, stuntman and all around lunatic successfully shattered the land speed record for a hydrogen powered vehicle for his latest show Jesse James Is A Dead Man – a show in which he cheats death every week by taking on a different challenge. But not everyone is so sure of James' record. James, who is married to actress Sandra Bullock (who starred in Speed, somewhat fittingly), claimed to have broken the world land-speed record for a hydrogen powered car June 16 in the Mojave desert. Jesse's speed of 199.7mph (321km/h) was documented by the Southern California Timing Association and beat the previous record holder, the BMW H2R, which previously held the land-speed record for an H2 car of 185mph (298km/h). However, the BMW record was FIA-certified, and the people who keep track of the world speed records aren't taking James' claim lightly. Louise Noeth, proprietor of a site that, among other things, compiles only official FIA-sanctioned world speed records, said of James' speed record attempt: "Mr. James efforts count for absolutely nothing on the world motorsports stage and amount to little more than a self-promoting 'TV racer' PR stunt since he chose to ignore the sport's sanctioning rules that have applied to all records certified for the past 80 years." James' camp hasn't yet released any counter-argument. The vehicle he used was a 1960s relic that has been used for attempts on land-speed records before, most notably by Dees-Milodin Engineering, which named the contraption the Streamliner for fairly obvious reasons. This time around, James rebuilt the vehicle from the ground up, replacing its Chrysler engine with a twin-turbocharged 9.8L V8 engine from Chevrolet. The engine uses hydrogen gas, rather than liquid hydrogen, and considering the old 1960s Chrysler-engined Streamliner was able to hit 237mph at the Bonneville salt flats without hydrogen, the 199.2mph speed claimed by James should have been easy going for the old girl. James, who has done some amazingly dangerous stunts for his show already, told AutoWeek that he was not even scared of doing the run - but if it was us barreling down a Southern Californian salt flat at world-record speeds with two tanks of hydrogen gas pressurized to 10,00psi sitting behind us we think we'd be just a little bit apprehensive. The show was filmed June 16 and will air as the season one finale on Sunday, August 9 (10:00 PM, ET/PT) on Spike TV.
The car Jesse piloted was powered by a 9.8L Chevrolet V8 running on pure hydrogen gas

The car Jesse piloted was powered by a 9.8L Chevrolet V8 running on pure hydrogen gas

Enlarge Photo

Jesse James, American engineer, stuntman and all around lunatic successfully shattered the land speed record for a hydrogen powered vehicle for his latest show Jesse James Is A Dead Man – a show in which he cheats death every week by taking on a different challenge. But not everyone is so sure of James' record.

James, who is married to actress Sandra Bullock (who starred in Speed, somewhat fittingly), claimed to have broken the world land-speed record for a hydrogen powered car June 16 in the Mojave desert. Jesse's speed of 199.7mph (321km/h) was documented by the Southern California Timing Association and beat the previous record holder, the BMW H2R, which previously held the land-speed record for an H2 car of 185mph (298km/h). However, the BMW record was FIA-certified, and the people who keep track of the world speed records aren't taking James' claim lightly.

Louise Noeth, proprietor of a site that, among other things, compiles only official FIA-sanctioned world speed records, said of James' speed record attempt: "Mr. James efforts count for absolutely nothing on the world motorsports stage and amount to little more than a self-promoting 'TV racer' PR stunt since he chose to ignore the sport's sanctioning rules that have applied to all records certified for the past 80 years."

James' camp hasn't yet released any counter-argument.

The vehicle he used was a 1960s relic that has been used for attempts on land-speed records before, most notably by Dees-Milodin Engineering, which named the contraption the Streamliner for fairly obvious reasons.

This time around, James rebuilt the vehicle from the ground up, replacing its Chrysler engine with a twin-turbocharged 9.8L V8 engine from Chevrolet. The engine uses hydrogen gas, rather than liquid hydrogen, and considering the old 1960s Chrysler-engined Streamliner was able to hit 237mph at the Bonneville salt flats without hydrogen, the 199.2mph speed claimed by James should have been easy going for the old girl.

James, who has done some amazingly dangerous stunts for his show already, told AutoWeek that he was not even scared of doing the run - but if it was us barreling down a Southern Californian salt flat at world-record speeds with two tanks of hydrogen gas pressurized to 10,00psi sitting behind us we think we'd be just a little bit apprehensive.

The show was filmed June 16 and will air as the season one finale on Sunday, August 9 (10:00 PM, ET/PT) on Spike TV.

Tags: hydrogen, Speed

Posted in: News


Comments (8 total)

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  1. ma_mburleigh8 avatar by mburleigh8 #1, Posted: 6/7/2009

    That is totally cool, i hope he does it.

  2. ma_mburleigh8 avatar by mburleigh8 #2, Posted: 6/17/2009

    Yea he did it!

  3. ma_Elmo187 avatar by Elmo187 #3, Posted: 6/23/2009

    oh bull ******* shit. Louis, you're a moron. you're just like the rest of the FIA. a bunch of snobs that cares just about themselves and doesn't give a shit about the teams' and drivers' opinions.

  4. ma_HECTOR avatar by HECTOR #4, Posted: 6/23/2009

    This dude is married to Sandra Bullock? What the hell is he doing barrelling down the desert at 200mph?!

  5. ma_Mike avatar by Mike #5, Posted: 6/23/2009

    As far as I know, the SCTA is the official sanctioning body for world land speed records in the American southwest. They've been doing it for most of the 20th century, and still do it. Screw the FIA, look what a mess they've turned F1 into!

  6. ma_buster avatar by buster #6, Posted: 8/9/2009

    Great attempt but I dont agree that he made it !!! I dont know much about land speed but I do know for a record you must go both ways and I dont mean women and girls !!! You must turn the car around and make a second run the opposite way and then they average both speeds incase you have a wind advantage.
    Some time in the late 70's Budweiser went Mach 1 and they never officially had the record because of timing anomalys.
    Great show to say the least !!! But I would rather ride Sandra Bullock !!!

  7. By SuperSkyline89 #7, Posted: 8/10/2009

    They had to take the air filters off the engine to get to such a fast speed. As far as I'm concerned that makes it less legitimate. I mean would Bugatti take the air filters off the Veyron to make top speed runs? No. If a car can't reach a certain speed unmodified it simply can't do it.

  8. By  KNUCK #8, Posted: 8/12/2009

    BIG THUMBS UP FOR JESSE. I RESPECT THAT MAN. KEEP PUSHING AND MAYBE HE WILL BE AT THE FLATS TO DO YOUR MILE!!!!!! I THINK THAT YOUR JUST SORE THAT A REGULAR BLUE COLLAR AMERICAN WITH LESS MONEY THAN BMW GOT ONE OVER YOU. BESIDES HOW DO WE KNOW WHO MIGHT HAVE GOTTEN PAYED OFF IN FRANCE!!!! KNUCK FROM INDIANA

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