If people would not care about speed and the ability to travel quickly from one point to another, they’d still only travel by foot or on the backs of the horses. But there are some who like to ride fast, and then there’s some who like to ride very fast. At all times, there were enough craftsmen who created something conceptually new and fast.
Competition is something that has always pushed people to either improve themselves, or improve the assisting tools and mechanisms. It was advancing the technology, and new technology, in turn, pushed people to create even more groundbreaking projects.
The introduction of automobiles with an internal combustion engine has led to the birth of the whole movement, in which constructors created machines for breaking the speed records. Simple ICEs were not enough, that’s why they brought in the gas turbine engines. The speeds were increasing. In 1997, a supersonic car, Thrust SSC, set a record of 1277 km/h, which is still not beaten to this day,
With the advancement of electric cars, a fresh blood has entered the speed competition. Now people are trying to accelerate the battery powered cars as well. For now, these cars are still behind, but probably not for long.
The speed record of an electric car, powered by Bonneville Salt Flats
Custom made electric car Team Vesco 444 reVolt Systems streamliner, nicknamed “Little Giant” has set a new national speed record for electric vehicles at Salt Flats, in Bonneville. And Little Giant did it two times in a row, demonstrating the potential of electric power units.
Controlled by Eric Ritter, in the first race, Little Giant had an average speed of 518 km/h. But, just 24 hours later, it broke its own record by raising the average speed up to 568 km/h and achieving the maximum speed of 574,5 km/h.
Even though the average speed was 19 km/h higher than the current world record, it did not count, because one of the requirements was not met — both races should have happened within 60 minutes. The reason for it was probably the Vesco team not getting enough power from the mobile solar battery device to charge Little Giant’s batteries up to the required capacity in time.
Nevertheless, the result was enough to set a new national speed record.
The Little Giant power unit consists of a pair of highly modified Tesla Model S engines, which are powered by 1152 prismatic lithium-ion batteries. Batteries are charged by the Level 4 solar charger.
«What an unbelievable ride! A powerful sprint at the start lane — this is a monster. It flies forward without hesitation and continues to pull straight to the finish line without any stops. Our deeds are already a history, which we continue to create. We have reached a maximum speed of 357 mph, and now it’s becoming clear that 400 is also possible and not just a dream», — said the streamliner’s pilot — Eric Ritter.
Little Giant is a result of a partnership between Team Vesco and reVolt Systems companies, and also Trenton Wonsley, the developer of the project and Greg Pick from American Track Roadster, who was in charge of the design of the race car.
A brief history of Team Vesco
The founder of this artistic team, obsessed with speed, was Don Vesco — an American entrepreneur. In the course of his life, he has set 18 motorcycle speed records and 6 on a car.
In 2001 he, in his own car, Turbinator, managed to beat the “speed record on the car with wheel drive”, by reaching the speed of 737 km/h. In 2002, Don Vesco passed away, but he bequeathed to his team to continue to beat the car speed records and pass the point of 805 km/h.
And then, in 2018, as a part of Speed World Finals competition, which was held at the Bonneville Salt Flats, a special racing car Turbinator II has set a record, a speed of 810,03 km/h was recorded. Don Vesco’s team has achieved what they said out to do and has fulfilled the will of its founder by crossing the speed barrier of 805 km/h.
In October of 2021, guys from Team Vesco accelerated an electric car up to a record speed for such vehicles of 574 km/h.
And these are just the major activities of the team Vesco, which don’t stop. In the meantime, the Little Giant streamliner continues to improve and is getting ready to cross the threshold of 400 mph.
Speed records, set using the cars powered by internal combustion engines and gas-turbines, are still untouchable to electric cars. But only temporary, given the rate of advancement of technology in the field of electric cars.
