A land speed record of the unusual sort
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Most land-speed racing takes place in the deserts of the Southwest United States, but that doesn't mean that all land-speed records are set there. Voyage Concepts' Jason De Carteret lead a team from the Antarctica port of Patriot Hills to the geographical South Pole in just over 69 hours - averaging marginally more than 10 MPH over the 700-mile trek.
The vehicle of choice was a heavily-modified 15-passenger Econoline van, which was converted to a 6x6 drive configuration and outfitted with 44" tall tires. Its 7.3L Powerstroke engine burned 360 gallons of diesel along the way.
The previous record of 24 days was set by Shinji Kazama, who used a motorcycle. Yeah, we don't know what he was thinking, either.
[Sources: Forbes, Voyage Concepts]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
MikeW 12:35PM (6/18/2006)
Full idle forward.
Even with two fuel dumps, how much diesel does this beast hold, 150 gallons?
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Scott 1:29PM (6/18/2006)
700-mile trek...
360 gallons of diesel...
Less than 2 mpg? Yow.
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v8 3:45PM (6/18/2006)
That's a cool truck. Ford should sell these- they'd be perfect for scatterbrained soccer moms to cruise in while yakking on their cell phones and being a menace on the streets.
How many cup holders do these have?
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rip 7:52PM (6/18/2006)
Econoline van? I'm guessing it had heaters and stuff. pfft.
I'm a lot more impressed with the guy on the motorcycle.
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Scott 8:05AM (6/19/2006)
That is quite possibly the absolute coolest vehicle I have ever seen. And 2mpg at 10mph with 6 44" tires weight probably as much as a full grown man each driving in the conditions that vehicle was driving in is probably pretty good. Hard to expect Prius-mileage, okay hippies?
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