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The fact of the matter is, I've experienced Bonneville but have yet to claim a land speed record. However, a fat mortgage, a demanding career, and one insane recession would give these dreams a healthy dose of reality. Fast-forward three years; I've got a handle on the mortgage and the career. We are still suffering from a piss poor economy, but I cant hold out any longer and decide to finally pull the trigger. The only decision left now? What car to start with?
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During my last Bonneville adventure, my B12 Sentra easily put down enough power to blaze across the salt at 159 MPH. However, it lacked the high-speed stability and the slippery aerodynamic contours to “intelligently” or “sanely” encourage me to go any faster with it. Remember kids, if you're going to do something stupid, at least be smart about it. |
Decisions, Decisions…
The “Box”
My B12 Sentra had easily put me into the 130 MPH and 150 MPH clubs, but it has the aerodynamics of a pine wood derby car made by a 7 year boy scout… without his father's help. For you nerds who like numbers over literary analogies, a B12 Sentra has a drag coefficient of .36. For you literary folks, that's bad. Also, the high stance and short wheel base of a B12 Sentra makes it a handful at speeds above 130 MPH and just plain scary at its top verified speed of 159 MPH.
I like to be the underdog and even more so, I love to humble drivers of exotic vehicles with my Sentra. However, I commonly say “if you're going to do something stupid (eg. like go 200 MPH) at least be smart about it!” (eg. Don't do it in a 1988 Sentra)
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The “Egg”
While she's been off playing career woman, Annie Sam's NX2000 has been collecting dust in the garage so I conned Annie into letting me convert her NX2000 into a land speed racecar. The NX2000 still has a short wheelbase making it not as stable at high speeds. However, its drag coefficient is a slippery .31 and even better, Annie's NX2000 already had an overbuilt NASA spec roll cage. After doing some research, I found that if I swapped in a Maxima or Spec-V six-speed transmission I could mechanically cross the 200 MPH mark given enough power. All systems were go, until I found that the 1/8″ floor plates that had been carefully shaped around the uni-body frame of the NX2000 would need to be cut out and replaced with ¼” floor plates. After weeks of toiling, I decided that I just couldn't bring myself to hack into a perfectly good cage to replace floor plates. Besides, I really wanted to start with a more marketable platform.
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The “One”
So here it is, my beloved daily driven S13 hatch. Thanks to the steep learning curve of drifting, it seems to be one of the last clean hatches left in Southern California. I had purposefully left the body in stock form with plans to convert it into a land speed racecar one day and compete in the production class. In the end though, I just couldn't bring myself to ruin another perfectly good streetcar especially the one that is my source of therapy driving home from a bad day at work.
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Instead, after months of searching I managed to source another SR20 swapped S13 hatchback, which has seen better days. Complete with rod knock, a bunch of crappy chinese knock off parts, and a super trick JB weld coupling on the hot pipe, I picked up this neglected S13 for dirt cheap.
In its current state, Project 240LSR (Land Speed Racer) is definitely a long way from being a record-breaking land speed racecar, but stay tuned to MotoIQ in the coming months to witness its incredible evolution.
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