land speed records

Land Speed Records

The current Landspeed record for sail-powered vehicles was set at Ivanpah Dry Lake in March 2009...126.2 mph (202.9km/h) By Richard Jenkins sailing the Ecotricity Greenbird. Winds were steadily in the 30 mph range with periods nearing 40 mph, which put an end to NALSA course racing for the day.

For more information Greenbird UK. For data on the record speed runs see the official Measurement Report.

That same day a Blokart record was set at Red Lake in Arizona 62.5 mph 100kph. the Greenbird record stands, but the Blokart record has beem broken several times and is currently held by Bryan Cook. The new record 68.3 mph 110kph set at Lake Lefroy in Australia May 21, 2016.

There are several good videos online of both the Greenbird and Blokart record runs.

The Previous Land Speed Record of 116.7 mph, was held by Bob Dill and Bob Schumacher sailing the legendary Iron Duck. More on that history here soon.

If you would like to challenge for the speed record here are the rules. Measurement report from the Iron Duck record with Bob Schumacher sailing the fastest pass.

In an entirely different sort of speed record the, directly into the wind and directly downwind records were set in 2010. Here is the news blurb we posted at the time.

News:
They are at it again! A new record has been set, this time sailing dead upwind...that's right, directly into the wind (not tacking). The NALSA Board of Directors has ratified the following two records achieved by Rick Cavallaro on New Jerusalem Airport near Tracy California on June 16, 2012, with the wind turbine driven sailing craft, Blackbird. Mr. Cavallaro achieved a maximum boat speed to wind speed ratio of 2.1:1 while sailing directly into the wind and a maximum speed in a wind turbine driven sailing craft of 22.9 mph on a different run.
On July 2, 2010 on El Mirage Dry Lake, Blackbird sailed directly down wind at a speed of 27.7 mph in a 10 mph wind to set a first record for the ratio of Boat Speed to true wind speed of 2.8. BlackBird was designed and built by the Thin Air Designs team (Rick Cavallaro and John Borton) and sailed by Rick.More information.