A Bonneville triumph – Honda's incredible F1 Land Speed Record

So why was it so difficult? As van de Merwe says, “It was the wrong tool for the job.” That year the minimum FIA weight for an F1 car was 605kg, too light to dig through the salt and find some grip, especially with the large tyres. “The car had a lot of weight added to bring it up to 640kg,” recalls Digby. “We changed the aero on the car, smoothed the sidepods and, because we were running in top gear for a long time, we had to modify the gearbox.” There was a longer top gear, but the team wanted to achieve the record without a ‘push’ so the rest of the gearbox stayed the same. Digby adds: “They call them `dualies’, big twin-wheeled Ford trucks that would help push people up to 100mph before the record car would even run. We didn’t do any of that — we drove our car out of the awning, to the measured mile and through it. I only ever had eight people out there. As soon as the car set off, we had to jump in a rented truck and follow it in order to get to the other end of the course with the starter motors, cooling fans and all the rest of it in order to turn it around and send it back.

“We made some heavy parts for the car, but once we were out there each time we had to develop stuff on the spot. The parachute deployment system was one of those and when we were testing in the Mojave Desert it deployed itself at 200mph. [Top fuel dragster racer] Andy Carter lent me some parachutes and I learnt how to pack them from his crew chief.”

Fitting a parachute is a requirement for Bonneville records, though not everyone adheres to it. Van de Merwe seemed unfazed about small parachute trifles, but remembers the weight problem well. “We were literally taping things to the diffuser on the back of the car. There was a feeling of ‘this is the tool that we have, we have to make it work’. It was extremely satisfying when we did. I had complete trust in what the team had done with the car. I was never worried it was going to break or that it was going to flip, it just wasn’t a thought for me.”

And quicker they went. On every trip to Bonneville during that two-year period, the car crept up towards the 400kph mark, but modifications were made even harder by the remoteness of the salt flats. “There’s really nothing,” says Digby of the area. “There’s nothing in Wendover, the local town. The closest city is Salt Lake, but that’s 120 miles away. If you need something then you’re in trouble. I actually made a bet with the lads — after putting $50 into an envelope I said ‘if anyone can buy a pair of socks while they’re here they can have the 50 bucks’. They tried really hard, but nobody could. It really is a wilderness and quite hostile.

“On the day that we got the record [of 397.481kph] there were eight of us out there. I had two people in hospital, one person in an ambulance on the way to the hospital and another guy sat in the truck plugged into a saline drip and oxygen. The two people in hospital were exhausted, the guy in the ambulance was exhausted and the other guy had just collapsed. That’s why we had to stop at 397kph; we were just exhausted.”

With attempts foiled by flooding on the salt flats and constant reiterations of the car the ’10-day project’ became a long slog, but despite missing out on the 400kph mark by less than 3kph both Digby and van de Merwe remember it as a career highlight. “I’m really proud of it,” says Digby. “It was a huge challenge, especially when you were trying to do it next to your day job. It’s the best thing I’ve ever done.”

Van de Merwe: “I do remember it fondly. From a sporting point of view it would have been great to go out there with a more suitable car and set a record that could really make you proud. To me it’s not really about the number as it was one of the best things I’ve done. Obviously the first time I drove an F1 car was probably more of a highlight, but the whole experience gave me a new appreciation for other forms of motor sport. Oh, and I did meet my current girlfriend out there so I can’t complain about that either… We’ve all taken something away from it — I met some incredible people and we still talk about it.”

At the time the project failed to capture as many hearts and minds as perhaps it should. Was that because it seemed too easy? Quite possibly. Whatever the case, it’s hard to imagine another Formula 1 team heading out to the salt flats any time soon to try and break the record, even though it was set back in 2006. Red Bull is famous for taking on a challenge and the fact that even it hasn’t ventured out to Nevada is surely a sign that Honda and its small team of speed hunters achieved something special on that day seven years ago.