Short haul at over 193mph needed
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STEVE MURTY, of Hebden Bridge, Yorks, is bringing a new dimension to short-distance haulage. He aims to be the fastest man in a lorry over the flying quarter-mile and standing quarter-mile. To achieve the first record he will have to exceed 193rnph and to establish the second he will have to beat 7.6sec.
He designed, built and drives the Pirelli Pro-Jet, a Ford Cargo 1913 (but far from vintage!) chassis with a Rolls-Royce gasturbine engine. In this he beat the previous European best time for a commercial vehicle set up by the Bandag Bullet, a D-series Ford with a highly turbocharged Ford six-litre diesel engine.
In doing so Steve covered the quarter-mile in 17.2sec but he has since clocked 12.9sec by running on about 90 per cent power for 6sec and then coasting for the remaining 200yd. I shall be interested to know what happens when he really tries.