Faster than sound, on the ground

By Phoebe Sweet (contact)

Friday, Aug. 31, 2007 | 8:07 a.m.

Steve Fossett has never seen a record he wouldn't like to break.

Solo non stop a round - the - world flight record? Check.

Round-the-world sailing record? Piece of cake.

Shave 24 hours off the record for duplicating Christopher Columbus' trans-Atlantic trip to America? Yep.

So what do you get a speed freak who's broken every record? Government permission to race a turbojet-powered vehicle dubbed the Spirit of America Sonic Arrow across the Northern Nevada desert.

Fossett will attempt to break the land speed record - 763 mph - by driving more than 800 mph across Diamond Valley Playa, 20 miles northeast of Eureka.

The record was set in Nevada's Black Rock Desert, 125 miles north of Reno, by Englishman Andy Green. In 1997, he became the first land speed record holder to break the sound barrier.

Previous land speed record attempts were made at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. But by the late '90s the salt flats had shrunk so much that they were no longer large enough for the new generation of record breakers. That's when the Nevada desert got its first taste of the fast lane. The really fast lane.

According to Fossett's Web site, the daredevil's plans for test runs at Bonneville in August were canceled because of "a few late engineering gremlins." The practice runs were pushed to late September.

It was unclear when Fossett actually plans to attempt to reach record-breaking speed, although it will have to be after mountain snow runoff dries off the lake bed.

When he does, he'll have to make two passes - one in each direction - within an hour across the Diamond Valley Playa. His official speed will be the average of his performance on the two trips.

But the first pass Fossett has to make is by the Bureau of Land Management, which overseas nearly 48 million acres of public land in Nevada. The agency must approve Fossett's use of the desert, and has been studying what damage may occur in the 2,500 acres - enough land to accommodate his 4 1/2-ton, jet-powered car on a 15.6-mile track, dirt access roads, and spectator viewing and parking areas.

The government is soliciting public comments, but Chris Worthington of the BLM's Battle Mountain field office said he doesn't expect many, specially because Fossett won't be bothering the Western snowy plover during the bird's nesting season.

"Maybe local people will be curious. I guess it all depends on how interested people are in the land speed record being set in Nevada."