Spirit of America

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Spirit of America on exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago

Spirit of America is the trademarked name used by Craig Breedlove for his land speed record-setting vehicles.

The Spirit of America was the first of the modern record breaking cars, build within new rules with its three wheel design, narrow stream-lined shape and most significantly turbojet engine. Like most of the other competing vehicles the engine was ex-military, the first Spirit had a General Electric J47 engine from a F-86 Sabre and was tested at Bonneville Salt Flats in 1962, where difficult handling resulted in failure. Before trying again a new stabilizer was added and a steerable front wheel. He set his first record on September 5, 1963 at Bonneville, the first man to exceed 400 mph (644 km/h) in an official land speed record.

After setting the record it was broken in October 1964 by Tom Green and further extended by Art Arfons. Breedlove returned to Bonneville with Spirit and pushed the record over 500 mph (800 km/h), setting it at 526.277 mph (846.961 km/h) on October 15, a record that stood for almost two weeks. In setting the new record, at the end of his second run, the Spirit lost its parachute brakes, skidded for five miles (8 km), through a row of telephone poles and crashed into a brine pond at around 200 mph (300 km/h). Breedlove was uninjured. This feat earned a place in the Guinness Book of World Records for longest skid marks. The Spirit was recovered and taken by the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago as an exhibit.

A new Spirit was built over 1964-65 to attempt to beat Arfons, dubbed Spirit of America - Sonic I a four-wheel design with a much higher rated GE J79 engine originally from a F-4 Phantom, the same type as that used by Arfons' Green Monster. Another tit-for-tat with Arfons ended with Breedlove setting the record at 600.601 mph (966.574 km/h) on November 15, 1965, a record that stood until 1970. The vehicle is currently on display at the Petersen Automotive Museum, California.

After a lengthy break from world records Breedlove began work on a new Spirit in 1992, eventually named the Spirit of America Formula Shell LSRV. The vehicle is 538 in (13.7 m) long, 100 in (2.5 m) wide, 70 in (1.8 m) high and weighs 9,000 lb (4 t), construction is on a steel tube frame with an aluminium skin body. The engine is the same as in the second Spirit - a GE J79, but it is modified to burn unleaded gasoline and generates a maximum thrust of 22,650 lbf (100.8 kN).

The first run of the vehicle in October 28, 1996 in the Black Rock Desert, Nevada ended in a crash at around 675 mph (1,000 km/h). Returning in 1997 the vehicle badly damaged the engine on an early run and when the British ThrustSSC managed over 750 mph (1200 km/h) the re-engined Spirit could do no better than 676 mph (1088 km/h). Breedlove believes the vehicle is capable of exceeding 800 mph (1,200 km/h), but has yet to demonstrate this.

Breedlove sold the Spirit of America Formula Shell LSRV to Steve Fossett, holder of many sailing, ballooning and other aviation records, and the car is currently undergoing rebuilding in hopes of some preliminary shakedown runs in late September 2007 at Bonneville. Steve Fossett went missing in early September 2007 while scouting for alternative land speed record venues in Nevada. ^[1]

The Spirit of America Sonic Arrow, as it was rechristened by Fossett, was rolled out on the Black Rock Desert for a photo opportunity on October 15, 2007. The effort to run the car continues with the team presently recruiting drivers. ^[2]

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