Thursday, March 31, 2011

We've Never Fixed One of These--But We Imagine They Crash Often

Kerry McLean & his Monocycle


Kerry, of course, holds the World Land Speed Record for a 1-wheeled vehicle.

For more info or to purchase a McLean Monocycle visit: KerryMcLean.com or McLeanMonocycle.com

McLean's Original 1971 Monocycle

Kerry McLean Rocket Roadster
Amazing to us is that mono-wheels have been around for well over 100 years. See some history here: Motorwheels/Monowheels.

Monday, February 28, 2011

Sanity-Impaired? New Ice Speed Record

Bentley Supersport Ice Speed Record Edition
Here's something that would have never crossed our minds.

Autoblog is reporting Bentley's celebration of an impressive but, let's be honest, completely insane achievement with a new special edition Continental Supersport called the "Ice Speed Record" Convertible.

Who would have imagined that there are actually people trying to set records for who can go the fastest in an automobile on a frozen lake or, in this case, the Baltic Sea? Finnish ice racer (and rally star) Juha Kankkunen has just set the new record of 205.48 miles per hour (330.695 km/h) in a Bentley Continental Supersport Convertible. When I think of ice speed records, I always imagine doing it in a convertible. . . Actually, I suppose it does make some sense. You could get out of the car more quickly when the ice breaks and you plunge into the freezing water in a quickly sinking vehicle (see our article on how to escape sinking cars.)

What makes this achievement all the more incredible (or ridiculous) is that Juha was beating his own record set in another Bentley Continental in 2007 at 199.83 mph (321.6 km/h.)

Probably not a sport we'll take up any time soon. We're too busy curling.

None-the-less, congrats to Juha and Bentley. We hope this record stands for a very long time.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Maaco Fremont helps break World Land Speed Record


It's official, the 1958 Volkswagen Bug that Maaco Fremont repaired & painted for the San Francisco Bay Area "Beaver Geezers" has broken the World Land Speed Record for stock Volkswagens with 36 horsepower. The Beaver Geazers smashed the previous 36 HP Challenge Record with a blistering speed of 73.492 mph on the Bonneville Salt Flats on Sept. 18, 2009.


The Beaver Geezers are Dan Durie, Al Leggett & Glenn Patterson. When they brought the car to Maaco Fremont, the roof looked like someone had jumped on it repeatedly. The hood, fenders, deck lid & doors were a mess of dents, rust & holes. This was the car they wanted to take to Bonneville?!! Oh, and it was several shades of mint green & gray primer.



The car was silky smooth aerodynamically (at least as far as you can go on a "stone stock" 1958 VW) on race day and screamed for fans to take notice with its specially formulated Beaver Geezer Orange racing livery. The guys even asked to put a Maaco decal on the car for the record attempt but they were the first folks to ever ask us for one so we didn't have any!

We love everything about this story. Thanks & congratulations guys. You are our heros and welcome at the shop any time!















Photos of the car--before & after:





































Links:
http://www.saltflats.com/36_HP.html

http://www.cal-look.com/blogs/36-hp-challenge-land-speed-records-2009/