It took 26 years for someone to break Bill Elliott’s Daytona lap speed record of 210.364 mph (338.548 km/h), set in a Ford Thunderbird during qualifying for the 1987 Daytona 500. The new Daytona lap speed record has been broken by Michael Shank Racing’s Colin Braun in a Riley Technologies Daytona prototype race car powered by the new 3.5-liter V6 Ford EcoBoost race engine.
Braun reached 222.971 mph (358.837 km/h) during a special record attempt run yesterday and set new world speed records for 10 miles (16.1 km) from a standing start (210.018 mph/337.911 km/h average) and 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) from a standing start (202.438 mph/325.792 km/h average).
25-year-old Braun wasn’t even born when Elliot set the previous speed record. “It was a challenging day. There was a lot of work put in by a lot of people to accomplish these records. The power in the new EcoBoost engine was incredible, and it was amazing how fast it came up to speed on the runs,” said Braun after breaking the speed record.
The new Ford EcoBoost engine was prepared for the record run by Ford Racing engine partner Roush Yates Engines, while Continental Tires did a special tire for the run that was lighter and had less rolling resistance than the standard race tire. Tires also had a harder compound than those used for a typical road course race.
Both the new car and its twin-turbo engine will compete in the 2014 TUDOR United SportsCar Championship (USCC) that kicks off in January with the 24 Hours of Daytona. The USCC has been founded by the merger of the former American Le Mans Series and Rolex Sports Car Series.
By Dan Mihalascu
PHOTO GALLERY
VIDEO