The Turbinator is the world's fastest wheel-powered vehicle.

In 2001 it set an FIA speed of 458.440 mph, and has driven over 470 mph, with the existing technology of tires being its only limitation at the time.  In early 2007, Mickey Thompson Tires [which Team Vesco greatly thanks for sponsorship when the Turbinator earned its records] released a limited number of a new, special edition, tire capable of 600+ miles per hour.  These tires will allow the Turbinator to begin a second major initiative to break the 500 mph barrier -- and this time, provided Team Vesco can get major support  -- running on biodiesel fuel. 

If the Turbinator breaks the 500 mph barrier, this will be a major international press story.

Because weather and track conditions at the Bonneville Salt Flats can vary year to year, Team Vesco will be begin to attempt to break the record in 2008, but is calling it a "three year project."  This will allow room for weather, mechanical, and other unforeseen problems that can occur when attempting to break land speed records.

The Turbinator is a four-wheel-drive streamliner powered by a multi-fuel turbine engine that was originally designed to power a military helicopter, that provides in excess of 3600 hp.  It can run on a wide variety of fuels, including biodiesel, and several studies have shown positive results with biodiesel fuel in aviation-type turbine engines in non-aviation settings², including in Jay Leno's EcoJet, a biodiesel-powered turbine supercar developed by General Motors. 

Because of the following factors, Team Vesco believes strongly that it will be able to break the 500 mph barrier, and do it using biodiesel fuel:

• When the Turbinator hit 470 mph, it was only at 70% throttle.  The factor keeping the vehicle from going faster was concern about tires.
• Biodiesel, when compared to conventional diesel fuel (a close cousin to aviation fuel for turbine engines), shows an approximate 7% decrease in overall BTU/power.  Because of surplus power from the turbine engine, the 7% power degrease will not affect the attempt to reach 500 mph.
• The Turbinator will undergo extensive dynamometer testing at the Budweiser turbine engine facility in Seattle, Washington, and will be optimized for use of biodiesel fuel.
• As previously mentioned, the new tires have been developed by Mickey Thompson Tires that will allow the Turbinator to go faster.

• Break the elusive 500 mph barrier which has never been broken by a wheel powered vehicle.  The Turbinator has previously reached 470 mph.
• The land speed record for a vehicle running on biodiesel fuel.

Records by Team Vesco were in vehicles that were usually driven by famous record-holding driver Don Vesco.  In 2002, Don sadly passed away from cancer.  The Team Vesco web site is largely devoted to the legacy he left behind, and Team Vesco has purposely chosen to not break its 458.440 FIA record, out of memory to him.

The team is currently in the process of selecting a new driver for the Turbinator from a long list of well established land speed drivers.  In January of 2004, Don was indicted into the MotorSports Hall of Fame of America.

Don Vesco with The Turbinator in 2001.

FROM THE MOTORSPORTS HALL OF FAME WEB SITE:

Don Vesco was one of the world’s most accomplished race car drivers as well as an outstanding motorcycle rider. At the end of 2002, Vesco held 18 motorcycle and 6 automotive records. He established a motorcycle land speed record at 318.598 mph that lasted for 19 years. He first ran a motorcycle at Bonneville Salt Flats at age 16 in 1957. A factory rider for American Honda Co., Yamaha and Kawasaki, he won the 1963 U.S. Grand Prix Open Class at Daytona Beach giving the Yamaha its first American victory. That same year he became a member of the exclusive Bonneville 200 mph club in a streamliner powered by an Offenhauser engine. In the 1970s, he was the first person to drive a motorcycle at more than 250 mph and set an American Motorcycle Association (AMA) record with an average speed of 281.702 mph on the salt flats. Before dying of cancer in 2002, Vesco had set an international land speed record for wheel driven vehicles with a speed of 458.44 mph.

Biodiesel Motor Projects will begin soliciting sponsorship for Team Vesco's Turbinator's "Project 500" / "Turbinator 2" biodiesel concept as early as fall of 2007.  If you are interested in sponsorship, please contact us.

Principle contact: Andre Shoumatoff, Biodiesel Motor Projects.

(435) 631-0021 Cell