Spirit Of America Traditional Cache
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Placed as part of the Central maine Power Run by the Power
Rangers.
A small camoed screw top container that holds a log, pen and
swag.
Spirit of America
When I was a kid I was into the battle between Craig Breedlove and
Art Arfons for the world land speed record. I was enamored with the
Spirit of America.
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.
Craig Breedlove (born March 23, 1937) is a five-time world
land
speed record holder. He was the first to reach 400 mph (640
km/h),
500 mph (800 km/h), and 600 mph (970 km/h), using several
turbojet-powered vehicles, all named Spirit of America.
The first Spirit of America
The Spirit of America was the first of the modern
jet-propelled
record breaking cars, built with a narrow stream-lined
fuselage,
three wheel chassis, 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 an
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.
Breedlove set his first record on September 5, 1963 at
Bonneville,
the first man to set an average speed of over 400 mph during a
land
speed record.
At the time of Spirit of America's construction the FIA rules for
a
land speed record required a four wheel chassis. Spirit's
record
was thus not recognised as an official record by the FIA. The
FIM
did recognise it however, classing Spirit as a three-wheeler
motorcycle. Although this controversy has been widely
reported
since as being due to the use of a jet engine, the FIA rules
describing a qualifying car as being "driven through its
wheels",
the only issue raised seriously at the time was over the number
of
wheels, hence the FIM acceptance.
For a period there were thus two simultaneous land speed
records,
the 1947 Railton Mobil record remaining as the FIA four-wheel
Class
A record, which from July 1964 went to Campbell's Bluebird.
Although Bluebird also used a "jet engine", in this case it was
a
turboshaft that drove through the wheels.
Both FIA & FIM records were 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.
Spirit of America - Sonic 1
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 an 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.
Spirit of America - Formula Shell LSRV
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 44 ft 10 in long, 8 ft 4 in wide, and
5
ft 10 in high (13.67 m by 2.54 m by 1.78 m) 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 was undergoing rebuilding in hopes of
some
preliminary shakedown runs in late September 2007 at
Bonneville.
However, Steve Fossett went missing in early September 2007
while
scouting for alternative land speed record venues in Nevada,
and
his body then later recovered.
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.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Abg jvagre sevraqyl....oruvaq gur fvtaf
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