- Posted on Thursday, August 17th, 2006 at 9:53 am
Student Interns Will Remember Their Bonneville Experience for a Lifetime
By Phil Colley
GM Performance Division Communications
What more can the Student Project Cobalt accomplish this week at the Bonneville Salt Flats?
The car already broke a 19-year-old land speed record in the G/FCC class (G Class/Unblown Fuel Competition Coupe) last Sunday with a speed of 156.073 mph running on E85 ethanol, which was the first time any car has used the fuel to set a record at Bonneville. The previous record of 152.626 was set by Doc Jeffries during the 1987 Speed Week event.
On Monday, they used the car’s nitrous oxide system along with E85 to up their record to 163.608 mph in the same class.
And just for good measure, they pretty much put their record out of reach for the foreseeable future by upping it once again on Wednesday to 172.680 mph, more than 20 mph more than the original record they were looking to break coming into Speed Week.
Now today, the pit crew is going to run the Cobalt on gasoline and try to beat the 152.187 mph record in the G/GCC class (G Class/Unblown Gasoline Competition Coupe).
This car has exceeded all expectations out at Bonneville considering the Student Project Cobalt has either qualified or set a record during every run it has made.
The three female student interns who helped engineer the car and convert it to run on E85 have had an experience few women their age can match.
Nineteen-year-old Heather Chemistruck from Virginia Tech University, 21-year-old Lauren Zimmer from Purdue University and 21-year-old Sandra Saldivar of New Mexico State University have all come of age at the Salt. Some teams wait years to set a record, and the three have set three consecutive records with their vehicle in only five days.
I know when it’s all said and done, only the highest record will count since they have all been in the same class, but it’s still impressive nonetheless.
Today, the crew will make a test pass with the car to validate the changes they made to the engine controller and fuel pressure provide the optimal air to fuel ratio while on the Salt for gasoline runs, and then later in the day it’s likely off to qualify for another record.
Would you bet against them? Because I sure wouldn’t.
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