Record Blasted Again: Buckeye Bullet 2 Tops 300 mph

For the second time this week, Ohio State’s Venturi Buckeye Bullet 2 team exceeded the international speed record it set in 2007.

This afternoon the Bullet’s average speed was 302.877 mph, certified by the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile as an official record.

The hydrogen fuel cell powered landspeed streamliner racer and its engineering student team made the record attempts in the Salt Flats in Utah this week. On Wednesday, the Bullet reached an average 299.91 mph, far surpassing the certified record of 132.129 mph the vehicle set in 2007.



The Bullet was required to make two speed runs, one each in opposite directions and within 60 minutes, in order to be considered for the record, which is officially determined by averaging the speed of the two runs.

The students overcame several obstacles on the way to today’s highest speedometer reading, said Giorgio Rizzoni, director of Ohio State’s Center for Automotive Research and adviser to the team.

“The skill level, ingenuity and resilience of this student group is unparalleled,” he said. “Just last night they had a broken gearshift. They worked overnight to take the whole thing apart, and here they are now surpassing the 300 mph mark. It’s just phenomenal.”

“This record will hold for a long time,” Rizzoni said. “I can’t see who is going to take this away from us.”

The vehicle, engineered by Ohio State students, is driven by professional racing driver Roger Schroer.

Read about the team’s week in Utah at its blog. Watch and listen as the Venturi Buckeye Bullet 2 makes its record run on YouTube.