Jesse James, the celeb of Monster Garage fame, recently broke the land speed record for a hydrogen-powered vehicle while filming his Spike TV show Jesse Is A Dead Man. He hit 199.7 mph in the Mojave Desert - breaking the previous record of 185 mph held by the BMW H2R.
Although most of his feats in Jesse James Is A Dead Man seem over-hyped and somewhat lame, he supposedly prepared for this stunt by escaping from a burning fuselage. Which is kind of badass.
Details on the hydrogen racer are slim, although it was developed with help from land speed racer Mike Cook and is an emission-free vehicle with a "breathable exhaust." Tune into the season finale of his show on August 9 to see him shatter the record.
brn says:
01:36 PM, 06/17/09
I'm confused. How is 199mph a record, when a hydrogen Ford Fusion hit 207mph two years ago?
http://www.popularmechanics.com/blogs/automotive_news/4220281.html
http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/08/24/video-fords-207-mph-fuel-cell-land-speed-record-run/
sigmabody says:
01:46 PM, 06/17/09
Although I totally agree that the feats are over-hyped and somewhat anti-climactic, I did think the episode of running from the cops would make an excellent spin-off show. Find a closed-off area (as they did), and get police for training purposes, then invite guest drivers to compete each week for who could evade the cops the longest. I would watch that show...
glen_fuller says:
04:16 PM, 06/17/09
sigmabody, perhaps you should read The Running Man by Stephen King.
lsl says:
11:14 PM, 06/22/09
TV's Jesse James fraudulently claims besting BMW's FIA ratified hydrogen-powered World Record Speed Record
Cable TV personality Jesse James claims he set the world record for hydrogen-powered vehicles on June 16th on the southern California El Mirage dry lake.
The claim is without merit since the activities were conducted without benefit of any motorsports sanctioning authority. The vehicle was neither inspected, nor certified and all the timing personnel were on the James TV payroll.
World speed records require two runs over a one-mile course within one hour. James was 5,148 feet short -- being timed one-way for a total of 132 feet; he made only three or four passes over an eight to ten-hour period. Any world record holder will tell you it’s quite a technical feat to hold speed for a full mile.
The baseless speed stunt was reportedly for "the season-ending episode of James's TV show, Jesse James is a Dead Man." The episode is set to air in early August.
James claims to have bested the FIA ratified BMW HR2 record of 185 mph. The BMW HR2 race car set 9 international and FIA-ratified land-speed records for hydrogen cars at the Miramas Proving Grounds in France. The BMW HR2 is one of the few hydrogen cars developed with internal combustion engine (ICE) technology instead of fuel cell technology.
Mr. James efforts count for absolutely nothing on the world motorsports stage and amount to little more than a self-promoting “TV racer” PR stunt since he chose to ignore the sport's sanctioning rules that have applied to all records certified for the past 80 years.