Spirit of America (automobile) - The First Spirit of America

The First Spirit of America

The Spirit of America was the first of the modern record breaking jet-propelled 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 Special 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). Drenched but uninjured, Breedlove climbed out of the cockpit and declared "And now for my next act I'm going to set myself on fire.". This feat earned a place in the Guinness Book of World Records for longest skid marks. Spirit was recovered and taken by the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago as an exhibit.