02/09/2005
NEWS STORY
The BAR team will attempt to set a new official Formula One Land Speed Record on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, next month.
Talking to the media in Monza on Friday, sporting director, Gil de Ferran said: "There is a degree of madness about it. When you go to a place like Bonneville it's easy to see why people used to think the world was flat, that you could fall off the edge.
"To imagine a Formula One car running there is bizarre, totally offbeat," he continued. "But that's what this is all about. It's a challenge for us all."
The car that the team will use for the record attempt, while being slightly modified for the event, is still a track legal BAR Honda 007 - the same car being used in the 2005 Formula One World Championship.
Driving the car for the record attempt will be Alan van der Merwe, a member of the team's Young Driver Programme.
The record attempt, which will run between October 4 and October 11, will see BAR and van der Merwe attempt to break the 400-kph (248 mph) barrier.