Ford GT takes Texas Mile speed record to 257.7 MPH
(3-26-2012) BEEVILLE, TX – Sean Kennedy drove team owner Mark Heidaker’s Ford GT to a new Texas Mile speed record of 257.7 miles per hour during this weekend’s Texas Mile Event in south Texas. The team posted the amazing speed, which was a full 4.6 mph faster than the nearest competitive speed, during cool conditions Sunday morning of the three day event. The previous record, 250.1 mph was equaled by the team on Saturday during their second pass of the day. Instead of trying to eclipse the record Saturday afternoon the team chose to wait for the more favorable conditions Sunday morning.
Kennedy, of Katy, Texas began the weekend Friday with a checkout pass of 216 mph and ran 228 mph on the second run of the event. By the end of the day, the team had eclipsed the 230 mph mark at 230.6 mph. Their opening run Saturday morning produced a 246.8 mph speed and the team followed up later with their record tying 250.1 mph speed.
“I was impressed with how hard it pulled in fourth and fifth gears on that run,” explained Kennedy following his 257.7 mph record. “I think I can do better in the lower gears next time and we can run an even better speed.”
The car is a modified Ford GT with twin Precision Turbochargers, breathing into a racing engineered 5.4 liter Accufab Racing engine, which burns 117 octane racing gasoline. The engine and power management as well as the data acquisition system are MoTeC and were calibrated by MoTeC tuner and racing consultant, Shane Tecklenburg (Tuned By Shane T) of Huntington Beach, California who was also on hand to assist the team during the event. Installation, engineering and fabrication duties were handled by Kevin Kesterson of Hennessey Performance Engineering out of Sealy, Texas who was also on hand as car chief for the team.
“I knew when I saw 204 mph come up on the scoreboard at the half mile, that it was on,” said Kesterson. “I just couldn’t wait to see what it was going to run out the back.”
“We knew the car had it in it,” noted Tecklenburg. “Our task was simply to find it and figure out a way to apply the power in the right places to take advantage of it. Using the GPS system with the MoTeC we are able to map out a power management scheme which allows us to extract the maximum acceleration from the car at any given point on the course. I consult with many teams in all levels of motorsport worldwide and these guys are as dedicated as any I have worked with. That shows in the preparation of the car and the results on track.”
The team plans to attend the next event at the Texas Mile October 26 – 28, 2012 and hopes to eclipse its own record. “We’re coming back in October for sure,” said Kennedy. “We want to go 260!”
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