JESSE JAMES’ H-BOMB

Breaks Land Speed Record In Hydrogen Powered Vehicle

Motorcycle madman Jesse James has unofficially broken the land speed record for a hydrogen-powered vehicle, and he did it in a car that packs modern technology into a vintage racer more than 40 years old.

The guy behind West Coast Choppers blazed across El Mirage Dry Lake Bed at 199.7 mph in a car he claims he spent “a couple million bucks” building. He’d been toying with the idea of an alt-fuel racer, but rather than start from scratch — as BMW did with the slick H2R racer that previously held the record — he modified a ’60s-era streamliner to run on gaseous hydrogen.

“I think it’s way cooler to take an old hunk of shit that many considered useless and make it haul ass,” James told Wired.com. “It has built-in soul and history. Plus, it’s recycling.”

That hunk of shit is a somewhat historic machine called the Dees Milodon Engineering – Davis B streamliner, and it is no stranger to the salt. The car once hit 237 mph at the Bonneville Salt Flats using a Chrysler engine, and James says it set a record for a front-wheel-drive vehicle. It hadn’t seen action for awhile, and when James first saw the car it was hanging in a friend’s shop.

“I always loved the way it looked,” James said. “Kinda like an evil flying saucer.”

After getting some design help from renowned land speed racer Mike Cook, the crew at West Coast Choppers lengthened the car 24 inches and brought the frame and suspension up to modern safety specs. James handled all the bodywork himself, then called on engine expert Kurt Urban to help develop the powerplant. They went a bit nuts, building a 572-cubic-inch twin-turbo Chevrolet engine that produces prodigious power.

“BMW set the record with liquid hydrogen, which is way easier to make a motor run on but it will never be practical for everyday cars,” James told us. “The engine produces 780 horsepower and 900 foot-pounds of torque. That’s some serious power from the world’s most plentiful resource.”

By that point, the only thing left to do was suit up, get in and hold on. James made his record-setting run and taped it for his TV show “Jesse James Is A Dead Man.” He fell just short of his goal of 200 mph, but it was enough to top the 186.52 mph record BMW held

UPDATE Add “LandSpeed” Louise Ann Noeth to the list of people saying James didn’t set a record. She’s a racer and journalist who’s been covering land speed racing for the past decade, and she’s beyond peeved by all the attention James is getting. She calls him “a liar and a cheat when it comes to claiming a world record.” – Whatever…bitch.

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