World Records Broken at Loctite®-Sponsored Cook’s Bonneville Shootout

The fastest vehicles in the world gathered on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah last month, racing against time to beat existing world land speed records. But 2011 was a year of heartbreak -- most teams returned home with broken vehicles rather than broken records. Four teams drove away victorious, surpassing standing records by traveling at speeds of 216 to more than 366 mph.

At the end of the Loctite(R)-sponsored Cook's Bonneville Shootout event, one professional team had earned their second consecutive world record and three street bikers made world land speed racing history. (Photo: Business Wire)

At the end of the five-day Cook’s Bonneville Shootout event that took place September 19 through 23, one professional team had earned their second consecutive world record and three street bikers made world land speed racing history.

• For the second consecutive year, Dallas-based Charles Nearburg raced his normally-aspirated streamlined race car, the Spirit of Rett, at record-breaking speeds. This year, Nearburg sped to a two-way average of 366.374 mph, a time that beat the existing record by 7.129 mph to take the FIA International’s Category A, Group II, Class 10 record. Last year, Nearburg claimed his first-ever land speed title in a highly emotional race that shattered a record standing for 45 years. The Spirit of Rett is named after Nearburg’s son Rett, an avid car enthusiast who lost his long battle with cancer in 2005.
• Motorcycle racer Jamie Williams of California claimed the FIM International’s Class 12, Type I record by racing his 2000cc, internal combustion, naturally-aspirated Suzuki street bike to a two-way average 216.912 mph.
• Racer Al Lamb of Texas bested the existing FIM International Class 10, Type II record by almost 20 mph, racing his 1000cc, internal combustion, forced induction Honda street bike to a two-way average of 245.361 mph.
• A third motorcyclist, Richard Assen of Austria raced his 1350cc, internal combustion, forced induction Suzuki street bike to a two-way average of 261.243 mph to claim the FIM Class 11, Type II record.

A week before this year’s Cook’s Bonneville Shootout, the area experienced an unusual amount of rain that left the terrain in very poor shape. The usually smooth track was unusually rough.

“The Cook team did their best to smooth out the most critical areas of the track; however, some pretty rough areas still remained,” explained Mike Williams, Henkel’s North American OEM market manager. “We believe this may have contributed to some of the issues the teams were experiencing. As a result of the terrain, Loctite® products played an even more important role with the teams, with products such as threadlockers and structural acrylics in great demand to help hold the vehicles together at exceptionally fast speeds.”

Virtually every vehicle in the competition used Loctite® threadlockers, adhesives and sealants to enhance performance, making Loctite® a natural sponsor of Mike Cook’s Bonneville Shootout.

For more information on the event, visit www.henkelna.com/bonnevilleshootout. At this site, visitors can link to event feeds on Facebook and Twitter. The complete directory of Henkel videos including all Bonneville Shootout videos can be viewed within the Loctite® at Play playlist at www.youtube.com/loctite.

Henkel operates worldwide with leading brands and technologies in three business areas: Laundry & Home Care, Cosmetics/Toiletries, and Adhesive Technologies. Founded in 1876, Henkel holds globally leading market positions both in the consumer and industrial businesses with well-known brands such as Persil, Schwarzkopf and Loctite. Henkel employs about 48,000 people and reported sales of $20.07 billion and adjusted operating profit of $2.27 billion in fiscal 2010. Henkel’s preferred shares are listed in the German stock index DAX and the company ranks among the Fortune Global 500.

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