Venturi VBB-3 Wants To Hit 373 MPH At Bonneville Salt Flats

When it comes to the business of going fast, it seems like EVs are really starting to come into their own. Tesla just announced that its Model S sports sedan is now equipped with “Ludicrous” mode, which drops the 0-to-60 time to just 2.8 seconds. The fastest cars at Le Mans are all hybrids. At the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb this year, an EV won outright for the first time in the event’s nearly century-old history. Now, it looks like the above-pictured lightning-bolt-on-wheels is ready to set a new world record in the realm of EV top speed.

It’s called the 2014 Venturi VBB-3 (Venturi Buckeye Bullet 3), and it’s a third-generation all-electric land speed record car built as a collaborative effort between Venturi Automobiles and the Ohio State Center for Automotive Research.

Piloting the VBB-3 will be Roger Schroer, test driver at the Transportation Research Center in Ohio and the current FIA world-title holder for EV land speed records. Back in 2010, Schroer set the current record of 308 mph behind the wheel of the VBB-2.5 (Schroer actually hit a top speed of 320 in one direction, but official FIA land speed record-setting practices state the speed must be achieved in back-to-back runs in opposite directions). 

This time around, the team hopes to obliterate the old record, and its latest-gen racer should have the goods to do so. Output is rated at 3,000 horsepower, making it the most powerful electric car ever built. With that kind of muscle properly applied across the barren expanse of the Bonneville Salt Flats, the team hopes to reach 600 km/h, or 373 mph.

The VBB-3 will see a public unveiling at Bonneville during Speed Week, held between August 8th and 14th, with the official record-setting attempt scheduled between August 17th and 21st.

Update 07/23/2015: Unfortunately, this year’s Speed Week was cancelled due to weather conditions, so we won’t get to see the updated VBB-3 establish a new record so soon.

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