STOW, Ohio – Danny Thompson, son of the late Mickey Thompson, has launched a Kickstarter fundraising campaign to support the continued development of the Challenger 2.5 project.
This project aims to complete a state-of-the-art restoration of Mickey’s Challenger 2 Streamliner. The goal is to exceed the existing internal combustion wheel-driven land speed record of 417.020 mph on the Bonneville Salt Flats.
Committed to realizing his father’s dream of establishing a new land speed record, Thompson has reached out to the motorsports community for financial support starting with the company founded by his father in 1963, Mickey Thompson Performance Tires & Wheels, and has now expanded his efforts to reach the global motorsports community through Kickstarter.
“My dad was the first American to go over 400 miles per hour in a car, but he didn’t get the record. We’re going to fix that,” stated Thompson. “My dad came to me in 1988 and told me he wanted me to drive this car, and that he wanted us to restore the Streamliner. We didn’t get to do that together as a father-son team. But, my team and I have made incredible progress, and we just need a little help from the motorsports community I call my home to take us across that finish line.”
Progress on the Challenger 2.5 has been extensive, Thompson says. Final assembly and testing of the Streamliner occurs this winter, with measured FIA and SCTA record runs to follow next summer.
Streamliner Technical Specs
· The car is 32 feet long, 34 inches wide, and weighs 5,500 pounds.
· The skin of the car is made entirely of 68 hand formed aluminum panels. They are connected to the subframe via simple Dzus buttons.
· The streamliner has two engines, one on either side of the cockpit. The original 1960s setup delivered nearly 1,800 hp. The new engines provide close to 4,000 hp.
· The engines are dry blocks (waterless). All of the cooling is provided by the fuel. A single run will consume approximately 50 gallons of nitro-blend fuel.
· The tires are a prototype nylon weave backed with banded steel. There is only 1/32 of an inch of rubber. Any more would spin off due to heat and expansion. They are custom made by Mickey Thompson Performance Tires & Wheels.
· Primary stopping power is provided by dual parachutes that deploy 4-foot blossoms. There are also four carbon fiber disk brakes.
To make a donation and view the video, visit http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thompsonlsr/thompsonlsr-resurrecting-mickey-thompsons-streamli.
