Venturi sets new electric world land speed record: 341mph

The VBB-3 “Venturi Buckeye Bullet,” a cooperation between Monaco-based Venturi and students from The Ohio State University, set a new electric land speed record this week, with a two-way average of 341mph and a top speed of 358mph, at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.

Venturi has broken the world EV speed record several times in the past with the VBB-2 and VBB-2.5, but designed the VBB-3 in 2013 to smash those records, with over three times the power of their previous vehicles.  The VBB-3’s body is made of carbon fiber, but weighs over 7,700lb and has 3,500lbs of batteries.  These batteries combine with a two-motor, four-wheel-drive system to produce nearly 3,000hp and over 2,000 ft lbs of torque.  At speeds like this, drag is a real problem, so the VBB-3 is designed with a drag coefficient of only .13 – just a bit more than half of Tesla’s famously low .24 coefficient.

Unfortunately, their last three attempts encountered challenging weather conditions, and while the car did get an opportunity to run last year, it was only able to reach 240mph.  Though this was a record at the time, this year’s clean attempt managed to smash their last record by over 100mph.  But the quest continues: with the VBB-3 designed to break the 400mph barrier, the team isn’t likely to rest until they meet their goal.

Venturi also sponsors a Formula E team, along with co-owner Leonardo DiCaprio.  Their first race of the 2016-2017 season is on October 9th in Hong Kong.