Spirit of America

Spirit of America is the trademarked name used by Craig Breedlove for his land speed record-setting vehicles. First Spirit of America Spirit of America was the first of the modern record breaking jet-propelled cars, built with a narrow streamlined fuselage, three-wheel chassis, and, most significantly, turbojet engine. Like most of the other competing vehicles, the engine was ex-military. The first Spirit had a General Electric J47 engine from an F-86 and was tested at Bonneville Salt Flats in 1962, where difficult handling resulted in failure. Before trying again, a new stabilizer and steerable front wheel were added. Breedlove set his first record on September 5, 1963, at Bonneville, the first man to set an average speed of over during a land speed record attempt. (John Cobb had already exceeded this 400 mph mark in 1947, but had not sustained it as an average over both runs.) At the time of Spirit of Americas construction the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) rules for a land speed record required four wheels. Spirits record was thus not recognised by the FIA. The Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM) did recognise it, however, classing Spirit as a motorcycle. Although this controversy has been widely reported since as being due to the use of a jet engine, FIA rules describing a qualifying car as being "driven through its wheels", the only issue raised seriously at the time was over the number of wheels, hence the FIM acceptance.