Today for the first time both ThrustSSC and the Spirit of America teams ran their cars on the Black Rock desert - and thus the race for Mach 1 officially started.

ThrustSSC driven by Andy Green achieved a first run of 148 mph as planned and then suffered a battery capacity problem on the second run which meant that the planned second and third runs had to be aborted.

Spirit of America made a first pass at 328mph and the suffered a foreign object ingestion problem which caused engine damage. The car is to be trucked back to its base in Rio Vista California for the replacement engine to be fitted. It is expected that the delay will amount to some 4 or so days.

ThrustSSC team plan to run again tomorrow with the minor electrical problem sorted.

• For Black Rock visits, please complete the accreditation forms on the web site media section and then follow the attendance instructions for each individual days racing
• Please contact the team using e-mail on thrust.news@battlement.digital.co.uk and indicate whether you would like to be added to the project's media database for updates and reports. All accredited journalists will be added automatically.
• Info line on 0839-888-850

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