September 9th has been unusual. It started at 2.00am when the truck leaving the desert and carrying the Spirit of America missed the causeway in the dark and plunged to its axles in soft mud - only to be rescued by the ThrustSSC team who provided Supacats and the Merlo 4x4 forklift to extricate it.

Spirit of America had suffered jet engine damage from ingestion of a foreign object and was unable to make its second run on the 8th. The car has been hauled back overnight to Rio Vista California for an engine replacement. About the same time the two Rolls-Royce Spey 205 uprated spare engines for ThrustSSC were trucked up from Reno.

With the Spirit of America out of action for some three or four days - the ThrustSSC team has taken the chance to catch up with course preparation work with the intention of making faster runs on Wednesday and Thursday.

The supersonic story is now generating huge interest with ever more media descending on Gerlach - and the Internet accesses on the Thrust web site have soared from 110,000/day to 160,000/day in 24 hours.

Temperatures are high, the course is the best ever and conditions are exceptional. We hope to see much faster runs on Wednesday.

• 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
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• Info line on 0839-888-850

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