Hondata co-founder, Doug Macmillan, and his wife Miriam shook the salt to the tune of three new speed records at the 63rd annual SpeedWeek at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. Competing for her fourth SpeedWeek, Miriam drove her turbocharged 1.5-liter 1990 Honda CR-X to a new record of 220.258 mph, averaged over two runs on successive days. Miriam’s exit speed at the end of the fourth mile of 234.6 mph was a personal best up from her peak speed of 207 mph in 2010 when she earned her crown as New Zealand’s Queen of Speed. Doug’s co-driver, Daniel Butler was first up in his 700-horsepower twin-supercharged 2.0-liter Acura RSX, adding an impressive 12 mph on the previous record topping out at 230.761 mph.
Doug’s runs were not quite as smooth, however. Switching to the fuel class by adding a 100-shot of nitrous required taller gearing with a larger pair of front tires. Unfortunately, the tires shredded at 225 mph, requiring a change back to the smaller tires. During the next attempt, a rod cap let go, punching a hole in the block and setting fire to the car just a few seconds before the finish. Despite all this ‘excitement’, Doug’s RSX broke the previous record with a 232.546 mph run, the team’s fastest timed mile for the week. Unfortunately, with a blown engine the record could not be backed up. “The RSX with its 100-shot of nitrous was pulling very, very strongly. With better tires and taller gearing we’ll be shooting for more than 240 mph in the RSX next year,” said Doug. “I think the CR-X has the most untapped potential though. Our goal for the CR-X is to hit 250 mph.”
By Evan Griffey
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