See Sidewinder Run

Seems like hardly a week goes by that we don’t have something new to tell you about Project Sidewinder. This one will be short.

The news is that we had a video crew at Bonneville to capture all the action and sounds surrounding our record attempts, and you can now sample it on our Sidewinder web site. Webmaster note: As this is a very old blog entry, the links have changed. You can now watch the video below…

Coupled with footage he had been shooting in our race shop as the truck was being built, Patrick McKinley of our Art Department has spliced together five short clips showing (1) the truck under construction, (2) driving into Bonneville towing its own trailer (not riding on one), (3) activity in the pits, (4) interviews with Gale, driver Don Alexander, and crew chief Sheldon Tackett, and (5) an actual run as seen from the ground, from the air, and inside the cab at speed.

To hear ambient sounds and music, especially for the interviews, you’ll obviously need speakers connected to your computer. If you don’t have a program called Quicktime loaded on your computer, you’ll have to do so. The page with the videos tells you where to click to download it. Then click on each video separately to view it. They’re very short, and they’ll be very small on your screen. But take a look. The one of the truck running down the salt at 200+ mph—especially if you’re wired for sound—is worth the price of admission.

Patrick has also edited a 23-minute video of all aspects of the Sidewinder and its record-setting runs at Bonneville, culled and spliced from well over 15 hours of footage. It’s really good, and people who’ve seen it have been asking for copies. Word in the opulent and spacious Friday News office is that we are going to make multi-dupes of it and make them available to our customers so you can watch it—full sight and sound—on your home VCR’s. It’s not ready now, but watch this space to see if and when it will be available.