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The first Hybrid to set a World Record at the Bonneville Salt Flats

Aug 14-17, 2004

One of TRD's top engineers and a good friend, Chuck Wade, came to us 2 months before Speed Week with several problems. They wanted to run the Prius at Bonneville, but the car needed to be completely revamped to tackle the Flats but remain legal, and we had less than 3 weeks to do it.

Because of the aggressive time schedule, we had to be creative to give Chuck everything he needed to transform the Prius into a Landspeed record setter. We created a special spool to use the existing differential housing without modification (we didn't weld the spiders!). We then engineered another final drive ratio to fit within the existing housing, changing the ratio from 4.23:1 to 3.2:1. Two and half weeks later, the parts were done and assembled.

Chuck prepared the car and debuted the modified production gas-electric Prius in time for Speed week and Car and Driver editor Aaron Robinson set a Hybrid Speed Record of 130.794 mph over the 3 mile short course! The prominent "W" Logo attests to the importance of our work to the success of this program.

 

Traction Products, Inc. & Weismann Marine, LLC.
1728 Monrovia St. Costa Mesa, Ca. 92627
Tel: 949-645-4064 Fax: 949-645-2424

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