Land speed sailing record provisionally smashed

Horonuku, a fixed-wing land yacht built by Americas Cup team Emirates New Zealand and piloted by the team’s wing trimmer Glenn Ashby, smashed the previous land speed record – 204.5km/h – that has stood since 2009.

The as-yet unverified record was set on the dry salt flats of Lake Gairdner in South Australia, the home of the Dry Lake Racers Australia’s equivalent of the US-based Bonneville speed trials. 

Of note, Ashley believed Horonuku still had more speed to give on the record run.

“The team and I are obviously buzzing to have sailed Horonuku at a speed faster than anyone has ever before - powered only by the wind,” Ashby said.

“But in saying that we know Horonuku has a lot more speed in it when we get more wind and better conditions.” 

Emirates Team New Zealand said the record attempt hit top speed “after a frustrating few months of weather delays at the lake due to unprecedented rainfall and surface water leading to delays in the program”.

The team said the weather forecast for the weekend of the record attempt “was equally as challenging with significant wind direction changes and the dreaded threat of rain and thunderstorms”.

Horonuku – Maori for “gliding swiftly across the land” – is a 14.2-metre-long, 8.2-metre wide land yacht with an 11.1-metre-tall rigid wing that is used to generate its forward momentum, similar to how an aircraft’s wing generates lift as it moves through the air.

The entire land yacht is made from carbonfibre and weighs around 2800kg. It is steered like a conventional vehicle, but the wing is trimmed using pedals and levers.

Lake Gairdner is a 160km long, 48km wide dry lake almost five hours north-west of Adelaide.

Estimates have previously tipped that Horonuku would need wind speeds of around 30kt to 35kt to have a chance of beating the previous record. The land yacht needs at least a 7.0-kilometre run-up to reach top speed.

No mention was made of whether an attempt to set an even higher record would be made.