I would have liked to go flying today, but the airport was closed for the annual Race the Runway event, the biggest fund-raiser of the year. The airport needs the income to pay the bills, so I won’t complain.

The Race the Runway event allows Street-legal cars and motorcycles run a 1/2 mile course laid out on the 4,000 ft long runway. I was on parking duty from 0800 to 1400, so althougth I heard the sounds of the runs down the runway, I didn’t see much.

The top speeds for the four years the event has run are:

Year   Car     hp       1/2 mile Speed (km/h)     1/2 mile Speed (mph)  
2012   Porsche 911 Turbo 258 160
2013   Lamborghini Aventador 258 160
2014   Lamborghini Super Trofeo Stradal 2000 330 205
2015   Acura NSX 890 277 172

The 330 km/h Lamborghini ran off the end of the runway at the end of his last run in 2014 - he didn’t come back this year. The runway is only 4000 ft long, so 50 ft lost at the start before the timing starts, and the 1/2 mile acceleration only leaves 1310 ft for braking. If the driver has a 1/2 second reaction time after passing the 1/2 mile mark, he would need a deceleration of about 1.2g to get stopped - he got stopped after his first 330 km/h run, but not the second one.

Cars waiting for their turn on the runwayHere we see a long line of cars, waiting for their turn on the runway.

 


Super-charged Ford Model T street rodThere were also quite a few of show cars on display, including this gorgoeus Ford Model T street rod.

 


Rare De Tomaso MangustaThis rare De Tomaso Mangusta attracted quite a bit of attention.

 


Carleton University Formula SAE cars and student design teamThe Carleton University Formula SAE team was there, with their two cars - one powered by a 250 cc single-cylinder engine, and the other one electric powered.