When it comes to motorsports, El Mirage Dry Lake often fades into the shadows of more glamorous venues. Yet, this desolate 1.3-mile strip of Southern California desert is where legends are made, demonstrated vividly by Pete Aardema, Kevin Braun, and their driver Cal Rothe. Racing at El Mirage is as much about perseverance and passion as it is about speed. The extreme environment tests both man and machine, offering minimal comforts but maximal satisfaction for the few who dare.
This remarkable team clinched the 2023 championship at El Mirage, breaking records and consistently hitting speeds of at least 225 mph at every meet. Their pièce de résistance? A staggering 244-mph run with a 920-horsepower V-12 engine they meticulously crafted from scratch. This engineering marvel is not just a triumph of skill but a testament to what can be achieved with ingenuity and dedication. Dive into the story of their engine’s evolution in an earlier article we published back in 2021.
Post-race, we sat down with Aardema to discuss future plans for the car. “It’s not really an optimal streamliner,” he confessed, explaining that its transformation from a lakester demanded wide bodywork to encapsulate the front wheels. The team admitted that this adaptation did not boost their speeds compared to their lakester configuration. Nevertheless, the vehicle’s reconfiguration was sufficient to nab the C/GS record. The team is now eyeing another run at El Mirage with nitrous injection, but the car will revert to its lakester form for the upcoming Bonneville Speed Week this August.
Beyond their current 369-cubic inch V-12 masterpiece, Aardema and Braun have tantalizing future plans. They’re working on a four-valve big-block Chevy engine for the lakester, promising even more heart-pounding exploits at Speed Week. The anticipation is palpable as gearheads imagine the roar of this latest powerplant skimming across the salt flats in a cloud of fine, white dust.
The magic of El Mirage lies not in the glitz but in the sheer commitment of its racers. With no fans cheering from modern stands and no luxurious paddocks, the desert boils the sport down to its raw, unfiltered essence. It’s a battlefield where resilience is valued more than sponsors, and triumphs like Aardema and Braun’s glorious V-12 run are savored for their purity. For those following the saga, the Aardeman-Braun collaboration serves as a sterling example of what true racing spirit looks like—all grit and engineering brilliance, roaring through the ages.
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