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Last summer GM took a Saturn Ion to Bonneville in order to break the G/Blown Fuel Altered record and succeeded by running a thrilling and certified 212.684. mph. This year GM decided to return to the salt to break the same record with a new Chevrolet Cobalt running basically the same drivetrain as last year's ION.
The problem for GM is that the old-timers who run the Southern California Timing Association are never eager to aid the OEMs in accumulating records and decided that, because the Cobalt SS wasn't yet on sale in August, the GM team (run by the So-Cal Speed Shop) couldn't run for a record. But with sport compact drag racer Nelson Hoyos behind the wheel, they ran an absolutely staggering, astonishing, mind-blowing 243.127 mph. That's despite the fact that the 2.0-liter, turbocharged, Ecotec engine was detuned from it's 1,200-hp drag racing configuration to just about 850-hp.
The general consensus of the sunburned and blistered crowd at Bonneville was, it seemed, that with some tuning and tweaking, the Cobalt is easily a 250 mph car and has the potential to run as much as 290 mph. On the far edge some se this car going 300 mph if all the stars align correctly and a few laws of physics are twisted slightly.
When the Cobalt returns to Utah in October there will be enough production Cobalts in dealers and civilian hands that the SCTA won't be able to deny them a record.
Meanwhile the Ecotec power package also found its way into Ron Main's streamliner that, until now, had been running an ancient Ford Flathead V8 as the "Flatfire." Now with the Ecotec aboard it's been renamed "EcoFire" and it reset the G/BFS (Blown Fuel Streamliner) record with a daunting 309.607 mph run. And yet another Ecotec installed in a '34 Ford Roadster built by Todd Haas went 193.231 mph to set a new record in F/BFMR (Blown Fuel Modified Roadster).
At this rate the Ecotec will power every car at Bonneville next year. And that's probably just what the SCTA fears.