The latest bid to set a world speed record for electric cars has been postponed.
Rising ground water beneath the Chott-el-Jerid salt flats in Tunisia has made the surface too bumpy for the 鈥淎BB e=motion鈥� battery-powered car that the UK鈥檚 Primetime Engineering team hoped to drive at 480 km/h (300 mph).
鈥淭he water only rises like this once every 15 years,鈥� a team spokesman told 快猫短视频. 鈥淭he marshes have a salt crust about two centimetres thick, but when the ground water level rose on Monday it put creases in it about six centimetres high.鈥�
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鈥淲e have crossed them in an ordinary car at 50 km/h and have been fishtailing all over the place,鈥� the spokesman said. 鈥淐learly it is not flat enough for a 10 metre long, 1.6 tonne car travelling at very high speeds.鈥�
You can read 快猫短视频鈥檚 story about the car here.
Gradual acceleration
There is a perfectly flat stretch four kilometres long in the middle of the planned course but the record attempt needs a dead straight course of 11 km.
According to Frank Griffith, team engineer, most of the track is needed for gradual acceleration. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like trying to get up to a great speed from a standing start 鈥� but only using fifth gear,鈥� he said.
Tunisian tourist agencies have offered to close off any stretch of public road that is long enough and absolutely flat so the bid can take place. 鈥淏ut any Tarmac surface has to be dead flat and have a level verge in case the car veers off course,鈥� said the team spokesman.
Official FiA timekeepers leave the country on Friday, so the team face a race against time to make their record attempt.