World Kite Buggy Speed Record Holder – Brian Holgate USA

Brian Holgate

135.34km/h – 84.10mph

It gives me great pleasure to announce the WORLD KITE BUGGY SPEED RECORD has been broken on the 6th March 2012, by the Peter Lynn Freestyle rider from the USA, Mr Brian Holgate, he was using the PL Speed Buggy, and a 2.7m PL Vapor kite.

Everthing HAS been checked and confirmed including the track log, this record is officially official, fantastic effort

Here is Brian’s Post on Facebook before he went..

Going out to set the new land speed record for a buggy tomorrow. Expecting to hit 90mph. Checked the forecast and NOAA says gusts to 55 mph and Weather Channel says gusts to 60 – 70 mph. Should have no problem reaching my goal! — with Peterlynn Kites and Johnny Sanchez Losada at Ivanpah Dry Lake Bed.

What fantastic news, I find it very fitting that Peter Lynn, have produced the tools for Brian to get the New World Record, if it wasn’t for Peter Lynn, none of us would be here, and now all this time later, they (Company) are still at the cutting edge.

Well done Brian for your courage, and well done Peter Lynn

So here is the update.

I DID IT!!! Got there and the winds were going from 15-30mph sustained with gusts to 50mph. Decided to wait it out for a while. Once the wind steadied out I got the kite out and hooked up the 500kg lines with my freestyle handles with a shortened leash to the 2.7 Vapor that I borrowed from BB. Went over to the buggy to get everything ready and realized I left my harness at home. So you can guess by now that I also left the spreader bar….YIKES! So after I got done crying, , I called Beamer Bob and asked for his since he lives very close to the edge of town. He agreed to let me use it so off I was.

Once I returned to the dry lake the winds were perfect. They were sustained at 35-40 with gusts to 55mph. We quickly hooked up the spreader bar and pulled the kite back out. When Johnny was helping me to launch the kite the wind was blowing it all over the place. The bridles kept getting tangles, it was actually quite stressful. We were finally able to launch the kite from the side of the wind window. The first time we launched it, we did so without being harnessed in. So as soon as the kite went up I was sent dancing across the playa! Johnny had to run over and hold me down in order to hold the kite down and walk back up wind. Now that I knew the kite was in working order(since it was my first time flying this specific kite) I decided it was time to harness in and go. Didn’t want to harness in till I knew the kite was right. I sat in the buggy and we launched the kite with it secured to the spreader bar and off I went. At first I was cutting almost straight up wind. Went out to the middle of the lake and let it go. Turned the buggy down wind and it accelerated quicker than I have felt in a car. The winds were almost straight west so I thought I would be able to go the length of the dry lake. However there was so much power that I was sliding around at a high speed. Tried to tack back up wind with no prevail.

So here I am barreling toward the brush, on the edge of Ivanpah, at a high rate of speed. I decided there was no saving the run and I would have to let the kite go. I turned downwind a little and tried to pull the leash out of the spreader bar but the kite was loaded with so much power that it wasn’t budging. After about 4 tries to free the leash I turned straight downwind and gave it one last pull and out it came. Let the kite go and turned away from the brush that was now only about 100 yards away. I turned away into the small rocks that run the length of the lake right next to the brush. It was like marbles…I slid a little in the rocks and hit the brakes. Must have slid about 500 feet before it finally stopped. At this point I didn’t think I broke the record but I knew it was a personal best for sure. When I got out and looked at the GPS’s they said 84.0, 84.1, and 84.4 mph!!!!! This all happened within 2 miles. I had just left the camp. Johnny rushed over in his truck to check on me and when he got there I was jumping and screaming. I ripped off all 3 gps and brought them over to Johnny Losada and Steve the Land Sailor Guy(Sorry Steve, don’t know your last name).

Not sure what I have to do to make this official but doing it again is no problem. I could have gone faster if I would have went all the way to the freeway and started my run from there.

Many thanks goes out to Johnny and Steve for being kite monkeys! Thank you Craig Hansen and Gavin Mulvay at Peter Lynn Kites in New Zealand for allowing me to run their buggy. Thanks to Michel Dekker for making this incredible kite. And Most of all thank you Bobby Muse for letting me borrow you 2.7m Vapor, GPS Units, and spreader bar.

The best thing was I had no idea I was going that fast. I love this PL Speed Buggy and can’t wait to go out again!

Brian Holgate! Cheers

84.10mph

2nd World Record Attempt 18th March 2012

Went out to Ivanpah with some friends today to try to break the record again. They were calling for rain in the morning but it tidn’t show up till around 4. The winds were light and multi directional at first. Then it started to pick up. It eventually became sustained at around 25-30.
So I went out an started my runs. My first couple runs were a little slow. Hit arund 56mph. Came back to camp and made some adjustments. Then went back out. The winds were starting to luff out with an occasional good gust. I was on what wound up being my last run and hit a good gust. I was only able to get to 76mph before I sheared my left axle bolt. I slid for about 100′ before stopping. No harm done though. The buggy is heavy enough it didn’t roll. Didn’t break the record but I know have my camera angles dialed in. It started to rain as we packed up so no chance to ride again for atleast a few days.

Brian Holgate