Team New Zealand sets world wind-powered speed record in 2022 on South Australia's dry outback Lake Gairdner
Team New Zealand, who also had a famous yachting victory in the 2017 America's Cup, with its land yacht Horonuku after setting the wind-powered land speed record on South Australia's Lake Gairdner in 2022.
A new wind-powered land speed world record was claimed to have been set by Team New Zealand on South Australia’s Lake Gairdner in 2022, smashing the previous record set in 2009 in the United States of America.
Team New Zealand, normally a sailing team, set the new benchmark on its land yacht, named Horonuku, on Lake Gairdner’s white salt expanses. Horonuku, means "gliding swiftly over land", was a cross between a dragster and a glider, with an eight metres wide arm and a 10.5 metres solid carbon fibre wing sail.
Pilot Glenn Ashby successfully sailed the team's wind-powered craft at 222.4 kilometres per hour—in 22 knots (40.7 kilometres per hour) of wind. The time surpassed the standing record of 202.9 kilometres per hour recorded by British engineer Richard Jenkins in the United States.
Ashby was confident Horonuku “has a lot more speed in it when we get more wind and better conditions” and he wanted to be the first person to to travel at 250 kilometres per hour in a wind-powered vehicle. Team New Zealand would take a break and await a perfect weather forecast to have another run in 2023.
Originally from Bendigo, Victoria, Ashby's achieved renown as an Olympic and multiple world yachting champion. He skippered Team New Zealand to a famous victory in the 2017 America's Cup – the same team behind his Lake Gairdner bid.
Ashby said the South Australian site was chosen after a painstaking selection process: "We've looked at various options around Australia and actually around the world. We've honed our sights on Lake Gairdner purely for the fact that it has, generally, a really good surface.”
Lake Gairdner also hosted Rosco McGlashan's 1994 Australian land speed record of just over 800 kilometres per hour.