Mike Newman and Litchfield Gear Up To Smash 200mph Blind Land Speed Record

Multiple Guinness World Record holder, Mike Newman, has announced his plans to smash his own Blind Land Speed Record in 2014 – and has teamed up with one the world’s greatest supercar tuners to do it.

Mike (53), who has been blind since contracting glaucoma aged 8, already has the record having blasted his way to an impressive 186mph in a Porsche 911 GT2 in 2013. This time around he has teamed up with Litchfield Motors, Europe’s most respected tuner of Nissan’s flagship GT-R model, in order to smash through the coveted 200mph barrier.

The record demands a lot from both car and driver, and due to the limited space available at most UK venues, needs a car that can hit its top speed very quickly – and then get back down to rest in a similarly rapid fashion. As no ‘off-the-peg’ car fits the bill perfectly, Litchfield’s talented technical team has decided to build one to order instead, creating a 1,000 bhp monster, complete with a motorsport-spec roll cage, full fire system and safety aids, to give Mike the confidence – and horsepower – to topple his own record.

Last time out, Mike was able to steal back his own title from Turkish pop singer Metin Senturk, who managed an impressive speed of 182 mph driving a Ferrari F430 supercar in 2010. This time around, Mike wants to definitively stamp his authority in the record books, driving with his long-suffering father as co-pilot once again and truly raising the bar for future challengers.

“I have been fortunate enough to have borrowed some superb cars for previous attempts,” he explains, “but to crack 200mph requires something really special... and even something like a Bugatti Veyron wouldn’t have the power to weight ratio to do it. I’ve long been a huge fan of Litchfield’s bespoke conversions, and talking to their team, we all felt that they had the tools, talent and experience to put a car together that would be brutal enough to battle the physics involved, but easy enough to drive at the limit. It’s ironic really – I’ve worked with some of the world’s finest supercar manufacturers on previous attempts, but to find a machine that has all of the attributes I needed, I’ve only had to go as far as my home county of Gloucestershire!”

Much is still to be done before this record attempt can happen though. Litchfield has to build a car, literally from the ground up, before an intensive schedule of testing of the car – and training of the driver - can take place. With the car specification decided, Mike will be working closely with his previous mentor, Le Mans winner and Protec driver Rob Schirle, to help him achieve his goals once again. “Mike deserves the best possible car underneath him to do this, so that’s exactly what we’re going to build,” said eponymous founder Iain Litchfield. “Looking at footage of his previous attempts, it’s not been Mike’s bravery or skill that has thwarted the 200mph attempt; it’s simply been a lack of power to get to the speed he wants in the space that he has. Our LM1 GT-R is a totally re-engineered vehicle which will allow him to turn things up to ‘11’ when he needs to, and with a full roll cage in there, I think he will feel much more connected to the car. We’re feeling confident that we can deliver this record together.”

Mike’s impressive CV of records – which also includes the Blind Water Speed Record – isn’t purely to prove that disability need not be a barrier to doing things even fully sighted people might think twice about trying. His real raison d'être is to draw attention to his charity, Speed of Sight, which builds and runs purpose-built dual-controlled track cars to allow people with a broad range of disabilities the chance to similarly liberate themselves by getting behind the wheel – sometimes for the first time in their lives.


Related Motorsport Articles

84,520 articles