KEY POINTS:
Foundations in the Eastern Bay of Plenty were shaken at the weekend when a five-tonne truck hit 236km/h as it barrelled down a 7km straight.
At the wheel was Aucklander Shane Chapman, going for the New Zealand land speed record in a diesel-powered motor.
Quite why he needed a 1600-horsepowered Panoz truck to do the job is anyone's guess - the record currently belongs to car with a history at Le Mans.
"We raced down at Gouldies Rd in Reporoa," Chapman said. "Our maximum speed was 236km/h and that was on the flying mile.
"We had a little bit of trouble with the engine which started to overheat and that [automatically] shut down the horsepower, so I couldn't go as fast as I wanted."
Unofficially, Chapman equalled the previous mark by averaging 232km/h but rules said he had to beat it by at least 3 per cent before his record could be recognised.
He estimated the lost horsepower cost him about 50km/h. "Next year we'll be bringing back my new truck and we're going to do 300km/h."
Anyone doubting he will do this should think again.
Last August the 41-year-old Papatoetoe mechanic drove a truck at the Bonneville salt flats (where Kiwi Burt Munro of The World's Fastest Indian fame set his motorbike speed records) in the United States and reached a speed of 363km/h, a world record for a modified diesel truck.
The feeling of driving a heavy vehicle at breakneck speed was hard to describe, Chapman said.
"I suppose the biggest worry is things like Owen Evans' mishap, where ... a tyre could blow out. If I get one of those at that speed and weight it's going to make a bit of a mess."
In 1996 Evans crashed on the same road just after setting the New Zealand land speed record of 348.23km/h in a Porsche Le Mans GT, and miraculously survived.
But Chapman was confident research and testing had made his truck and tyres "bulletproof".
"The cab on the truck is held on by six big bolts, [4cm] in diameter, but it's designed [so] if you have a bad crash the cab will fly off and you're strapped into it in a little capsule."
"In the last couple of runs on Saturday the wind got up a bit high ... when you come out on a clear bit of road from behind some trees the wind hits you and throws you sideways."
The truck is to be shipped back to the US. Chapman has been working as a technician for a truck company in Portland, Oregon, for the past 18 months.
