Thursday, August 20, 2009

Speed demon turns to artist for extra style


Paul Fontaine, The TimesPublished: Friday, August 07, 2009
Nick Boos was running on coffee and the will to finish a job he started just two days earlier.
The Abbotsford artist's design will be a blur in the eyes of a group of speed demons during the weekend as the Golden Hawk streamliner, which he finished painting in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, goes for the world land speed record in Utah at the famed Bonneville Speedway.
Surrey's Randy Pierce will be driving the Golden Hawk on the Utah salt flats. Much of the work and parts that went into the machine's creation were donated, so Pierce and his team ended up spending $400,000 compared to the tens of millions usually put into cars going to the salt flats to try and break records.

Local artist Nick Boos added his touch to the Golden Hawk this week. Boos did in two days what would have usually taken weeks because the Golden Hawk will now make its way down to Utah to try and break a land speed record on the famed salt flats.
The project has attracted about 100 sponsors.
The powerplant is a rebuilt 3.9-litre Cummins turbo diesel, producing 750 horsepower with nitrous oxide.
Boos said he was originally introduced to Pierce two years ago, when the Surrey driver originally wanted to have a crack at the record, but the process got delayed.
"I have been waiting two years to do this," said Boos, who just finished an 18-hour work session Tuesday as the vehicle waited to be lifted onto a flatbed in his Downes Road home and put on the road to Utah.
"This man made it look good," said Pierce of Boos' work, which had to be rushed because of time constraints.
Boos said the job, which would usually take a month or more, was done in two days because of some late nights and long days.
Pierce, who works for Carpe.ca, (Agnew bailiffs and Financial Adjusters ltd.) as a bailiff and financial adjuster, will take the Golden Hawk down to Utah and hoped to reach his destination by yesterday.
He will get a couple of test runs and than hopes to crank his machine up to 531 kilometres an hour.
To see how the Golden Hawk does, check out goldenhawk.ca.
- with files from the Surrey Now

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