Sarah Tops 300 in Licensing Testing

The short off-season has been filled with major changes for the internationally renowned Hanna Motorsports Jet Exhibition Team.  The first change was the addition of young Sarah Edwards, 24, of Stamford, CT to become the new pilot of the famous "Queen of Diamonds II" jet-powered machine.  The story of how Sarah came to the Hanna Motorsports team is well documented.

Behind the scenes, Hanna Motorsports, who had introduced this very unusual side-driver, one-of-a-kind  jet dragster less than 2 years ago, was faced with making a major facelift on the machine itself.

Al and Rich Hanna had taken the race car to Aerodyn, the NASCAR Wind Tunnel Complex in Mooresville North Carolina, and gathered a tremendous amount of aerodynamic information which was being closely analyzed by a very impressive group of aero engineers.  Included in that group was Bob Cuneo, owner of Chassis Dynamics, the first-ever full time NASCAR Engineer ever hired in the early '90's, and very well known in recent years for his work with Geoff Bodine in the development of the successful US Olympic Sled Program.

Also brought in for his expertise in aerodynamics was Charlotte's Louis Duncan, famous for his many years as Lead Engineer in Ford's Wind Tunnel Program, as well as his famed NASACAR successes working with such as RCR and Dale Earnhardt.

After much discussion and several meetings, it was recommended that the race car be shortened 10", along with several aero changes including items that created 'ground effects' at high speed.

The race car was brought to original builder Dan Page Race Cars who performed the major surgery, and the team then reassembled the car, and prepared it for new driver Sarah Edwards.

After getting familiar with the functions of the machine, during her licensing process, young Sarah proceeded to record an arrow-straight 5.29 @ 301 MPH in testing at New England Dragway.  "We're ecstatic with Sarah and her 'matter of fact' approach to driving this machine" stated Al Hanna.  "We're really more than pleased with the major changes we made to the race car, and how it's responded on the track" added Rich Hanna.

Sarah and the entire Hanna Motorsports Jet Team debuts the newly updated machine as well as their famous two-car jet funny car team at the 'Cavalcade of Stars' event being held at Summit Motorsports Park May 20-22.  Be sure to drop by, meet Sarah, Rich, and Kenny, the FC drivers, and enjoy the show.