Bonneville Speed Week 2025 saw retired businessman Geoff Stilwell become the seventh Briton to surpass 200mph on the Bonneville Salt Flats, following in the wheeltracks of Henry Segrave, Malcolm Campbell, John Cobb, Stirling Moss, Richard Noble and Andy Green.
Stilwell achieved the feat in his custom-built 7707 Red Line Oil Blown Fuel Roadster, clocking 289.32mph on his way to the Blown Fuel Rear Engine Modified Roadster class record.
Remarkably, the open-cockpit dragster is based upon a 1927 Ford Model T Roadster chassis, although modified to such an extent that it no longer resembles the archaic American machine.
Unsurprisingly for a car capable of such speed, 7707 packs a fearsome powertrain. Beneath its slender bodywork lurks an 8.1-litre supercharged V8 running a 70/30 mix of nitromethane and methanol, claimed to deliver 5000bhp.
Stilwell’s record-breaker was constructed by an eight-man team at Mick’s Paint in Pomona, California, led by British expat Mick Jenkins.
After the run, Stilwell was reflective. ‘It was very emotional. I shed a few tears, because my late son wasn’t there to see me do it,’ he told ITV News. ‘One of the things my son Matt said to me was, “Dad, just get the job done.” When I was officially inducted into the 200mph Club it was very emotional, because I would have loved him to have been there.’
Alongside its Bonneville and El Mirage outings, 7707 appeared at this year’s Grand National Roadster Show in Pomona and is expected at SEMA and the PRI Show in 2026. Admitting to ‘salt fever’, Stilwell says he and the team are ready for 300mph and beyond in 2026.
