Friday, July 21 2006 15:24 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

London: Honda Racing F1's Bonneville 400 team were celebrating their groundbreaking achievement of smashing through the 400kph barrier.

A time of 400.459kph was recorded over one pass on the salt flats in Utah, America on Thursday morning.

However, the team were not able to match the speed on the return pass, so the time itself will not be recorded as a land speed record although the average speed of the two runs was still a blistering 393.613kph (244.580mph) breaking another record in the process; the team's own from Monday

"Having finally reached 400kph feels great," said Honda test driver Alan van der Merwe. "Although we were happy with 392kph, 400 has always been the magical number, and having done it in one direction, it must be possible to do it in both. We'll be trying again tomorrow (today) that's what it is about now, we just have to squeeze that little bit more from the car and keep pushing," he said.

Honda made six passes of the track and succeeded in breaking its own records. On Monday, driver Alan van der Merwe broke the previous FIA Category A, Group II, Class 8 (A-II-8) records, setting a speed of 354.974kph (220.571mph) for the flying mile and 355.499kph for the flying kilometre.