UPDATE: This was actually the third attempt for Karl and his team. So, third time's the charm!

This was the second attempt for Karl Jacob and his crew to capture the world record for speed in the standing mile with a street legal vehicle, and for them, the second time was the charm. The vehicle in question is the E85 Viper which we have featured on our website ever since we first heard about it being built. We were even granted a sneak peek into the attempt while the car was undergoing final testing at the shop where it was built, SVS Power.

Now for the good stuff! The speed the vehicle was able to reach in the standing mile was 220.7 miles per hour. For reference, the best a gasoline-powered streetable coupe has ever recorded for the standing mile was 217.8 miles per hour. We have placed a video after the break for your enjoyment.

Special thanks go out to Karl Jacob for giving us this story before the official press release goes live tomorrow (Monday). That means, if you are reading this, you know about it before anybody else does. Cool, huh? Don't forget to check the video after the jump.

[Source: Karl Jacob]

On Wednesday, April 11th, car enthusiast and entrepreneur Karl Jacob along with SVS will attempt to break the world speed record for the standing mile in his street-legal, biofuel powered 1100hp E85 Dodge Viper. Proving that auto enthusiasts can pursue their passion for performance and still be environmentally conscious, Jacob aims to make more people aware of the benefits of renewable fuels and encourage consideration for ethanol in their own modifications. The world record attempt will take place at the Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, California.

Of course, we will be bringing you coverage of the attempt, and Karl has assured me that we will have some exclusive information on the event before anybody else. Exciting!

For more information, you can get to Karl's personal site on the E85 Viper here, and you can find our past stories on the car and the team below. To whet your appetite, realize that they need to hit around 218 mph or so.

Related:

• Expanded coverage of very high ethanol-induced performance
• Interview with Karl Jacob, the man behind the 1000 horsepower E85 Viper
• Any interest in a 1000 horsepower E85 turbocharged Viper? I thought so
• Here is the "World's Fastest Car on E85"

[Source: Karl Jacov, E85Viper.com]

Today marks the start of our "expanded coverage" of our recent trip to SVS Power in Chicago. We were turned onto the shop by Karl Jacob, the owner of the E85 Viper that we covered not too long ago. This vehicle has sparked a bit of a debate regarding the merits of ethanol, E85 in particular. The current situation in America has the majority of ethanol production coming from corn. This is causing problems with corn in the food sector, going so far as to lead to a near riot from corn-tortilla lovers. My stance has been, and still is, that ethanol is a good thing while making it solely from corn is less of a good thing. That stance is backed up by Ron Sr. of SVS Performance, who gave three good reasons to use ethanol instead of race gas for use in high performance applications:

• E85 is less costly than race gas.
• E85 is easier to find at pumps than race gas.
• E85 is possibly sustainable and much easier on the environment than race gas.

We will focus on E85's sustainability and environmental impact in this post and in successive coverage on SVS Power, their E85 Viper and other supercar projects and Karl Jacobs' ongoing progress towards his future goals. Additional coverage on Autoblog will focus on the technical side of the vehicles and in their exceedingly high performance.

Continue reading after the break, and check out the Picture Gallery from our recent visit.

Earlier, we ran a story on a Viper which was converted by the owner and a shop, SVS Power, to run on E85 and produce over 1,000 horsepower. While I was checking out SVS's site, I noticed that this is not the first foray into E85 that the shop has taken. In fact, they currently own the record - 216.66 mph - for the fasted car in the world running on E85. At the time of the event, the Viper they used weighed 4,700lbs, and they plan to lose some weight, raise the boost and try again for an even faster top speed. The speed record was set in Goliad, Texas on Oct. 27, 2006 at the Goliad airstrip.

Click here to see videos of the top speed event and the car built by SVS Power.

Related:

• Any interest in a 1000 horsepower E85 turbocharged Viper? I thought so

[Source: SVS Power]