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" Last year two Buick engineers, Bill Rietow and John Townsend, took a break from testing cars within legal speed limits on regular highways to blast along a lone stretch of highway in Nevada at speeds approaching 140 mph in a stock Buick Regal GS. They ventured out of their normal work environment to tackle the Silver State Classic Challenge \u2013 the famous annual &amp;quot;race&amp;quot; that takes place on Highway 318 near Ely, 250 miles north of Las Vegas. It&amp;#039;s not quite an outright speed race \u2013 instead competitors have to accurately achieve a targeted average speed. Last September the Buick factory team competed in the 120-mph class and won with an `error&amp;#039; of just 0.019 seconds after 45 minutes traversing the 90-mile stretch of two-lane highway. It also netted them a &amp;quot;Most Accurate Rookie&amp;quot; award. This year they are entering the Nevada Open Road Challenge, which takes place this coming Sunday, May 20, using the same stretch of highway as the better-known Silver State Classic Challenge. It is an identical event, except the weather is usually cooler, which means the cars often run faster. This time the engineers in their 2012 Buick Regal GS have upped the stakes by entering the more challenging 135-mph class. It&amp;#039;s doable as, believe it or not, the Regal GS is the fastest Buick ever made, according to GM. They feel the Regal GS is up to the task. &amp;quot;We learned a lot about the intricacies of the course on our first time out,&amp;quot; said Rietow. &amp;quot;We now know that the segment known as `the Narrows&amp;#039; can be safely negotiated at 90 mph. By planning the slow down into and the acceleration rate out of the Narrows, we can more accurately control our pace to the target average speed. At times, we&amp;#039;ll need to run at the GS&amp;#039;s top speed.&amp;quot; It might not be quite as glamorous as lapping N\u00FCrburgring but it&amp;#039;s good to see engineers from Buick tackling the world&amp;#039;s fastest road race, as officially recognized by Guinness World Records, in a stock 2012 Regal GS. Note From R&amp;amp;amp;T: And, we&amp;#039;re tagging along with our new long term Regal GS test car. What better way to break it in then averaging 120 mph for 90 miles? Think we can beat the record set by Buick&amp;#039;s Rietow and Townsend last year? It&amp;#039;ll be tough, but we&amp;#039;re going to try. At the very least our new Regal GS will have proved its mettle early in its stay with us. Related posts:  Buick Wins Class in World&amp;#039;s Fastest Road Race 2011 Buick Regal Driven: Buick Regal GS  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-shows/news/a21808/factory-buick-team-returns-to-nevada-to-race-in-a-gs-were-tagging-along-34855/>