14th August 2016 - Bonneville Salt Flats, UT - Kms to date 12,211

Kms today 243

We were woken by the sound of engines outside our room; perhaps someone going early to Bonneville 70 miles down the road. We couldn't get any accommodation nearby and had to stay in Wells, Nevada. The Bonneville Salt Flats is part of the Great Salt Lake beside Salt Lake City. It was the lake that breached its banks at one end and roared down the river to Twin Falls.

There was a 5 mile sealed road out to the salt proper and at the end if this we paid our spectator fee and drove onto the salt surface. It was quite firm but we drove slowly to minimise the accumulation of salt under the car as we would have to wash it all off before returning the car, or risk a huge cleaning charge.
We headed for the start line for the Long course where the fastest vehicles start their runs. It was already getting hot and the glare off the salt was intense. The cars were pushed away as they had such high gearing they couldn't start on their own. The "pusher" car was also used to retrieve the cars after their runs.

The Bonneville Salt Flats.

Hot Rod waiting to be pushed over the start line.

The cars were a mixture of everything imaginable from Mini Minors to Gas Turbine Streamliners.

Mini from NZ expected to go over 200 mph!

There were literally dozens of classes based on chassis, engine, whether it was standard or altered, blown or naturally aspirated and type of fuel. There were speed records for all classes. The same applied to the motorcycles. Generally the speed records were in the 150-250 mph range, but some of the small motorcycle classes were less the 50 mph and the top car classes were over 400 mph. I was surprised the speeds weren't higher, but the high elevation of Bonneville  (7,500ft), makes carburetion tricky and getting enough grip on the salt is always a problem.
We found a Kiwi rider lining up on a 1000cc Kawasaki and had a good chat as the line moves very slowly. He was having wheel spin in top gear at 150mph plus and towards the end of the 5 mile track the cars were creating ruts that were difficult for the bikes. We saw him  make his run but he shut off early and went over to the shorter 3 mile track. He was aiming for 209 mph.

Rob Walker from NZ was hoping to break the record in his class.

We then drove down to the pit area half way along the long course and got to see the motorcycles and cars at close quarters. Everyone was very chatty about their machines and there was a huge variety from an immaculate double-engined Indian V twin (2,000 cc)

These guys claimed their engines were all "Indian".

to a tiny 50cc Motom 4 stroke sidecar.

This sidecar from France was hoping to break 34mph and set a new record.

We were really cooking by now and found some shade and food to cool off. We went back to the start to see a few huge growling V8-engined streamliners take off. Then we had had enough and drove back to Wells, washed the car and crashed out for a nap.

Alan crashes after a hard day "on the salt"!

We had dinner in "Chinatown" and it was pretty good. Here we found out that Wells used to be called Humboldt Wells after the natural springs in the area, first used by the wagon trains heading out west and later by the railways. In the early 20th century, a large town called grandly "Metropolis" was established nearby with large buildings , schools and houses, but it collapsed due to lack of water and only a few walls are still standing.