15th August 2016 - Bonneville Salt Flats UT - Kms to date 12,443

Kms today 232

We had brekkie in the Casino - much cheaper than Bella's.  The crowd at Bonneville was much smaller than on  Sunday - mainly the competitors.  We decided to go to the pits first and walk right through it.  We found many more motorcycles hidden away among the cars.  First we met the owner of the mighty Motom sidecar, just as he was getting his record certificate.  He had done his second run this morning early and had set a new record for his class of 38.3775 mph! 

Phillipe gets his Record Certificate for the Motom.

He was preparing the bike for the solo record run.  There were a group of French racers at the meet and they had brought a 1956 Renault gas turbine car that set a record then of 246 mph.

1956 Renault Gas Turbine record Breaker.

We met a Swedish guy with an ESO based machine.  ESO motors are usually used on speedway bikes and he was impressed I knew what model it was.  He said only Australians or New Zealanders had ever heard of it!

Colin gets a Prize for spotting the ESO.



Then we saw the Honda pit - it cost more for the pit than most other competitors cars!  There was a huge posse of young eager engineers working with computers and other high-tech stuff.  The engine was based on a 600cc car engine and had been tuned to give over 250kw - more than 4 times its original output.  So far things had not gone too well and the gearbox had crunched itself this morning well shy of the speed they were aiming for.  We spoke to their truck driver a chap from Dublin who had driven trucks for Formula 1 teams for years. 

Honda go overboard with its streamliner.

One old hand later told us the Honda guys had to "lighten up" a bit and enjoy themselves.  Getting highly tuned engines to work at Bonneville is a Black Art.  The problem is the thin air because of the altitude and the variations over the day.  Engine blow ups are common and speeds are less than you would expect at sea-level.  Also getting traction on the salt was a problem.
We had some lunch and headed back to the start line to see some of the racers in anger.  There was a glut of streamliners and "lakesters" (a special sort of car driven in a prone position) but  one motorcycle was there that we had spotted the day before.  It was a gleaming streamlined turbocharged Harley and ridden by a chap even older than us.  It was baking hot by this time and he climbed out of the truck at the last minute in full leathers. 

Harley Turbo-ed Streamliner but the car behind was about to go POP!!.

There was a Streamliner ready to go but then there was a loud bang from its engine,  so the bike went first and it didn't getting going properly for at least a mile when it suddenly came on song.  The poor rider must have been cooked.  We then found out that the Streamliner had blown a piston out the side of its motor and smashed a windscreen in the car park narrowly missing spectators.  All part of the action!

Bits of the Car engine.

Broken windscreen.

We headed home and washed the car as thoroughly as we could to get rid of all traces of salt.  Car rental companies don't take kindly to salt under their cars!  Up early tomorrow for the blast back to Sacramento.