Speed runs have taken place on the salt flats since 1914. miles) of the many salt flats located west of the Great Salt Lake. The area is a remnant of the Pleistocene Lake Bonneville and is the largest (46 sq. Literally and visually it’s a phenomenon. Many variables, many unknowns, yet people spend all year (years) to build/prepare a vehicle to run on the salt, and often the event will either get canceled prior to the scheduled dates/or even while on site. It takes place on public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), so authorization has to come from the BLM to schedule the race meets. It varies based on the weather over the last season, the current weather conditions, and the constant deterioration of the salt. And the unknown surface – well that means every time there’s a meet on the salt, no one knows what condition the salt surface will be in until the day(s) of the meet. There’s a huge diversity in the types of vehicles that show up to run on the salt: production cars, custom built race cars, modified street machines, motorcycles, trucks, 2 wheels/3 wheels/4 wheels, wings, no wings, hot rods, just about anything and everything the mechanical mind can imagine. Everything is thoroughly checked (even the all the drivers gear – including underwear – to the highest degree of FIA safety specs). The only area where there’s no compromise is in safety – because the tech inspectors take no prisoners when it comes to safety inspection. It combines creativity, design, and the engineering ingenuity to “build something to a diverse set of rules that will go fast on an unknown surface”. I think it’s the Ultimate Mechanical Challenge. Let me start with “What is Bonneville Salt Flat Racing” After wanting to run on the salt for many decades, it finally happened, and I’m starting to understand it. What is Bonneville Salt Flat Racing? Why is there such a mystique about it? And why does just about every racer want to go there? I was fortunate to finally get the opportunity to run on the salt at the Utah Salt Flats Racing Association (USFRA) 31 st Annual World of Speed event. BONNEVILLE SALT FLATS | USFRA WORLD OF SPEED | SEPTEMBER 14-18, 2017
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