Any Bonneville drivers here?

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Yes, in a Superbird from the early '80's. I still have the car.

Racing at Bonneville is safer today, and a whole lot more expensive to participate in. It's about the most fun thing you can do with your clothes on.

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anyone ever take their drag car? remove scoop? brace windsheild?, belly pan?, different tires? MORE gear.

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NOPE...BUT I did build and wheel this brand X car for a customer of mine to 168.44 MPH....



Also avg 134.33 MPH for the Silver State Classic...but I was CO-Pilot then....

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Just a note here from a 24-year Bonneville veteran, (and that makes me a rookie on the salt):

DO NOT PLAN TO COMPETE AT SPEEDWEEK IN THE 130 MPH CLASS OR 150 MPH CLASS.

These categories are available only at the United Salt Flats Racers Association (USFRA) event, a much smaller program than the SCTA/BNI Speedweek event.

They are two completely different entities.

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I've worked on a couple of cars that ran there.. Keep in mind it is Salt.. If you don't want your car to rust expect to take it apart within a couple weeks after running it cause the salt will get everywhere...

You might consider running El Mirage or Muroc not as legendary as Bonniville but plenty of history just the same... They go really fast as well & it's sand...

Other than that Have A Blast!!!

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Just a note here from a 24-year Bonneville veteran, (and that makes me a rookie on the salt):

DO NOT PLAN TO COMPETE AT SPEEDWEEK IN THE 130 MPH CLASS OR 150 MPH CLASS.

These categories are available only at the United Salt Flats Racers Association (USFRA) event, a much smaller program than the SCTA/BNI Speedweek event.

They are two completely different entities.

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BNI is (technically) separate from both the SCTA and the USFRA. BNI, (Bonneville Nationals, Inc.), is comprised of SCTA regulars but concerns itself with the running of Speedweek only. The SCTA, (Southern California Timing Association), conducts and promotes two events at Bonneville; Speedweek, is seven days long and held in August while the World Finals is four-day meet held in October.

The World Finals is a much, much smaller event than Speedweek. As an example, the 2009 Speedweek event included 3,108 runs versus 517 at the World Finals.

The SCTA also conducts six events annually from May through November at El Mirage Dry lake in California.

The USFRA, (United Salt Flats Racers Association), offers one three-day event, its World of Speed, in September. The event is conducted under SCTA class rules but also offers the 130 MPH and 150 MPH classes and a variety of entertaining special categories. The World of Speed is roughly equivalent in size to the SCTA World Finals.

Motorcyclists also have the four-day BUB Speed Trials in September while the invitation-only Land Speed Shootout for FIA/FIM records is held over a five-day period between the BUB event and the USFRA meet.


If you're serious about competing on the salt, (and most people aren't, choosing instead to wait until they're dead to make plans to go), familiarize yourself with all the above associations and their events:

SCTA/BNI: http://www.scta-bni.org/

USFRA: http://www.saltflats.com/

BUB: http://www.speedtrialsbybub.com/

Then, join the forums at LandRacing.com to ask questions and learn:
http://www.landracing.com/

Be prepared. The folks at LandRacing.com do not suffer fools lightly. They will, however, offer any and all assistance to those who genuinely want to become involved.

GENERAL WARNING: If you're really going to pursue land speed racing, be prepared to fail miserably for years before becoming competitive. LSR competition is unlike any other form of motorsports and most knowledge and technique from other disciplines...especially drag racing...are not applicable to racing on the salt.

One of the great joys of veteran LSR competitors is to watch the disastrous results of drag racers who attend Bonneville armed with only the attitude of "How hard can it be?".

Dart4forte, there is no such category of "Prepared Truck". Most likely, he's competing in the unprepared classes known as Production Truck.


I'll be happy to answer general questions about Bonneville but LandRacing.com is the best source of hardcore technical information.

Bottom Line: If you're serious, go to one of the events as a spectator for at least one year, (you'll be much better prepared by going for two or three), and spend the time watching and asking questions. Plenty of teams enjoy having "new blood" spend the week with them learning the basics.

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Any FED´s running at Bonneville?

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Bret do you recognize this car at all?

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The local here ran E/PP (production P/U) year before last

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That would be the old "Ballpoint Banana" streamliner from up around Albany, NY. If I remember, it used a four-cylinder MerCruiser (or maybe even Evinrude) outboard motor. I know it was under 30 cubic inches, either way. The car ran from the mid-'60s through the mid-'80s.

You have to be pretty old to remember the joke behind the name, too.

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There ya go Dave, it's a start.

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what are your plans for it? you going to try your hand at lsr?

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The car would never pass tech at the salt now and would require to many updates to do so.

I have mix-feelings as to leave the car just the way it is, or to restore it back to the way it was when it was fresh built. Everyone said the sound of this motor was unique and cant compare to anything else.

I am thinking of putting it into a rat rod type show here in Cleveland this coming spring just to expose it some.

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I'm not gonna write a book on this but here are a few replies, in order:

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Is this difficulty something that can be quantified? I know it's hard...but hard in what way. What are the issues, and what are the common mistakes?
Tony

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QBird, the most common mistake by newcomers to Bonneville is arriving with the belief that any prior motorsports experience can be applied to racing on the salt.

There are plenty of folks here on MoParts who can offer their knowledge from experience, (and Metal Storm offered some important observations), but here are a few to consider.

1. The Bonneville Salt Flats are at 4200 feet above sea level. Since temperatures above 130 degrees aren't uncommon, corrected elevation is often near or above 10,000 feet. Since the course is five miles long and one cloud can change the elevation 2,000 feet, the air quality can fluctuate drastically during a run.

2. The racing surface also changes drastically. Since the salt can hold water and the ocean bed still responds to the pull of the tides, the surface can range from one similar to a brushed concrete floor with a slight coating of loose kitty litter to the equivalent of driving through two inches of heavy, slushy snow. It's not rare to deal with both types of surfaces at different points on the course during one run. That's why Metal Storm made the very valid point that asphalt records, (Shane Stubbs' bike record at 265.181 mph at Loring, ME), and salt records, (John Noonan's mentioned bike record at 243.960 mph), are almost impossible to compare. Asphalt racers seldom have to worry encountering a total loss of traction at full speed halfway through the course.

3. At Bonneville, weight is free downforce. As Metal Storm mentioned, most cars add weight. He didn't mention, however, that many cars add a TON of weight...literally. From the streamliners to stock-bodied doorslammers, many vehicles are loaded with huge amounts of ballast; vehicle weights of 5,000 to 7,000 pounds are not unusual. Wings and/or spoilers, (where permitted), are added to increase downforce at specific points on the car. Because weight is a benefit at Bonneville, chassis construction is a totally different ballgame and the massive, bulky chassis reflect completely different design theory than in any other motorsport.

4. The simple fact any powerplant must run at full throttle for up to two minutes in the conditions described above is, in itself, daunting and can't be compared to road racing, oval racing or drag racing. Now, think of how muh fun it would be to tune a car in those conditions and for that distance using nitrous oxide and/or nitromethane.

Here's an interesting analogy I posed to a new spectator last August. Currently, there's a whale of a battle between several teams to be the first stock-bodied roadster over 300 mph. I was asked by a drag racing fan why it should be so difficult since most of the teams were using supercharged, nitro-burning engines. My reply was this:

"If you had to push a 5,000-pound roadster with 4,000 horsepower for five miles at full throttle with no wings or spoilers but with a minimum of 530 square inches of totally vertical frontal area, a 100-inch wheelbase and fifteen inches of ground clearance on six-inch-wide tires filled to 120 pounds of air pressure which ride on only four inches of contact patch on a surface which changes from a slippery concrete floor to a muddy cow path in 10,000 feet corrected elevation, how easy do YOU think it would be to run 300 miles per hour?"

I never got an answer.

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Hey Bret, checking out your site, why no LSR pics?

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Dart4forte, I've never taken a camera to Bonneville. That's not why I'm there. I do have the honor of sharing our camp with one of the greatest photographers in salt racing history, (Glenn Freudenberger), who is two years away from his fiftieth SpeedWeek.

By the way, you never answered my previous question. Is your E/Production Pickup buddy Roy Scroggins?

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Can you name some of those reasons there are no FED´s running at Bonneville?

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Nutcracker, the entire FED chassis concept is basically invalid at Bonneville. The light weight, the massive weight transfer, the total lack of aerodynamics are just completely wrong for the task at hand.

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Bret - Haven't heard the story on how the car got its name

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Dave, I'm not sure you're old enough to "get it".
In the '60s, there was a huge fad of really silly jokes, including this one:

Q: "What's yellow and writes?"
A: "A ballpoint banana."

You just....uhhh....had to be there, I guess.




Hope this stuff helps but if John Rains can run 303 MPH with a single-turbocharged V6 in an unmodified Firebird that still has power windows, how hard can it BE?

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There's a neat article in the latest Hemmings Muscle Machine Magazine on Andy Granatelli and the Studebaker history at Bonneville. Leaned some things I didn't know about the Paxton Super Charger history.

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The Rodders Journal usually has some good articles on Bonneville from the good old days!

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