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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



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?



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 FEDīs running at Bonneville?



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



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?




Yes, that would be Smokin Roy!!