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I知 driving my R8C ZR1 back from BG and being in a he area, I知 thinking of trying a speed run at Bonneville Salt Flats. It would be right after attending the ZR1 Ron Fellows Performance Driving School st Spring Hill.
First of all the speed week event or events are only every so often, so you would have to plan on that. Then the safety/tech requirements are intense. You would not be able to run fast without a lot of safety equipment installed in the car, probably more than you would want to do to a brand new zr1. The salt also gets everywhere, so that sucks. It really isn't a place or event to run a new car, but specific land speed cars built just to run on the salt.
I read a magazine article about a guy who ran a Porsche 911 Turbo there. He had no prior experience on the Salt Flats. He made it sound like he felt like he was on the verge of crashing most of the time with very poor directional stability.
Stopped at the BSF on our 2013 bucket list trip of the U.S. This was in May, normally nothing going on that time of year. Place was clean as a pin, and nothing there. Rolled out onto the salt for a bit thinking, "should I open it up?" Nah, wouldn't be a good idea, besides no cell coverage and this one little sign that peaked my interest "Beware Of Sinkholes!"............let's go to Reno hon........
First of all the speed week event or events are only every so often, so you would have to plan on that. Then the safety/tech requirements are intense. You would not be able to run fast without a lot of safety equipment installed in the car, probably more than you would want to do to a brand new zr1. The salt also gets everywhere, so that sucks. It really isn't a place or event to run a new car, but specific land speed cars built just to run on the salt.
Exactly. Having been on the pit crew of a Bonneville car, I can tell you that is a bad idea. In addition to the above, the salt surface can be uneven, soft and dangerous. The races/time trials are done on sections that are found to be smooth and hard.
You'll end up hating yourself when you find salt in weird places of the car for months to come. That stuff is like sand and it'll find its way everywhere, let alone what your rear fenders and rocker panels will look like after being salt blasted.
Spent a lot of time on the Salt and mud Flats. Places civilians not allowed to also. I would go out on the track after the races and open it up then. There is usually two tracks. Short and a long one. Long one goes south west to north east sometimes directly towards "Floating Island"' You do have to drive out on the salt to get to them a ways. Even the paved road that goes directly onto the Salt is a good one. You can go up there all the way to the end, the parking lot. Make sure no one is up there and turn around and then go back to the turn at Leppy Pass RD and then head back to the end of the road wide open. You'll see what I mean. If on the weekend, there WILL be people out there. Do NOT go out on the salt next to the highway, you probably will get stuck and you more than likely will see idiots out there stuck. They actually use a snow cat to pull people out. The tow service is out of Wendover.
If you're a shooter, when you drive west on the pavement back from the parking lot at the Salt Flats and headed west, you'll see a hill with piles of dirt on it. That's where we shoot at. Pistol, shotgun or rifle. It's wide open, so nothing to worry about. My favorite Taco Truck is in Wendover, a block east of Smith's grocery on the south side, you'll see it. GREAT tacos. The casinos there are nothing to get excited over. Food in them is OK.
Careful if you spend much time out on the salt, you will get burnt bad under you chin and ears. The reflection. Yes, you NEED sunglasses.
The Salt Flats are great for photo shoots not for running your brand new car on. Also with it being a very wet year this year in Utah you might not be able to go on the salt. If you really want to go I would try later in the summer once everything has dried up.
05-11-2019, 02:28 AM
Running at Bonneville Salt Flats?
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