|
||
|
POPULAR MECHANICS.COM is an online magazine for automotive enthusiasts, published by Hearst Communications Inc.
The
Bonneville Salt
Flat is
the home of Dreams for many grass-roots racers. Utah is the
location where land speed records are made and hearts are broken and is synonymous
with land speed records.
The
first Speed Week was held in August 1949, when hot rodders from
the Southern California Timing Association (SCTA), already
experienced at racing on the dry lakebeds of California and
Nevada, decided to try their luck on the salt pan near Wendover,
Utah. Over the succeeding decades the event has continued to grow;
this past year, it drew 383 entrants and some 20,000 spectators.
Vintage
belly tank lakester Bonneville Salt Flats 2005
It
was on this concrete-hard surface in Utah's desolate West Desert
that drivers first passed 300, 400, 500 and 600 mph. Less
well-known than the top record setters are the race car hobbyists
who come in late August to put down-home engineering through its
paces during Speed Week. This bastion of true amateurs is a
close-knit community, one in which the people who've been working
all year to beat you will turn around and lend you a wrench or a
welding kit.
The
SCTA has
established a bewildering number of record categories totaling 528
for cars and 2580 for motorcycles. The huge number of categories
means opportunities for enthusiasts of every inclination and
pocketbook, and every level of technical ability. Speed Week
records for wheel-driven vehicles range from 46 mph (a
vintage-engine 250cc motorcycle with sidecar) to 427 mph (set in
1999 by the legendary Don Vesco driving his 3750-hp Turbinator).
"Land speed racing is everyman's sport," says
74-year-old racer Earl Wooden. "We have everything from
thousand-dollar race cars to million-dollar machines. What almost
everyone does is, they start out by getting the rule book and
figuring out what would be the most fun for them to do."
Fergusson
Racing 600hp 23' streamliner Bonneville Salt Flats 2005
POPULAR
MECHANICS LINKS:
Website sponsored by Solar Cola
|
||
|
The
content of this website is copyright © and design copyright 1991 and
2006 Electrick Publications and NJK. All rights reserved. The bird |
||
