utah salt flats racing association interview

These famous salt flats on the outskirts of the Great Salt Lake are a racer’s dream because they’re so dry and hard packed, and also because the very salty texture means no dust, unlike other Playas around Nevada. The fastest speed recorded at Bonneville was set by American Gary Gabelich with the rocket car Blue Flame, topping out at 622 miles per hour in October of 1970.Įven though all kinds of speed records have been set on many dry lake beds-or Playas-found through Nevada’s Great Basin Desert, it’s no coincidence high-speed adrenaline junkies from all over the country and world come to Bonneville to race.

In every decade since, at least one new record was set by racers from all different countries among all different racing classes, from fastest motorcycles, to electric cars, to diesels, supercharged lakesters, modified sportsters, and beyond. Even though Pierce-Arrows and other early vehicles drove test these otherworldly, public lands salt flats and other racing events continued to happen here, the Bonneville Salt Flats didn’t gain world-renowned popularity until the 1930s when land speed racing pioneers Ab Jenkins and Sir Malcom Campbell set new land speed records of 301 miles per hour. Racing happened on the legendary Bonneville Speedway before it even became a real track, back in 1912, with the first ever land speed racing record set here just two years later in 1914.

Ready to get right into the heart of the action at a prestigious national racing event at a one-of-a-kind motorsports complex? Start your engines, and get ready to know what Salt Fever is all about at this legendary racing event on a track unlike any other. Incomparable to any other racing venue around the globe, the storied Bonneville Salt Flats is home to all kinds of speed-shattering records that are usually set at a myriad of racing events here: the Bonneville Motorcycle Speed Trials (August), World of Speed (September), the Bonneville World Finals (October) and Bonneville Speed Week (August)-the largest meet of the year, attracting hundreds of drivers in all racing classes who compete to set new land speed records in all kinds of racing categories.

Utah salt flats racing association interview