Owing to the last two years of bad weather the number of pre-entries for the event was a long way down on previous years. The land speed racing community seemed reluctant to put their money upfront in case the event was cancelled again. The result of this was only two courses, one long (five timed miles) and one short (three timed miles). This helped to keep costs down for the organisers and the logistics.
But, as the conditions were so good, it felt like almost everyone that could turn up did. I think I read that there were over 315 entrants. Obviously, this made for some great and spectacular vehicles and racing with only one small drawback. The line took over six hours to get one run.
On the first day we lined up with everyone else for the short course in the searing heat, the line moved incredibly slowly and progress was virtually nil. We kept our spirits up by chatting with the other teams and swapping around vehicles to try and find the best air conditioning.
Run 1 03/08/24 16.35
When we got within a few vehicles of the start line, we began to get Ian ready. Slipping into the fireproof suit as the temperature went over 100°F.
The start was delayed as a couple of the machines that ran just before us had troubles on the course, but once we were next in line we fired up the car. Everything sounded perfect and Ian set off with an exciting display of too much wheelspin. He hadn’t driven the car since November and the racing clutch was as bad as he remembered, just like a switch all or nothing, no slip at all.
After the first mile he settled down to the task at hand and it felt like the faster he went the more stable the car felt.
Ian was confident with the amount of slipping and sliding that was going on and kept his foot down. We managed to average 162.304 in the second mile before Ian pulled the parachute. Faster than we’d ever been before, a lot better than we’d expected for our first run.
As Ian waited for the crew to come and collect him, he tidied the parachute and took in the beautiful scenery. This far down the course, except for a few flags and support vehicles there is literally nothing. Although it was a little ‘warm’ with no shade available.
We then rushed back to the line so Ian could make sure that Ian Glover was good to go on the Triumph. The guys dropped him off and hr found the other Ian about four vehicles from the start. As the others took the car back to the pits for a check over and a download of the engine datalog.
We got the bike to the line and at an appropriate time we fired up the engine. The starter came over and checked the presence and security of the necessary safety equipment and then held us until the course was clear.
As we waited the bike suddenly died. We pushed the bike to the side to try and diagnose the issue. After a very short time it became obvious that the battery had failed. The bike has no charging system. It relies on a good healthy battery to control the ignition and injection systems. This is not a problem for the short time we are running and we had two, so we could always use a fully charged item for each run. What we hadn’t counted on was one of these batteries failing. Once again, the salt had demonstrated its harshness.
Once we had identified this and got the replacement from the pits and then fitted. Ian then rushed over to the starter, to plead for us to be the last bike to run of the day. We were given the thumbs up, but as we made the final checks the fuel pump refused to work.
At this point we drew a line on the day and returned to the pits, very deflated by the bike’s recalcitrance.
Once there, it took a matter of minutes to diagnose that during the battery swap, we had managed to blow a fuse. Once a new one was installed, we were ready to go.
The next morning, we got up really early and joined the queue as early as possible. It felt like we were a couple of cars nearer to the start at least.
Run 2, 04/08/24 14.04
After another long day hurrying up to wait, we prepared for our second run, buoyed by yesterday’s run and keen to improve on the result.
Once again, the start was delayed and Ian was sitting in the car slowly char broiling. Having said that the opportunity to sit on the start line at Bonneville is such a privilege that we were prepared to endure a bit of discomfort especially as it was Ian that was enduring.
Once he got rolling there felt like a serious lack of traction, every time he tried to accelerate the car would pull off to the left. It was not getting better with speed. This may have been the course breaking up, or maybe Ian was just having a bad run, but nothing felt like it was working properly.
Ian only managed an average speed of 159.111 mph.
Very disappointedly he waited at the end of the course, again taking in the sights and sounds.
We immediately ran round and joined the line, keen to get another run in. However, once we got there, it was obvious the line was even longer than before.
Ian Glover was in the line before us and left a couple of vehicles before. We could see what looked like a rough start, but he got off the line and disappeared over the horizon as we were making the final preparations for our run.
It wasn’t until we got back to the pits, we found out the full story of his run.
Ian’s run really could not have gone much worse. Since building the bike, there has always been a bit of confusion regarding the gear change order. This coupled with it being on the opposite side to usual and the lack of runs Ian had been able to make without pressure was a recipe for disaster.
He pulled away in obviously too high a gear, the only saving grace of this is there were no traction issues. By feathering the clutch, he managed to keep the bike going and gradually built up the power until the engine found its sweet spot and came on power.
He whizzed through the first mile over 100 mph, a huge achievement and the first time we had seen triple figures from the bike. He continued to accelerate for a short bit and then went for a higher gear. Alas, he simply went up when he should have gone down and the resultant sudden increase in engine speed caused a complete failure of the top of the engine.
We were all so upset for Ian, we have all made mistakes and usually we had gotten away with the failure by the skin of our teeth. Ian made one simple error which had ruined his entire trip in a second. He dealt with it very well, but was obviously really upset.
Overnight we had been joined in the camp by Walt. A very softly spoken friend of Crow’s that had ridden down from Arizona to spend a few days with us all at the bend. It was a three-day drive on his bike and although he was tired from the ride, he immediately fitted into the group.
For a day job Walt is a motorcycle mechanic, so Ian N asked him if he wouldn’t mind stripping Ian’s bike down to see whether there was any way we could salvage the situation. He was only too willing to help although he did admit he’d never worked on a vintage Triumph before.
The next morning, we tried to convince ourselves the line would be shorter. This was unfounded but we’d made ourselves an early enough start that we were another couple of spaces up the line.
Run 3, 05/08/24 12.04
Ian tried to clear his head as much as possible before the run. There is an awful lot to consider before each run, but also, it’s only driving a car. The pressure induced is purely self-inflicted.
After a discussion we’d decided that pulling away in second would help with traction off the line and allow a hopefully quicker rate of acceleration.
He tried exactly that and although he felt a twitch as the turbo suddenly got up to speed, the wheelspin was relatively easy to control with throttle pressure alone.
As on previous runs the first mile of the course was getting a little rutted and torn up by the previous runners and riders.
Ian used this first mile to try and get up to fourth gear. Once the car is that high the traction issues caused by excessive power are minimalised.
With this new found technique we managed to reach 173.935 mph. Frustratingly close to our 175-mph target, but an awful lot of lessons learned.
After the run we immediately went round and joined the back of the queue. Where we spent the rest of the day discussing ways of getting that elusive 1.1 mph.
We were two cars from the start line when one of the officials came down to announce that they were done for the day, but we were welcome to leave the car there for tomorrow.
Figuring that was the best we were going to get out of it, we headed back to camp.
The next morning, we knew we were on for a fairly early run, although we wouldn’t be the second vehicle to start as those that had qualified for records were given priority first thing in the morning. It was marvellous to watch the parade of vehicles slowly passing with a huge weight of expectation on each driver and team. Yet another privilege of the Bonneville experience.
Run 4, 06/08/24 08.46
Ian set off hoping to use the cooler air to give him a bit more power. This was a pointless exercise as he already had too much power and with the narrow rear tyres, getting it down to the salt was proving quite a challenge.
This run, was really not good, every time he pressed the throttle, the rear of the car would begin to drift to the left. This continued and the harder he pressed the worse it got. As speeds climbed, Ian was fighting the car simply to keep it in a straight line.
This run, measured 169.503 mph at the three-mile marker, well down on our previous run.
We had no idea whether the course had suddenly deteriorated, the change in temperature and air pressure was responsible or Ian had simply reached the limit of his driving talents.
We went round joined the line and prepared ourselves for another run
Run 5, 06/08/24 13.50
This was to be a very telling run. We had convinced ourselves it was something to do with the cooler temperature in the morning that had upset the car so much. As Ian stared down the course at the start of my run he was prepared to try and really nail this run to reach a decent speed.
Ian got off the line reasonably well, but as the speed increased the drifting to the left was becoming more and more forceful. In our land speed racing career, Ian was yet to spin the car, although we had been told this is a bit of a rite of passage for all drivers and anyone that is seriously trying will end up in an uncontrollable spin at some point. Ian was very keen to avoid this and allowing the car to drift past a certain point and then overcorrect is a surefire way of achieving a spin.
Ian was getting more comfortable with an amount of slide and was allowing the car more movement than he would have on earlier runs, but this was starting to worry him. Every time he applied pressure to the throttle the drift to the left was becoming more and more worrying.
Ian was actually relieved when he got to the end of the course and was able to use the parachute.
Ian said he felt the parachute inflate and as usual took his foot right off the throttle. At this point all hell broke loose and the back of the car started waving around like a puppy’s tail. Ian managed to hang on and as the speeds rapidly decreased it became more controllable. This was the first time he said he had been genuinely scared during a run.
Ian only managed 166.925 mph and that was at the two and a quarter. He actually slowed by the time he pulled the parachute at the three-mile marker.
As the crew came to collect him, Ian demanded that we went back to the pits to investigate. We were expecting to find a broken chassis member or part of the rear suspension broken or loose.
Once we had returned to out pit area, we jacked up the car and removed the rear two sections of our aerodynamic floor so we could inspect all of the components. To our huge surprise nothing was damaged in any way, the entire system was as solid as it had always been.
We all looked everywhere in an attempt to find anything wrong. But there was literally nothing wrong. After that last run, Ian was not going to run the car again until we had found something. The next suggestion was to start the engine, put the car in gear and see whether that led us anywhere.
We carried this out and in fifth and sixth gear there was an awful rattling noise coming from the rear differential. The differential is vital for cornering and when Ian bought the unit, he was still racing the car and track performance was the overriding factor in my choice. As such he ordered a high-performance limited slip differential. A must for a high-power, high-speed cornering car.
Luckily, we had a Rich Stratford on our team! Rich is a full-time master mechanic and immediately got under the car to begin getting the unit removed. We had the wheels and drive shafts out in no time and then removed the differential unit assembly.
Once it was out, we began to strip it down and see whether we could see what was causing the problem. Once again there was no obviously broken components. During the post mortem it became obvious that whilst we had been using the correct oil in the differential, we had been missing a vital oil additive. This was probably responsible for the unit wearing out prematurely.
The next step was to try and locate the parts we needed to fix it. In land speed racing and in other none tight corner racing there is a thing called a spool or a locked differential. This fundamentally locks both sides of the rear axle together and means that all of the power from the engine goes directly to both wheels.
After a bit of internet surfing, we had the choice of buying a new unit from a supplier in Reno (about 7 hours each way) or a used unit in Salt Lake City (4 hours each way). Andy and Ian decided to drive to Salt Lake City, first thing next morning.
They drove to meet David Cramer in an attempt to meet up with him before he had to start work at 9.00 am. Not only had he agreed to sell us a barely used unit for a very reasonable price but he had also worked out we would need some special tools to remove the old bearings and fit them to the replacement. He offered to sort this out for us. To make matters a little more difficult Andy and Ian couldn’t find his address on Google and ended up in completely the wrong end of town. They turned up late, but bless him in a show of true hospitality he waited at home until they could get things sorted.
After a bit of messing around they soon found themselves eating a drive through breakfast whilst on the highway back to Wendover. They made it back, just after lunchtime and quickly got the new parts fitted, mainly again thanks to Rich Stratford’s just get on with it work ethic. By the end of the day, we had the car back in one piece, with the new differential and the floor refitted.
We all slept soundly that night, the early morning and stressful rushing around to get everything done was incredibly tiring.
Whilst all of this was going on, early on in the week Bruce had been complaining of discomfort in his lower stomach. After a few phone calls to his doctor’s surgery, it transpired that he had managed to give himself a serious hernia whilst trying to fix his motorhome in the days leading up to Speedweek. The only advice they could give him was to rest up and do nothing. This is hard enough for anyone at Bonneville but for Bruce was virtually impossible. He simply cannot sit back and watch, he has to be at the forefront of the action and helping where possible.
The next morning, we rose early once again and joined the gradually shortening line for the start of course 2. The line felt like it was moving along nice and quickly so our six-hour wait was now down to a much more acceptable two-hour delay.
Run 6, 08/08/24 11.04
This was going to be a voyage into the unknown, not for the first time Ian left the line without full confidence in how the car was going to either run or handle. Bear in mind last time he drove on the salt he very nearly lost control of the car.
The start was dreadful as Ian nearly stalled trying to get off the line in second gear. Fortunately, we have so much torque in the engine that the motor just pulled on through and he found himself getting up to speed nice and quickly. The speed was rapidly increasing and whilst it would be an exaggeration to say the handling was perfect, it was a massive improvement on the previous run.
As a shakedown run, this was perfect. We were now back to exactly where we were a few runs ago. This run gave us huge confidence, this proved that Ian had been driving round a faulty component, that meant in reality that the two rear wheels weren’t turning at the same speed as each other. No wonder it didn’t want to drive in a straight line!
Ian got up to a very respectable speed and even took the opportunity to try and press the engine to go faster than it had before. Alas he hit the rev limiter in fifth gear and by the time he was in sixth the car seemed to be struggling to accelerate quickly in the space left of the run.
The top speed on this run was 173.618 mph. Frustratingly close to our 175mph target but still no cigar!
As we left the course at the end of the run, we were now confident we had cured the handling issues and all we needed to do was increase the rev limiter to push past this 175mph barrier.
Once again, we joined the line and awaited our next opportunity.
As we lined up, we got the laptop plugged into the car and raised the rev limiter from 5500 rpm to 6500 rpm. We also took the opportunity to give the turbo a little more boost. As it was already Thursday afternoon, the time for caution had passed.
Run 7, 08/08/24 16.10
As was now becoming normal, there was a short delay at the start line due to an incident on the course. The heat was not letting up and the fireproof suit had not lost any of its thermal retaining qualities!
Ian made a much more respectable start this time and the car was pulling fantastically. As he was approaching the two-mile line, Ian had the impression of something ‘snapping’ in the car. The chassis still felt great, but the engine felt like it was holding back for some reason.
Ian carried on with the run in the hope that it was an anomaly and would sort itself out, but this was not the case.
He still managed 172.219 mph, but he was convinced something was not right in the car.
As we headed back to the pit area wondering whether our luck would change before we ran out of time, we immediately plugged in the laptop to see if we could locate the cause of the issue. It was readily apparent that the voltage had dropped across the system.
A significant issue with all electronic engine management systems, is that they require a good and reliable voltage from either the battery or the alternator. Without this, all of the sensors involved will create spurious results. The alternator had failed, almost definitely a result of excessive heat in the engine bay, remember there is no cooling air flowing through the engine bay. This was the root of all evil and hopefully an easy fix.
After removing the errant unit, a couple of the team rushed off to the local motor factor to obtain a replacement. They soon came back, with something a bit like ours. We were never going to be lucky enough to find a direct replacement, but we could make this fit with a small amount of cutting and shutting. All part of the joy of working on the salt.
Once fitted it was then obvious the fan belt was too short for the replacement alternator. The only solution was to try and measure the length required and a quick return trip to the parts store. This time we had three belts, our measured length, one shorter and one longer. Everything we needed for a successful fix.
By the time we’d managed to get everything adapted, fitted and tight we were too late to get another run in that day.
During the discussions as to how we could get past the invisible barrier we seemed to have found we discussed the possibility of the floor actually touching the floor at speed. After every run the front right-hand side of the bonnet had quite a lot of salt pick up on it. We assumed at first this was from the softer patches in the run off area. Whilst examining one of the in-car videos we noticed what looked like a white cloud coming from that corner once we went over 165 mph.
The floor had no adjustment as such to try and get it higher at the front, whilst there were a few things we could look at once we got home, time was running too short for this event. After a bit of thought we decided to see how the car felt with the floor completely off. Andy and Ian shooed the remaining team members that were around away and got on with the task. Removal is a lot easier than fitting and although we were both tired, we had the floor off and baking on the salt in no time.
After an easy night, the late nights and early mornings were starting to catch up on us, we decided to get another final early start and see how many runs we could get in. The last day of the event is always a shortened affair and although the usual start time of 7.30am is observed all non-record runs have to be completed by 11.00am. The big bonus however is there are usually very few runners on the last day so we should be able to get a few runs in. The only negative of this last-minute rush is by this late stage of the event, the course is starting to get a bit worn out.
Run 8, 08/09/24 08.31
We pulled up at the start line only to find we were second in the queue and had to get ready for our first run as quickly as we could. No waiting at all!
Once we were all saddled up and ready to go the starter waved us forward.
Ian’s first reaction as he left the line was it felt like we had unhitched a trailer from it. The whole thing felt looser and lighter. This was unsurprising as we had just removed quite a few kilos of steel from under the car.
The plan was to see how the car felt without the benefit of the aero on this first run. Ian took it fairly easy and only ran to the third mile before pulling the parachute. The car was moving around more than before but it felt easier to control and at no point was he concerned that he might lose it.
We managed 174.783mph and was convinced there was a lot more, if Ian could get off the line a bit better and if he took the car down to the 4-mile marker.
Once he reached the end of the run, just past the 6-mile flag, Ian had a brief chat with the marshal down there, who seemed grateful for the company. Having never seen it before he was also keen to know about the car and some of its history.
As the chase car came and picked him up, we rushed back to the line for another run. Once again when we got to the start, we had very little time and we were off once again.
Run 9, 09/08/24 09.17
The start was dreadful, Ian pulled away in second as the lack of weight meant he was likely to have traction issues. Once we were rolling, he kept his foot in until he hit the rev limit in second, he then followed this up with the same in third and fourth. By the time Ian was in fifth he was nearing the second-mile flags. Once again, Ian pressed harder on the loud pedal and was approaching the rev limit by about two and a half, he went up to sixth.
This run was feeling great, the car was still moving around but felt controllable as it moved around the course. Ian flew through the three-mile flags and kept going to the four-mile markers. Once in sixth the car was accelerating slowly, but it was still accelerating through this extra mile.
The course itself at this point was starting to feel a little rougher so he couldn’t press as hard as he might have liked, nevertheless we were travelling faster than ever before.
We averaged 184.065 mph in the fourth mile and crucially was measured at 175.207 mph at the two and a quarter. This final figure meant we were now fully qualified for the long course and Ian had achieved his new B license. Next stop 200+
With time pressing on Ian eagerly waited for the tow back. Buoyed by this run and now with the right to use the full five miles he was keen to see whether he could go even quicker.
Run 10, 09/08/24 10.06
We rushed back to the start, keen to try and get one more, if not two more runs. After a very hurried preparation we were back on the start line. The car was getting worryingly hot and the poor charging system meant that the car was reluctant to start because of a low battery.
Once we were all fired up, Ian was given the signal to go. This start was a lot better and he managed to build up some decent speed in the first two miles.
At this point the surface was really starting to break up and the car was moving around a lot more than the previous run. As he went through the fourth mile and entered the fifth, Ian was lacking the confidence to really get on the throttle hard.
The result was a lacklustre top speed, still hitting a top speed of 177.739 mph but not the improvement we were hoping for.
Disappointed with himself and thinking of things he could do differently on his final run Ian chatted with Ian G, who had been kind enough to go down to the five-mile line in search of the elusive inflated parachute photographs that look so good.
As they chatted, our support truck came flying down the return road. With an impressive drift around the car, they rushed out to get the car hitched up. Time was ticking away and we had to really rush to get one last run in before the 11.00 deadline.
Alas, the driver of the support truck had been a little too enthusiastic on his way down through the pits. He broke the cardinal rule about speeding in the pit lane and near pedestrians. To make matters worse he was seen by the officials, one of which rushed down to tell us that we would not be allowed to make another run.
The only thing left was to break camp, load up the car and motorcycles, then make a run for home.
