We really thought we were onto a winner this year. We had the car (and bikes) shipped out in good time. Although it was a little last minute we managed to get the engine in and running. We drove across western America in a late night dash to be at Bonneville Salt Flats in plenty of time. However…
Despite the efforts by the volunteer organisers at the SCTA, who had managed to prepare two beautiful courses a month in advance on the Wednesday and Thursday before the event, the slat flats received a dowsing of water.
The rain was nowhere near as bad as 2022 but the signs were not good. Many racers travelling within the states simply turned around and went home.
Although we expected huge numbers of entries there was surprisingly few vehicles in both Wendover town itself and indeed camped on the surrounding salt flats.
Having got this far we were commited to sticking it out and waiting to see what the organisers could come up with.
The event was originally planned to start with tech inspection on Friday followed by the drivers meeting followed by the first runs on Saturday. The salt was simply not good enough for either of these events.
In an attempt to get ahead of the game tech inspection was moved to the local airfield and participants were invited to take their vehicles down there to get the ball rolling.
Although all three of our colleagues with their motorcycles managed to get through tech inspection it was simply not practical to take the car to the airfield.
Those of you that have seen our car in the flesh have probably seen our undertray.
This is a metal construction that has to be removed before we can fit the car on the trailer. It’s also a pig to fit and really heavy. The upshot of this was to take the car off the trailer, fit the floor, hope we dont damage it on the very rough surface and then remove it so we could go back on the trailer was simply impractical.
We decided to wait until we were on the salt so we would only need to do this once.
Good news, on Tuesday we were allowed on the salt and the drivers meeting was called.
Having attended the meeting we set to fitting the flat floor and getting the car over to inspection.
Tech inspecion at speedweek is a very strict event. The inspectors, quite rightly, take their work very seriously.
It is quite literaly peoples lives they are securing.
Unsurprisingly they found a few items with the car that they would like to see improved. While this might seem frustrating after all the work we have put in, Ian was very understanding as they only had his best health in mind with the modifications they suggested.
None of the work was too hard but there was an amount of running around to get the necessary parts which took some time.
As a result Wednesday was lost getting the car ready, although we did manage to get all 3 bikes though their rookie runs succesfully.
This left us two days, in another frustrating turn of events Ian’s racing license which allowed him to exceed 150mph had run out, so he would quite literally have to start from scratch again.
The official system is
E license up to 125 mph
D license between 125 and 150 mph
C license between 150 and 175 mph
B license between 175 and 200 mph
A license speeds over 200 mph
This was a bit of a blow as the queues were taking about 4 hours and so every run would need to be for the next license. We originally intended a nice gradual improve by 10 mph each run, but from now on it was improve by 50 mph.
On Ian’s first run we managed to get a 136mph run. As it turns out Ian hit 150 mph before the first measured mile and then backed off and cruised at a leisurely 140 for the rest of the course.
Then, for the first time in the history of the project, we simply came off the course and joined the back of the queue.
Up until now it has been unheard of for us not to have to fix something after a run!
Bruce was so happy with his engine work both in building and tuning that he was almost in tears with this success. At this point we also need to include Rich Stratford, Bruce’s best buddy as a lot of the hands on work and tuning advice came from him.
Rich did join us for a few days, but unfortunately had to leave before we got the chance to prove his hard work.
Thanks Rich.
Alas by the time we got to the start again, due to the soft nature of the course and a lot of preceeding runs Ian’s next attempt was not so successful.
Very much in the feel of his runs at Pendine Sands in the UK the surface was now so bad that the car was moving around an awfult lot.
After a nearly sideways moment at around 150mph Ian pulled the chute at around 1 1/2 miles and aborted the run.
As it turns out a number of other competitors had an issue at this point, so it may not have been completely down to Ian’s driving skills. (Yes it was!)
Today, Friday, dawned dry and bright. The staging lanes opened at 7.00 am and we were about 5th in the queue to get Ian his C license.
Other than a gusty crosswind the conditions were much better. The course had been moved and the salt was dry(ish) and flat.
Ian took off in his usual exuberant style although he appeared a lot more controlled than his previous run.
Once he’d seen 169 mph on his speedo he decided to back off to avoid damaging anything and cruised to a controlled halt without any dramas.
Again, that’s now three runs where the car itself has performed perfectly!
The team really have built something to be proud of.
Upon arrival we devoted the rest of the short time that was left to getting Ian G as many runs as possible on his Triumph.
Alas. he was not so successful and both of his runs were curtailed by technical issues.
With our speedweek now concluded, we headed back to the pit area for the ubiquitous team photos and then the hard slog of clearing up.
A successful week, Ian got his C license and everyone else got to experience Bonneville speed week, all be it with a late start and a damp surface.
Well done to all the volunteers, racers and teams. This year will be remembered as the year the SCTA made something out of nothing.
