This year’s speedweek was a vast improvement over the last few years. The weather was nothing short of perfect and the conditions could not have been more suitable given the current state of the salt flats.
If we were to be a bit picky the only thing that could have made the event a bit easier would have been if the waiting times for each run were a little shorter. But, this was a small price to pay for the opportunities presented.
The other vehicles we saw lined up to race were as wide and varied as previous years.
We will start with the only massive negative from this years event.
As our regular readers will know we have also built a fuel injected Triumph 650cc motorcycle. This bike was being ridden by Ian Glover, but as always we were all suffering with a lack of practice and familiarity with our machines. In fact if the truth be known Ian had not ridden this bike anywhere except under the high stress situation of a race start.
At our first attempt to start, all things were looking good as we warmed the engine when we suddenly lost all power. As it transpires, one of our batteries had failed prematurely. As the bike runs a total loss electrical system, this meant no engine.
Once we had diagnosed the fault and fetched our replacement battery we then hurried to the start line to try and get a run in. Alas, we had no fuel pump at this point, so rather dejectedly we headed back to the pits. Where we found a blown fuse, replaced it and we were ready to go once again.
The next day after lining up for some time Ian once again found himself back at the line and ready to go.
Ian (G) pulled away rather unsteadily in quite obviously a fairly high gear but nevertheless as the engine made it into it’s powerband he was up and running well. He passed the first mile marker at over 101 mph, a massive improvement on all previous runs.
At this point things started to go sour as a fumbled gear change caused the engine to over rev massively.
After pushing the bike off the course we took it back to the pits to diagnose what exactly had failed and how we could fix it.
The damage was extensive unfortunately and meant that Ian’s event was over.
On a more positive note, we were joined this year by Richard Kelly and his son James. Richard had come out to Bonneville in 2023 and got chatting with a couple of racers. Upon his return he scoured the record books for a record that was within his grasp.
As it turns out the record for a 175 partially streamlined motorcycle both in the fuel and gas classes was very much within his grasp. All he needed to do was to acquire a suitable bike and get it out to Utah.
He had met Ian N at work and was keen to join our little band, in case he needed any assistance with anything during the week.
On his first rookie run he broke the record by nearly 20 mph. A huge achievement for anyone, let alone on his first run. Once a record run has been made the bike had to be taken to impound where he was allowed a small amopunt of time to prepare it for the next run. These are traditionally carried out early the next morning.
His back up run, didn’t go quite so well as something worked loose in the fuel system, but the average of the two runs was still good enough for him to get into the record book. With a record of 53.475 mph.
Although he had set a record, he was unhappy with his return run and decided to give it another go, before adapting the bike to change classes.
His next two runs allowed him to increase the record all the the way to 60.820 mph.
Having now set a record and got the hang of riding on the salt he changed classes from the gas class (normal pump petrol) to a fuel class, where he added a bit of something faster to the petrol tank.
His next two runs earned him a record at 63.900 mph.
A very impressive first visit to the salt.
The car itself managed ten runs throughout speedweek. We had set ourselves two targets to be carried out as early as possible in the week if possible. First was to get a speed over 175 mph which was the next license up for Ian and then to reach 175 by the 2 1/4 mile mark which would allow us to use the long course.
Ian had decided that the pressure of having to increase speed each run by 25 mph as last year was unsustainable and was thinking of an ‘easy’ first run to free everything up and then consider the targets.
The first run saw a speed of 162.304 mph. The easy run Ian wanted and a decent improvement over last year.
The next few runs over the next couple of days saw gradual improvement, but not to the higher speeds we were looking for.
Ian was complaining of a loose feeling from the back of the car. Over the next few runs this felt like it was getting worse until on one run, when he let off the throttle at the end of the run, the car lurched violently to one side.The car had always been stable using the parachute and this was a very worrying development.
After this run, we headed back to the pits with Ian convinced something had broken in the rear suspension. Once there, we jacked the car up and removed a section of the floor so we could see what was going on.
Much to everyone’s surprise everything looked perfectly strong and intact. We decided to start the car up and run it in gear to see if we could hear any issues. When we did this it was obvious something was very wrong in the rear differential.
The differential is a complicated system of gears which allow the rear wheels to rotate at slightly different speeds to make cornering easier. When the differential was first specified and fitted Ian was using the car for track racing so a limited slip differential was fitted. This is crucial for track racing but less suitable for straight line speed running.
Despite not finding anything completely wrecked inside the rear axle we made the decision to fit a spool or locked differential. This removes all of the complicated bits and provides direct drive from the gearbox to both rear wheels with literally nothing in the way between.
After a quick trip to Salt Lake City to collect the item from a very nice gentleman who had advertised exactly what we needed on a popular auction site we got the rear axle back together and even managed to get another run in.
The next couple of runs went well, until we tried to view the datalogs from the cars computer. The information was becoming more and more garbled and incomplete. That was until we noticed the battery voltage readout. The alternator had failed.
This time a trip into town saw us making an incorrect alternator fit back in the hole. Not easy and once we were back up and running, not even very good, but working better than the faulty unit. Once again we were back on track.
We were really struggling to get the car over 175 mph. We got really close including one run 173.935 mph but it just wouldn’t quite get across the line.
After studying some of the in car footage, we noticed that over 170 mph the car was creating so much down force that the front of the car was dragging on the floor.
The last day of the event was looming and so the decision was made to remove the underfloor completely. This resolved the floor dragging issue, but the missing ballast meant that the rear end of the car was a lot lighter than on previous runs.
After a quick sighting run we went round and set off for an attempt at getting our targets realised.
Ian set off brimming with confidence. As there were very few competitiors at this late stage of the event, we did not have to queue for long and we were now running on course one, the long course.
We hit just over 175 at the two and a quarter mile mark and carried on to a top speed of 184.065 mph as an average for the fourth mile. This was by far and away our best top speed and was a huge leap forward over our previous bests.
We managed one more run after this but our top speed did not improve as by now the course was getting very ripped up.
The only other thing was to load up and prepare ourselves for the journey home.
We got the car back on the trailer and loaded the rest of the tools and equipment, plus the two motorcycles Ian G’s poorly Triumph and Richard’s MV Agusta in the back of the pick up.
We left the salt for the final time of the year and went back to the motorhome at the bend in the road. Once we had tidied that area up we found ourselves on the road heading back to California.
After a brief stop overnight in Ely we rose early and were making really good time to the coast until a wheel bearing failed dramatically just outside Las Vegas.
After a few panicked phone calls, trying to work out a solution to getting both the car and the trailer back to California, Ian G made an inspired suggestion and we called Alan from the bend in the road gang.
He was working on his late mothers house in south Las Vegas and offered to store the combo until we could get back and repair the trailer, to get the car back to the workshop in Pinion Hills.
What a star!
The only other thing left for us to do is to wish the best of luck and a tail wind to all the competitors at the Bonneville Motorcycle Speed Trials which starts on Saturday the 17th.
Especially our good friend Daniele Restelli who has made the trip all the way from Italy to campaign his Gilera.
Buona fortuna amico
