|
|
|
|
Bonneville
2006, SCTA/Nugget Nights/World of Speed...
|
|
|
SCTA
Speedweek text and photo's can be found here...
|
|
|
|
|
2006
Nugget Nights picture's and commentary can be found here....
|
|
|
|
|
Bonneville
Speedweek previews, salt condition, pictures and commentary can
be found here...
|
|
|
|
|
The
brief, rain-shortened USFRA World of Speed coverage from
Bonneville is posted here...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Note, all Bonneville photos and coverage
will be a work in progress until 8-30-05, and are shown in a latest post
first format.
|
|
|
|
SCTA Photo
|
|
The above picture is of a Gas Modified
Roadster (/GMR) the records in this class, depending on engine size, are
as high as 255 mph. "Fuel" (methanol) cars in this class run
close to 300 mph.
|
|
|
|
The "morning warm-up" on the
Bonneville Salt Flats, the sunrises can be spectacular, and of course the
best time to get a fast run in is just after dawn when it is almost chilly
and there is little wind. The traffic on the left side of the picture is
either cars heading out to the huge pit area, or like the one shown with
the headlights on, towing a entry down to the starting line for an early
run. If an entrant has set a class record on the previous day, the car is
impounded, inspected and then they run all the impounded cars the
following morning, where they have to back up the run. "Back in the
day," they were required to make a return run in the opposite
direction within a set amount of time, but with the diminished amount of
usable salt surface that is no longer possible.
|
|
|
|
The sun rises over the sanitation facility
on what would be the final full day on the salt flats on Monday, those are
the tail lights of Dennis' rental car as he abandons me on the salt and
heads for the breakfast wagon.
Tuesday morning would see a steady
drizzle that would delay the opening of the track, and once open, they
never did get the long course ready to run on. Before the day ended we
would get the big rain that would end the session, covering the salt flats
with water and affording aXe with another fishing opportunity, as shown
below. he was able to catch the rare Bonneville Ductapius, one of two
caught on the day (If you asked me they ran out of duct tape and they
passed the fish around).
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The teams began to pull their stuff off the
flooded surface on Wednesday morning with Bureau of Land Management personnel
on hand to claim that "if anyone ran above 5-mph they would be
arrested." Some of the heavier stuff may be out there for a couple of
weeks.
|
|
|
|
With aXe off the salt and considering all
the rains we were getting, he was worried about the sad condition of the
roof on Chez Miles. He took it upon himself to put an end to my
financially induced procrastination, we borrowed a ladder from the golf
course and he went up and did a heck of a patch job, enough to get me past
the winter until I can have the entire roof replaced. aXe says I'm like
Tom Sawyer in getting everyone to paint his fence.
For those that don't know where
Wendover/Bonneville is, this shot looks west, several hundred yards to the
left is I-80, thirty feet behind me in taking this picture is the Utah
border, and Bonneville is 15 miles to the east of that. Shown below is a
picture looking north, the big "hill" is called
"Needlepoint," and that's Wendover's low rent district below it.
|
|
|
|
|
This is a story of a first time on
the salt effort by Street Rod manufacturer Darrell
Zipp of Grand Junction, CO, Zipper Motors builds "Lakes
Modified" based Street Rods. Nearly two years ago I visited
his shop, intrigued by an article in STREET RODDER magazine
about a new concept coupe he was building, I still hope to buy
one someday. On that visit I saw the car shown below in the
building process after Darrell had hauled it to Bonneville for a
preliminary tech inspection. I was caught up in the idea of
setting speed records with a very small car/engine combination,
something we are now seeing a lot of at Bonneville. I was also
impressed with Darrell's ability to both design the car and
follow that up with quality craftsmanship as well.
I stopped in the shop after
Indy in 2004, mainly to see how the coupe project was coming
along, but also to see how the Bonneville car was progressing as
well, and was disappointed to hear that they wouldn't make
Bonneville last year.
On Monday morning while taking
the sunrise shot, I saw the finished car in line and found
Darrell getting ready to make the first run. Before getting to
that, I would like to point out some of the features of this
very small car. Please note that all the fiberglass work came
from the Zipper Motors shop, from the inside and outside wheel
covers to the drivers seat, as well as all the bodywork and aero
pieces.
|
|
|
|
|
|
With only a 440 cc engine and plans of
running over 100 mph; it is important to minimize drag, and the only aero
pieces on the car other than the tail are the lip at the bottom and the
four axel fairings.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Zipper's attention to detail is such that he
misses nothing, the open tube at the back of the roll cage is there to
hold the umbrella needed to keep the sun off the driver as the car is
pushed to the starting line to make a run.
|
|
|
|
I had focused in on a full length shot of
the car and snapped this shot as the crewmember walked in front of the
camera to pick up the canopy that was the main focus of the shot, so
wanting to show the rear of the car, I cropped most of him out. I thought
I would have plenty of time for more shots, but then the rains came the
next day and the meet was over.
|
|
|
|
The crew stands ready to
help Zipper into the car for the first ever run. I'll return with the rest
of the story tomorrow after I call Zipper to find out the final speed
details. Also tomorrow (Friday), I will post some pictures of the 1959
Eddie Kuzma built Indy roadster that Eddie Sachs stuck in the middle of
the front row at Indy in 1959.
|
|
|
|
I was able to get this sequence of pictures
of a very well built roadster going through the stringent inspection
process.
|
|
|
|
|
|
That's a hand-made stainless steel fuel tank
of remarkable quality, notched at the top because the original car had the
air scoop further forward.
|
|
|
|
On the salt, unlike almost anywhere else in
racing, weight is your friend, but traction isn't, look at the stack of
lead weight above the rear axel, there is another on the other side of the
car.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A 200-mph, 500 horsepower
Honda. I have been dealing Blackjack and Pai Gow Poker to members of the
crew in the casino every night, and they had told me about the car. They
had been on the salt before and they were going for a "soft"
class record of 119.6 mph. Sunday on their first run of the meet on the
short course, they went through the last mile at 195 plus and "out
the back door" at over 200, a new class record if they can back it up
with a return run, so they took the car to impound. Monday morning I was
out there for their successful backup run and they now have the class
record of 196 mph. Thinking they could run even faster now that the driver
was certified to run the long course, they made another run later in the
day, but since the long course is in such poor condition, they couldn't
get any traction or control, and went slower. Now the plan is to put more
weight on the front of the car to control wheel spin and head back to the
short course, looking not only to better their record, but get the driver
into the Bonneville 200 MPH CLUB.
|
|
|
|
This is Axe From Wendover. Well I made it out here and the weather is just great, Can you
say NO humidity? I can, it was about 98% when I left Austin.
Here it is nowhere near that, maybe 25%. Well I went out to the Salt
Flats and the first thing I hear on the radio when pulling in
was hold up until will go fill that HOLE about halfway down
the long course! To the rookie here, that sounds like big
trouble. Well it isn't, the salt is soft in places and harder in
others, so from time to time holes develop so they have to go
out and fill them in. Boy that sure had me wondering for a
moment. At the speeds run here, that could be a big problem.
|
|
|
|
The next thing I get all excited
about (y'all know about My love For Midgets?) Here is this
beautiful little Kurtis Offy Midget. The owner tells me it was
found in an old burned out barn. Anyone know what a Kurtis frame
marking of "X3" mean? The car was virtually destroyed
by the fire, he had to build a brand new car starting with all
new body parts out of Aluminum and all new running gear also. He
did a masterful job, boy this kind of workmanship gets my blood
pumping. I heard today over the radio he was making a run but he
got off the throttle before the first mile marker with some kind
of problem?
|
|
|
|
The little beauty now shown here about to
make a run is listed in
the Bonneville Speedweeks program as, " LeClaire Special, owned and
driven by
Duree LeClaire; a 1950's Kurtis Kraft with 1940's 110 Offy power."
Yesterday he pulled off before the first mile mark, On Monday the car ran
119.7 mph. If you have any interest in the speeds they are running out here
,
go to the SCTA web site, http://www.scta-bni.org
|
|
|
|
This used to be a belly tank for a WWII P-38
Lightning, it's "flying" a bit slower and lower to the ground now, but still
goes 200 mph plus. The car ran a 245.25 mile.
|
|
|
|
Here is a shot of a roadster
fuel injection nozzle, I
think with this size of jetting they may get about 3 gallons to the mile.
That is if the pump man can run fast enough to keep up with the car at 200
mph plus.
|
|
|
|
Holly Cow Bat Man, is it the Batmobile? While walking around out there
around the starting line I came upon this; just what
it is I'm not sure, and there wasn't anyone close by to ask.
Note, on edit, it appears to be
a highly aero-modified '32 Ford that may once have been a
roadster, what I can't understand is what the front of the
bodywork is so high in the air. Also note the flames, they're
almost photo reproduction quality, once you see them up close
and personal, the usual versions aren't quite so nice. (MN)
|
|
|
|
!937 Chevy coupe with a GMC 6
cylinder with all home built components. the workmanship is
amazing. Shown below are pictures of the purpose built
components.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
More than 50 Retro-Rods,
Lakester's, Street Rods and hundreds of the faithful gathered
outside the front entrance of the Wendover, NV Nugget Hotel and
Casino Friday night on the eve of the opening of the 2005 SCTA
Bonneville Speedweek. While some might ask why an IndyCar site
would feature a week's worth of speed trials, it's home to me,
worth a look and besides, it's my site, and I love action on the
salt.
The Wendover Nugget Casino is
unique in that they have the up-front space available to display
the cars and give the hundreds that flock to the salt every year
a place to talk about cars and speeds approaching 400 mph. This
years opening night featured more that twice the number of cars
and people here last year.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Three other views of the gathering
outside the Nugget Friday evening, time to look at some of the cars. |
|
|
| One of the nicest Street Rods I have
ever seen... |
|
|
|
|
| This is what happens when you take your
open wheel Retro-Rod out on the salt, you get salt everywhere, and it
sticks like glue. |
|
|
| More on the salt, that ain't snow, what
you see on this cars is pretty much what the salt looks like on the
flats, crystallized, out there you would need a knife or screwdriver to separate
a piece for a souvenir. |
|
|
| We all know what this once was, but the
workmanship is amazing. I have no idea how long it would take to chop
the top on something with so many windows, and do it so well. Now for a
look inside... |
|
|
|
|
| That's a "blown"
(supercharged) small block Chevy. The car had a drag chute in the back
and big "slicks," but no number, looks more like a drag car
than a salt flats racer. |
|
|
| That's a supercharged flathead V-12
Lincoln engine in that old (somewhere between '28-'30 Ford I think)
truck. |
|
|
|
