|
|
|
|
Page 1...
|
SCTA
Bonneville Nationals 2006...
Covered
by Dennis Sylvia, Miles Nelson with additional pictures by Jim
Roach.
|
|
|
|
A
Bonneville Salt Flats
Sunrise...
A Dennis Sylvia photo.
|
|
|
|
The O/IRR crew on the salt, Miles
Nelson, Jim Roach and Dennis Sylvia.
|
|
***
|
|
In the next few days I will be
adding more pictures in a latest picture first format. So if you
are new to the page scroll down and see the cars that make
Bonneville and The SCTA National Speed Trials so special. I
should have all the pictures posted by Monday, at which time
I'll surf the SCTA site and try to post the best speeds for the
cars shown.
|
|
|
|
A fast woman...
|
|
***
|
|
I'm going to spend the next day or so
posting pictures of cars in the following classes:
|
|
Roadster's:
|
|
|
|
In the Hot Rod world this would be a
"Roadster, a car without a top as opposed to being a "convertible."
At Bonneville according to the SCTA rulebook, Roadsters look much smaller
and aero friendly, but they still must hang the front end components
out in the air and unprotected as shown below.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
***
|
|
Lakester's:
|
|
|
|
I don't know how they got three crapper's in
this picture, I could never find one close enough when I needed one.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ain't that the truth...
|
|
|
|
This is the Lakester of my friend Darrell
Zipp of Grand Junction, CO.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
***
|
|
Competition Coupe's:
|
|
|
|
This would be a '32 Ford
5-window, what a neat looking car...
|
|
***
|
|
Modified Roadster's (my favorite):
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
***
|
|
Streamliner's
|
|
|
|
The Nish family Streamliner, this car has
more than 100 high speed runs on it at Bonneville.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
***
|
|
Studebaker's
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
***
|
|
Altered's:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
***
|
|
|
|
Apparently this car had an "incident."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
With the explosion of interest in
the Street Rod industry of late, and with it the building of
custom built high-end cars it seems that industry pioneer So-Cal
Speed Shop is everywhere, and Bonneville is no exception.
They're on the salt with a GM ECO TEC connection in several
classes, here are several of their entries...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Here's one for the IndyCar fans,
this car runs an Olds Aurora 3.5 liter IndyCar engine. This is
the 2nd car I can recall on the salt with Indycar power, the
other a "roadster" that ran 209 mph. The
roadster wasn't as aero-friendly as the rules would have
allowed, I expect this car will do better. As I mentioned, I'll
crunch the numbers Tuesday.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Teenager Dave Angle stands behind
the beautiful LeClaire Special (Offy). Dave got a chance to
steer the car as it was towed to the head of the line on the
short course. Ya gotta hold onto the wheel when you do this
Davey boy. The car is a new class record holder as Duree Le
Claire made two passes at 131.130
and 131.150 mph. Young Dave may have been the good luck charm
the team needed.
|
|
***
|
|
Today (Monday) was the 2nd day of
serious running at Bonneville, and I would have to say the salt
conditions are better than I have seen in the 11 years that I
have been here (Miles Nelson's opinion). In fact the conditions
are so good that with the absence of significant rain in the 10-day
forecast, we are almost seeing a sort of leisurely pace on
the salt. This morning there couldn't have been more than 40
attempts to back up record runs made Sunday on both courses, and
they were done by 8:00 a.m. One of the records confirmed
today was set in the Costella Yacoucci Kawasaki powered tiny red
streamliner. There isn't an inch of excess "bulge" in
this car and today Rick Yacoucci backed up his Sunday run with
an even faster 353-mph plus run. The car is so light and has so
little mass that Yacoucci doesn't even need to deploy the drag
chute with the excess available running room on the flats this
year.
|
|
|
|
Here's Rick Yacoucci being pushed
off on his record setting run this morning...
|
|
|
|
This is Jim Roach taking a picture of Rick Yacoucci,
who just ran 351 MPH on Gas in a fuel Class. The car is now in impound
waiting for the a.m. to back that speed up for a new record. The picture
was taken at the end of the 8-mile course right after Rick got out of the
car. The car is the Nebulous Therom car of Yacoucci and Jack Costella,
with Rick doing the engine work as well as driving.
|
|
|
|
This is Ron Main's General Motors supported
EcoFire, powered by a GM Ecotec engine. The car runs close enough
in engine size to the same class as the Costella Yacoucci Kawasaki and ran
just under 300 mph today, that's a very good result. That said, the car is
so much bigger in size that I doubt it will ever run as fast as the little
red streamliner. Main's streamliner holds world speed records while
powered by a supercharged Ford flathead V8
Here are some of the neater looking cars
seen at Bonneville this year.
|
|
|
(8-21-06, an update) There is now
video available of the Friday run that backed up the Thursday record
and bumped the average speed to 317 mph. The video shows the entire run
and covers the loss of the drag chute as well.
This group from England will be on the salt
for two weeks with a new diesel streamliner. The plan is to set a SCTA
record this week and work towards an International record next week.
|
|
|
|
When push comes to shove that's a heck of a
push truck...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The three photos above of the DIESELMAX
Streamliner show in detail the effort, engineering, design and
construction of the car and it's support equipment. This may be the most
costly dedicated effort ever seen at Bonneville, and it's potential for
speed is limitless. Unfortunately when I got my best opportunity to study
the car on the final day of the meet I had been more careful that I had
enough batteries for my camera than that I had the camera at all, and I
didn't. Therefore I'm working on pictures from friends and a couple of
cockpit shots from the JCBDIESELMAX
website.
The top picture shows the drag chute canisters, the rear drive and the
CNC machined top support plate that covers the engine and ties both sides
of the chassis together. The plate bolts on to the chassis rails and is
removed for engine work/changes.
The middle photo shows the front half of the car and front drive/front
engine. There is a fuel cell in the front and from the condensation
concerns I saw in a delay caused by the car that went out ahead of them
spinning on the course, I expect the fuel is being refrigerated. At the
same time the fluid in both engine "cooling" systems is being
heated by "Hot Boxes," seen behind the engines on their own
support stands (the black boxes with the yellow wheels). Note that there
is also a CNC machined and lightened support frame over the front engine
as well.
The lower photo shows another view of the rear engine and the "Hot
Box" for that one as well. Behind that is the support trailer with a
large generator and what appears to be a freezer for cycling and cooling
the fuel, or at least that's my best guess.
|
|
|
|
Picture from jcbdeiselmax
website
|
|
|
|
Picture from jcbdeiselmax
website
|
The two pictures above show the carbon fiber
lined cockpit the dashboard and the F1 style steering wheel with paddle
shifters.
According to the team's website "news"
page, now that they have set an SCTA SPEEDWEEK record, "the JCB
DIESELMAX team will now prepare the vehicle for its official FIA record
attempt. The car will now be fitted with the 750bhp JCB444-LSR
“record” engines." I'm not sure if they will continue to run on
the same course or not, for the first time in years the longer
"international course appears to be available this early in the year,
but it would take a considerable grooming effort. The extra distance
available might be needed though, because on the last two record runs they
lost the drag chute and almost ran out of stopping room.
|
|
|
|
The JCB DIESELMAX car wasn't the first
diesel powered car above 300 mph this week, as this Chassis
Engineering Special driven by Roy Lewis beat them to the punch and stole
some of their thunder. It appears the DIESELMAX crew were good sports
about it, as the posted the picture below on their website.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
One last look at the JCB DIESELMAX and the
DIESELMAX close cover air support.
|
|
|
|
The Burkland streamliner set the fastest
speed of the meet at 410 mph...
|
|
|
|
Here's the "Worlds fastest
motorcycle", the "training wheels" retract and are used to
help the stability of the ca when getting it off the line. These things
are a little wobbly at low speeds, but once underway, this one runs 350
mph.
|
|
|
|
From one of the fastest to one of the
slowest. Usually known more for how many circus clowns they could get in
one of these Crosley's, this one returns to the salt often as you can see
from all the inspection stickers on the right front window. This picture
was taken as the team made a "gear change." Without the need for
"Z-rated" tires, any set will do, and all you need to
quick-change your rear gearing is to bolt on a bigger or smaller set.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The car shown in the four pictures above is
one of the most beautiful I have ever seen at Bonneville.
|
|
|
|
|
|
These are Ardun
OHV "hemi" cylinder heads on a Ford flathead V8, the conversion
sells for $13,950, follow the link to find out more about these heads.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Jack Costella 5050 streamliner before a run,
the bike, with a very small motorcycle engine runs at speeds above 160 mph
|
|
|
Friends Lukasz and
Paulina from Poland on their first day on the salt.
|
|
|
|
