8/23/2023 0 Comments Salt flat racerIn the 1920s, cars started to be designed with the land speed record in mind, and between the years 19, the land speed record was broken at Bonneville no less than 18 times. (Hallaran) In a piece for Landscape Journal, Martin Hogue explains that as automobile racing grew in popularity (and speeds), Bonneville became a racing mecca for its various racing qualities. The Bonneville Salt Flats were first promoted as a racing venue by William Randolph Hearst with little success, until, in 1925, Ab Jenkins raced a train across the Flats in his Studebaker and won. Perhaps a more well-known association, however, is that of its racing history. Hallaran also notes that the early history of the Bonneville Salt Flats even includes the demise of the 1846 Donner-Reed Party who, after getting stuck in the mud on the Flats, later perished in the Sierra-Nevada mountains. In 1833, fellow trapper Joseph Reddeford Walker explored and mapped the Great Salt Lake area, naming the salt flats after his employer, Benjamin Bonneville. In his Utah History Encyclopedia entry, Kevin Hallaran credits Jedediah Smith as being “the first white man to cross the salt flats.” He did so in 1827 on the way back from an expedition to California. The Salt Flats are primarily made up of leftover minerals from what was once ancient Lake Bonneville. According to the Bureau of Land Management, which oversees it, the area occupies 30,000 acres that is 12 miles long, five miles wide and over 46 square miles in total. The vast and desolate Bonneville Salt Flats are located on the western edge of Utah’s Great Salt Lake Basin. (Hogue, 32) And a place where highest speeds are most attainable. A place so flat you can see the curvature of the earth with the naked eye. (Hogue, 38) A site with great history, both of peril and excitement. Burt Munro was inducted into the AMA Hall of Fame in 2006, a tribute to the pursuit begun eight decades earlier.Every late summer, as winter and spring runoff evaporates from the salt beds of the Great Salt Lake Desert, a site is revealed. His focus and innovation paid off as he set an official land speed record of 184.087 mph, and posted an unofficial top speed of 205.67 mph. By this time, his bike was such a unique amalgam of custom-made components it needed to be torn down and rebuilt after every 10 minutes of run time. In 1967, Burt Munro made his final trip to the Bonneville Salt Flats. Over the years, Munro and his Scout raced on the Bonneville Salt Flats nine times and set world records in three of them. He formed a new goal-to race on the flat, expansive Bonneville Salt Flats. Starting in the 1940s, Munro started claiming a number of New Zealand land speed records, and by the 1950s his Scout was too fast for New Zealand’s speed courses. Despite limited means and a complete lack of funding, Munro worked day and night to perfect his bike, which he took to calling the Munro Special. Munro's 1920 Indian Scout was the 627th 600cc Scout to leave the American factory. Whether he was racing the fastest horse across his family’s farm or competing as a professional speedway driver, he lived a life driven by the passion to go faster and push boundaries. From the day he was born, New Zealand native Burt Munro felt the need for speed.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |