Event Coverage BONNEVILLE SPEED WEEK INFO:

HAS ANYONE HEARD ANYTHING ABOUT SPEED WEEK THIS YEAR????
I was just told that SCTA will make a call this weekend if to CANCEL or GO with the event due to the salt conditions being very poor.

 

My guess is they are having the pow-wow right now and the news will be Monday or Tuesday

 

Speedweek is more than 3 weeks away.Seams awful early to pull the plug.

 

It's less about the weather right now but the condition of the salt and how thin it is even if the weather was perfect till speedweek they are saying the salt conditions are to poor for racing

 

You need to consult landracing.com.... the website for all things land speed.

 

I just saw some pictures of the salt on facebook. It didn't look good at all. Real thin with dirt showing through and the salt is all balled up. I will try and find the article and post it here.

 

http://www.sltrib.com/home/2709833-155/speed-week-is-in-danger-again

 

That is the same story had read.

 

Wow, hope for the best and plan for the worst

 

At El Mirage this last weekend the talk was not good. As has been said they are on the way up there now to make a determination. Safety first followed by preservation of the salt.

 

Are the "SaltFlats" government owned or are they owned by the mining company?

 

Heres the latest from the SCTA website:

"Speed Week 2015

Not cancelled yet, but? Seems like Mother Nature is still not cooperating with us. The SCTA/BNI met yesterday, July 12, to discuss contingency plans. We will make a final decision on Speed Week no later than July 22nd. We can tell you how it is now, but not how it will be in 10 days. Our advance team spent the July 4th weekend on the Bonneville Salt Flats trying to find adequate salt to conduct the 2015 Speed Week event; unfortunately without much success. A portion of the courses were still underwater and other areas were suffering from rough and /or muddy salt. A pretty good analysis appeared recently in the Salt Lake City Newspaper. You can see the "Mudflow" on Google Satellite Maps. While staying optimistic, when and if the entire area dries, we are hoping to find the 7 Miles of dry/smooth salt necessary for the event. The plan is to visit the Salt again on July 20th to assess the situation. It will likely involve attempting to drag/prep some courses. We are also considering the feasibility of having a "Short course only" event if we are able to find 4 miles of good course. We would like to know how many folks might come for such an event. We will be contacting all of the Pre-Entrants."

 

The Bonneville Salt Flats is a densely packed salt pan in Tooele County in northwestern Utah. The property is public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management and is known for land speed records at the "Bonneville Speedway". Access is free and visitors can drive on the flats.

Curt R

 

quite a bummer for all involved. hope it happens.

 

Any thought to moving this to Black Rock Desert ?? Its also BLM and flat -- not salt but dry lake like El Mirage.
Been used before for LSR

 

I wondered about that too, wasn't one of Richard Noble's jet car records set here? If Bonneville is washed out again, it will be the second year in a row...why not consider Black Rock?

 

Black Rock has been considered many times. The BLM is against it as it has Silver Worms living there and they hate fast cars, or something. Apparently the worms don't mind the Burning Man goings on. BLM did ask the Burning Man organizers for an air conditioned suite with flush toilets so that they could monitor the festival. My friend Jack Connelly took his Bonneville Rocket Three up there and broke his collar bone. Said it was much softer than El Mirage. Lends itself more to thrust driven vehicles than wheel driven, I am told.

 

If so, why is the salt being depleted.....next some private enterprise will be allowed to use the Grand Canyon as a land fill! ..............Nice job of managing.

 

Access is free as long as its not being used for racing or movie making. For racing, there is a daily and a weekly fee. When compared to drag racing, the fee is very little. Usualy 10 bucks a day or forty to fifty for the event or the week.

 

I have been to Black Rock about 12 times. It can be very soft.

Also, it can have unique features caused by ice sublimation. When the ice turns from solid to vapor directly (sublimation), it leaves a delicate structure of essentially dust behind.

When weight is put on that structure, it collapses, often a few feet.

I hit one at speed, flipped my vehicle, destroying my ankle.

The preparation, event, and cleanup of the Burning Man festival takes up about 2-1/2 months of the mid-summer.

I have never seen anything alive on that alkaline flat but dragonflies, dogs and people.

 

Any updates on this yet?

 

I just saw they cancelled it. I guess they could only find 2 1/4 miles that could safely be used.

 

Another year to wait. Hell I will forget how to tune the fucking thing by then!! JC

 

From the SCTA website:

 

I still have hope for the Cook Shoot Out. I feel confident.

 

Maybe if it dries there might be a World Final,, I believe World Final came from a washed out SpeeedWeek. Is that right Rich??

 

I believe you are right. But I have faith in Mike Cook. Never met the man. But he got us on Muroc. And I had been told that would never happen. So I'm not unloading the van.

 

Mike is a great guy, in my opinion, he saved SCTA back in the 90's when they were broke.
He and Penny handle the SCTA sales trailer, not a easy job.

 

My thoughts are we all need to pull some strings with our friends in government and get a real hold on this.