Are the Bonneville Salt flats open to the public when there isn't a sanctioned event taking place? By open to the public I mean can you legally take your car out on to the lake and see how fast it will go? No timers, just pedal to the metal and an eye on the GPS speed read out.
You can go out there, but I think it might be kind of dangerous because of hidden objects, holes and soft areas. Quite a bit of preparation goes in to getting the track safe and ready for Speed Week.
You might want to contact the BLM with your question. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT Public Room: General Information Phone: (801) 539-4001 Fax: (801) 539-4237 Email: Public_Room_UT_State_Office@blm.gov Public Room hours: 7:45 am-4:30 pm, M-F
I believe the salt is open to the public but you might want to have a look at this. http://youtu.be/NaY1qVEUMPw The salt is graded for racing. Pressure fissures tend to build over the winter. They will limit your ability to set a new world speed record. But good luck anyway.
In the vidio above, you will notice that the salt is only about 1/2' thick. The mud under it is as slick as ell ****. I was at the bend in the road and got stuck after a night rain storm. I sat and watched a car try and get out of it. The mud stuck to the tires at each rotation and grew larger and larget until they filled up the rear wheel wells. The tires locked up and the car continued until the front drive wheels met the same fate. The driver then tried to get his pickup out with less luck.
If you do this I hope you bring a pocket full of money. Tha AAA contracter is gonna charge $500 for a "recovery". But first he's got to find you out there. Tom
During the Mike Cook Shootout in Sept we have had people ignore warnings and take off from the end of the road. You can watch them disappear over the horizon and not see them for hours. Last year I was doing a post race day course inspection and some jerk came flying up the race track at over 100 and missed me by less than 6 ft. DW
Thanks for the replies.... I have driven past Bonneville several times on my way somewhere else and have never had a chance to stop. It occurred to me that "back in the day" people took their hot rods out on the salt lakes and ran them without the benefit of the SCTA. Of course the salt was better and thicker back then. I just wondered if it was still possible... it sounds like it may still be possible but not very smart.
DAMN was I lucky. The first time I was ever on the salt, I was the ONLY one there. I was flying along at around 90 MPH and having a blast. There were a few things to look out for. Cracks in the salt, pillars of salt that just sprang up, and a few sloshy places. But I think it was just after Speedweek because there was some good hard salt to play on. The best video of what can go wrong is probably of Jo Coddingtons experience. One motor home, 3 tow trucks, (each one bigger than the previous one) and a trench a hundred yards long.
Yep, there are a couple of trucks that make a good living dragging guys who ventured out there where they shouldn't be back to the end of the road. I never did hear what it cost the guy with the moving van to get out in 1988 but you can bet it wasn't cheap. Plus it tears what salt layer there is up. The trick is to get just far enough off the end of the road so that you can get the "on the salt with the mountains in the background" photo and then carefully get back up on the pavement.
I was cruising past in my old 406 SBC 50 delivery one day..it was the next weekend after speedweek so I drove out the access road, onto the salt and down the salt...took it up through 3rd gear in a 4 speed and slowed down, turned around and counted myself lucky. I doubt if I'd do it again.
As was pointed out earlier, the Bonneville Salt Flats are BLM owned. You can go out there when it is not an event for free. It is similar to national forest, open unless closed for a reason. As pointed out, if you get stuck, be prepared for a big tow recovery bill. The slat crust is thin out near the edges, the mud underneath never really dries out. The Salt Flats also flood out in spring with the snow melt. That is why the speed contests are held late summer early fall. It takes a lot od prep to make the real smooth surface as pointed out.
http://saltflats.com/I30_Club_2009.html Just cruise out when they are doing this. Then it won't take us until the next speed trials to find you that you screwed up. I was out one year on my bike in the spring and at the monument sign it was a lake. It was in the early '80s. I don't know how deep the water was because I did not go in but I doubt that you could drive in it and it may not have been deep enough for a boat.
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