The salt flats are huge and the Bonneville Speedway is at the west side of the now mainly dried up sea, near the town of Wendover on the Utah / Nevada border. Wendover is really the only place to stay overnight as it is the closest place to Bonneville. Comprising hotels and their casinos, as couple of gas stations, a handful of shops, Wendover is a strange place, but as the only other option is Salt Lake City which at 110 miles away, it is really too far.
Access to the Bonneville Speedway is via junction 4 of Interstate 80 where a tarmac road heads out about 4 miles across the salt flats. Pay your $20 for the day and then you drive onto the salt itself, and wow, what a feeling that gave me. This place is iconic, historic and famous. The Triumph Bonneville its name and the salt is flat, white and disappears so far into the distance, you can see the curvature of the earth here. A line of cones marks where you need to drive / ride a further 5 miles across the salt to get out to the main pits area.
Getting there for the first time is odd. There are no fences, no walls, no signs and nothing to tell you where to go. The salt is a completely natural environment, so nothing permanent is built or left here. The pits area is where all the bikes are worked on, there is a registration van, a scrutineering area, somewhere to buy food and drink, plus a few temporary toilets. You are free to walk anywhere and everyone takes full advantage of this. There were not many spectators and each bike was supported by a team ranging in size from its sole rider / mechanic to about ten, looking after the bigger, more complex bikes on a big budget.
Being able to walk anywhere makes the place very informal. Most people don't mind you walking up and chatting to them, providing they are not too busy.
As a Bonneville virgin, I found it quite hard to work out what was going on. There are so many different types of motorcycle of all shapes and sizes racing in so many categories that there isn't a sense of 'racing' at all, but one of everybody trying to simply get their bikes ready to go a fast as they can. These are not by any means all true speed demons running at 100, 200 or 300 mph, but a collection of diverse machines (and people) simply trying their best. For some, that means a speed of 60 mph on their motorcycles with small engines and for others, especially the streamliners, that means trying to crack the elusive 400 mph record. Some people enter their street bikes in the 'Run Whatcha Brung' category. The range is amazing.
What does seem to be common amongst most racers at Bonneville is they all seem to know a lot about the mechanics of their machines. Most people seem to spend most of their time working on, tinkering with, or completely rebuilding their motorcycles, under temporary gazebos (or eazy-ups as my American cousins call them).
The Speed Trials week takes place at the end of August and it was hot when I was there. Wide-brimmed hats, sunscreen and drinking lots of water are all essential, as are closed shoes to protect your feet from the salt. It is a dry heat, so not overly uncomfortable, although finding shade is important.
After walking around and watching what was happening for a couple of hours, the seemingly chaotic nature of the event began to make sense. Riders get their motorcycles ready and take them to scrutineering for the essential safety checks. Get through that (and many don't first time around) then you head down to the pre-stage area to await your turn to run on one of the two tracks. Waiting is something you have to be good at if you are a competitor or team member, as there is lots of waiting at Bonneville. Lots of entries, an emphasis on safety and very long tracks that have to be cleared by the previous rider all take their toll on time. Eventually though, you are told to ride out to the start area for one of the two tracks and after another wait, it is your turn.
As a spectator, you cannot really watch the riders blasting down the tracks, as they are so long (5 miles and 11 miles) that you cannot see the entire length. I think spectators are meant to stay in the pits area, but I didn't do that, preferring instead to drive out to the pre-stage and start areas. Taking photographs for me is a passion, so getting out to these areas was essential.
What I really enjoyed was speaking to the competitors at the start areas. Now free of getting their motorcycles ready, riders seemed to enjoy talking about their machines, where they are from, speeds they have reached and what they hope for on the imminent run. Then they are off. Whether on a large or small bike, a standard model or a specialist build, a seasoned or novice competitor, all riders just want to go as fast as they can. The riders I spoke to ranged in age from 13 years to 75 years old. They all gave off the same feeling of excitement and this certainly encouraged me to think about competing myself one year. I really would like to give this a try.
There is one thing to watch out for each visitor or racer at Bonneville. The salt is really bad for your vehicle. Competing motorcycles get covered in the white stuff and I am told some components need to be stripped down to eliminate all traces of the salt. Cars driven on the salt don't suffer as badly, but the rental car I used needed a lot of cleaning to avoid a big bill from the rental company. There are a couple of car washes in Wendover and they certainly were very busy soon after the weeks racing finished.
Would I recommend going to Bonneville to watch the racing as a spectator? Yes, I would, although don't expect many comforts - this is raw racing at its most basic. Would I want to race? - if I can find the right bike and somebody to take as a mechanic, you bet I would!
Here are a selection of my favourite pictures from the week.....
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