Speedweek 2018

[Iceaxe]

Live from the Bonneville Salt Flats...

Lots of records are going to fall this week as the salt has not been this fast for at least 15 years. The salt is smooth, solid and yielding 10 miles of race track.

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[Iceaxe]

A few pictures of the motorcycles...

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[Iceaxe]

More cars....

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[Iceaxe]

From Saturday nights hot rod show in Wendover....

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[Iceaxe]

What do you do Sunday at Speedweek after you break your toys on Satuday? You spend the day fixing them so you can break them again on Monday.


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[Iceaxe]

And today Danny Thompson set the World Record for a piston powered vehicle in his AA/FS of 448.757 with today's 450 mph back-up run in Challenger II.

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[oldno7]

always cool shots, I should have run up there last weekend.

[Iceaxe]

#715 Speed Demon just ran 452 mph, if he can back up the run in the morning Danny Thompsons worlds fastest piston powered record lasted a whole two days.

Speed Demon did it with a single small block Chevy. Challenger II is running two monster hemi's. Two radically different approaches to skin the same cat.

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[rockgremlin]

This looks like Burning Man, but with cars.

You mentioned the "salt is faster than it has been for the last 15 years." What makes salt "fast"? How can it be "faster" than other years? Is it just more compact, or what?

Are you part of any of these pit crews?

[Iceaxe]

I have a lot of friends on the salt so we are usually helping someone like the #59 roadster that was swapping engines yesterday. Often we are helping complete strangers as the starting line gets pretty hectic and some of the smaller teams will take any experienced help they can get. Lots of husband/wife teams that are a little overwhelmed staging and get pushed off with all that has to happen, helping them out just takes a little pressure off the driver. We also make a lot of friends this way.

The salt is fast this year because it's a little thicker and more solid then past years so the salt doesn't break up and become rough. Also they have 10 miles of track this year, which is two miles more then they have had the past couple of years.

Iceaxe with the Big Red Camaro. If you don't know the story of this car look it up. :-)

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[Iceaxe]

You can live stream Speedweek here:
https://www.meridix.com/channel/?liveid=landracing#/

Best time to listen is in the morning from about 7 to noon. Things slow way down in the afternoon when the heat rises. We'll have Speedweek live streaming in the office all week.

If you attend live the race is broadcast on FM 89.3 at the Salt Flats.

[Iceaxe]

#715 Speed Demon just ran 452 mph, if he can back up the run in the morning Danny Thompsons worlds fastest piston powered record lasted a whole two days.

Speed Demon was unable to back up his speed on the second run so the record remains with Challenger II for the time being.

However.... Turbinator just ran a speed of 463.038 mph at the 5 mile with an exit speed of 470 mph!!! That is hauling ass!!! This is top speed of the meet so far, but the car is turbine powered.

[Iceaxe]

Here is a good article on the fastest Speedweek in history with nearly 170 records set.

2018 Speedweek is one for the record books

https://roundsixpod.com/2018/08/23/2018-bonneville-speed-week-one-for-the-record-books/

[Iceaxe]

FWIW - LSR Racing can get expensive...
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Climb-Utah.com

[oldno7]

that's not gunna buff out.....

looks like the crank could fall out.

[Iceaxe]

I was thinking maybe some JB Weld and it would be good as new...

[jdn1221]

Now that’s a failure!

[Iceaxe]

World of Speed is happening out on the Salt Flats this weekend and Rick Vesco just put down a run of 483 mph.

That is incredible....

[Iceaxe]

Land Speed Racing!!! I didn’t think it was possible but the salt is even better than it was at Speedweek. The salt is much drier, smoother and harder than a few weeks ago and the timing slips are the proof. Team Vesco ran 482mph and 483mph. Chet Thomas ran 250mph in a street roadster. John Levie ran 305mph in a motorcycle streamliner with a side car.... And it’s only the second day of racing....

Climb-Utah.com

[Iceaxe]

World Finals on the Salt Flats October 1-5. The salt has not been this fast in over 20 years. The salt is even faster then it was for Speedweek and the cool autumn air will increase the speeds. If you attend World Finals you will see cars run over 400 mph. There is an excellent chance you will see Danny Thompson and Challenger 2's all time record for a wheel driven car of 448 mph fall. This is a record that was just set in the August heat at Speedweek. There is a reasonable chance you might even see the first ever 500 mph run of a wheel driven car.

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[Iceaxe]

Records are going to tumble during World Finals. The salt is rock hard and they were able to back the starting line up one mile. They now have over 9+ miles of race track.

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Climb-Utah.com

[Iceaxe]

There was a total of 112 runs today and the magical 500 mph barrier was broken! Vesco’s exit speed was 503 and they are in impound, they must back up their record in the morning.

There were four runs over 400 mph today, no incidents and impound is filled up. Racing will resume in the morning.

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Climb-Utah.com

[Iceaxe]

Racing is finished for the year on the Salt Flats. Unfortunately a large number of vehicles were in impound when the rains came and will not have the opportunity to backup their record attempts. I just hope we don't have to wait another 20 years for such perfect salt conditions.

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Climb-Utah.com

[devo_stevo]

Good to see the Vesco boys are still racing.

503 mph! That's incredible.

[Iceaxe]

I finally got the low down one the one major accident at this year's Speedweek. The Flashpoint Streamliner was making a return record run in excess of 400 mph when the left rear tire was cut by a loose body panel. The car crashed for over a mile and flipped approximately 6-8 times. Driver walked away with no injuries, and drove himself to the hospital to get checked out. He was never admitted and left the same day. The driver/owner is in the process of building a new car.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181024/fce482038fe0d8115bc8e3b753c31f30.jpg

Climb-Utah.com

[stefan]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=169&v=BdBahNZOg9o


The Team Vesco Turbinator II driven by 76-year-old Dave Spangler eclipsed 503 mph while holding an eye-popping 493 average in the measured mile on Oct. 2 2018 at the Bonneville SaltFlats in Utah. “I finally hit the sweet spot,” said Spangler. “Stability is not a problem. The car was planted in the fifth mile; I was stopped by the 7.5-mile marker. There is certainly more left in this car.” However, a land speed record -- national or world -- requires two runs with the record speed the average of both. For an FIA world record, a car must complete both runs in one hour over the same measured mile -- down and back. National records are an earned average going the same direction over a two-day period.

National events normally have too many vehicles to swap directions in less than 60 minutes, so any racer who breaks a record on a first run is invited to “impound.” The next morning, all the impounded vehicles are the first to the starting line for the second run and a chance at the record book. Rain and wind, however, canceled second runs and meant no official record this time. “The course was the best we had seen in more than a decade,” said Turbinator co-driver and crew chief Eric Ritter, of Queens, New York, of the 503-mph run. “The thin surface was rock hard, without soft or loose spots that allowed us to lay in more power. We’ve come a long way in a short period of time, and I now believe 600 mph is plausible.”

https://autoweek.com/article/other-motorsports/team-vesco-hits-503-mph-bonneville-salt-flats