So, this blog from Bonneville is dedicated to the little details found on the Salt. Devil's in the details right? Here's proof. First is this License plate on a beautiful yellow hot rod pickup. "Bean Bandit" car club from San Diego. Here you see the CRX from Hondata sporting a thermal wrapped exhaust and the bracing for undercar sheeting to smooth airflow and provide suction to the road as this CRX with K20A naturally aspirated power runs 190's. Here the same CRX sports roof vanes for stability at 200mph in a car that probably had a top speed of 115mph. I saw this painted on "For Sale" sign and chuckled out loud. It says "4 Sale, low mileage! one careful owner!". Ya right! This was on the removable skin of a racecar. "Bonneville or Bust"! That is one of the motto's for both racers and spectators alike. It should read Bonneville AND Bust. The veterans say you go to Bonneville to break something. It's either a Record or your racecar. ...
Catching Salt Fever at Bonneville Speedweek!
posted by GreaseGirl
Bonneville Salt Flats - Our First Trip For over 61 years the Bonneville Salt Flats have been giving people "salt fever" during its annual Speed Week each August. This year Pikesan, Hetchspeed, and GreaseGirl met up at the flats to bring everyone at MyRideisMe.com a little taste of the salty stuff! And are you guys in for a treat!!! Not only is Speedweek home to land speed racings biggest event but its also one of the most amazing mix of cool people and cars you'll ever experience. So check back into MyRideisMe.com soon to catch a glimpse of some of the nearly 1000 pictures we took, coverage of build stories, records broken, life on the salt, and the people that make it all happen. We had the time of our lives out on the white stuff and we can't wait to share it with...
Speedweek 2009-Bonnie’s Homecoming
posted by Hechtspeed
Bonneville Salt Flats: Welcome Home Bonnie! I think its only fitting that the first pic from Speedweek 2009 that we post is of our fearless leader, pikesan. I'll let pikesan post most of the pics of his car "Bonnie" and her homecoming to the Salt Flats but, I took this cool rolling shot Saturday morning and wanted to share it with you all. This was taken about 30 seconds after Bonnie and pikesan (suffering from a sever case of Salt Fever) made it onto the Salt for the first time. What a cool moment! I switched to shutter priority mode on the D90 and started snapping pics while trying to drive (luckily the entry road is super wide). This shot inspires me to build my own roadster. Well, that's it for now. The MyRideisMe.com crew that made it out to the Salt (we missed you Swanee) for Speedweek 2009 will be sharing stories and a sizeable photo gallery. It was also the first time pikesan, GreaseGirl and Hechtspeed met in person. We had a great time and can't wait to share our experiences! Ok, this pic is just too good (imho)...
Bonneville Bound – My Traveling Buddy’s go 250mph!
posted by pikesan
Bonneville Salt Flats Race Car: Traveling alone sucks. That's why I'm glad to have a traveling buddy for the long drive from Phoenix to Wendover, Utah for Speedweek on the Bonneville Salt Flats. I'm towing my 1927 roadster, so I can't drive that fast so I fit right in with my 250mph partners on the road, "Bonnieville Bob" and his son Rocky. Their B/GMR modified roadster is a stretched 1927 roadster that's been as fast as 251 mph at Bonneville and that's just 4 mph off the record. Much more to come on these guys since I'll be shooting lots of pictures of all the race cars and picking Bob and Rocky's speed-brain for all they're worth! Look for us on the salt! And if you know Bob, say hi right here by leaving a comment. ...
Speedweek Push Vehicle: Blown Cherry Red Caddy
posted by Hechtspeed
Bonneville Salt Flats Perfect Pusher: As part of the crew at MyRideisMe.com leaves for the Salt today and I leave tomorrow, we can almost taste it, the Salt that is. Here's a quick picture of one of the many push vehicles you'll see at Bonneville. But, granted, this is not your typical pusher. Most of the time you'll see trucks and big sedans giving their racecars a push start. This blown Caddy Coupe takes the Push Vehicle to a whole new level and is definitely showing off, and everyone loved it! This hot rod gets its pushing duties done in style. 1 more day and a wake up until we get out on the white stuff. Can't wait. Did I say I was...
Speedweek 2009: 1 Day 22 Hours 30 Minutes 19 Seconds
posted by Hechtspeed
The crew at MyRideisMe.com is getting very anxious to get to the Salt. The Salt Fever has infected us and the only cure is to get our Salt fix. Speedweek officially begins Thursday August 6th. Racers can set up in the pit area and begin tech inspections. We'll be bringing you readers great stories and photos from the event. I thought I'd post this pic from last year at Speedweek. A gorgeous belly tank lakester waiting in line to make a top speed blast down the salt. Can't...
Internet “Barn Find” #6: British Steam Car Challenge
posted by Hechtspeed
Speedweek begins this week (7 days and counting). For this Internet Barn Find, we go across the pond to scope out a Steam Powered Streamliner. Check out British Steam Car Challenge website. Take a few minutes and read up on this beauty of a racecar. The record for a steam powered land vehicle stands at 127.659 MPH according to this site. The crazy part is this record was set in 1906. It's about time this record gets beaten, don't you think? Another tid bit of information from the steam car's website is the unofficial (not recognized by FIA) steam powered record is 145.607 MPH set in 1985, and that is the record the British Team is shooting for. Check out this youtube video linked from their site too. Sounds crazy!!! [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkpdSeb2ya4&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]...
Vintage Racers Smoke’m at Goodwood Festival of Speed
posted by pikesan
Words and Pics by Keith Harman (I only posted it for him!) In just over ten short years, the Goodwood Festival of Speed has become a worldwide ‘must-see’ for car enthusiasts from every genre and hobby, there is quite simply, nothing like it anywhere else in the world. Held at the sprawling Goodwood Estate in Southern England the show is a mass celebration of speed in all its wheeled forms where famous racing drivers past and present rub shoulders with fans and celebrities alike and glorious racing machines from collections all over the world are fired up and run in anger up the long winding hill from outside the stately home. No matter what your tastes in cars, there will always be something to marvel at. Held over three days, we managed to blag a couple of free tickets for this year's event and went along on the Friday to have a look, I'd heard that this year's American theme was NASCAR (it was Top Fuel dragsters last year and Bonneville before that) and so with British fans having never seen these cars in action, I was interested to...
17 Days, 8 hours, 31 minutes, 2 seconds ’til SPEEDWEEK
posted by Hechtspeed
...that's right, 17 Days until Speedweek 2009 at the Bonneville International Speedway , "Worlds Fastest Speedway" in western Utah! MyRideisMe.com will be at the salt in force. This will be my third salt'venture. I'll be accompanied by the MyRideisMe crew, pikesan, GreaseGirl and Swanee. We've already got some stories lined up and plan to grab more. What would you like to see from the salt? Drop a comment below and let us know and we'll hunt it down! ...
Volk Bros’ 1929 Salt Flats Record Roadster
posted by Hechtspeed
"I wanted out of that run so bad I unhooked the harness and was driving about 125 mph sitting on top of the roll cage, steering with my feet." If you found this story at MyRideisMe.com, you already know that Bonneville International Speedway and Salt Flats Land Speed Racing have quite a history. That history is filled with amazing pioneers in hot rodding, racing, and humans just plain going fast! The previous story from the Salt Flat Racing category: Salt Flats Car Show, the Bonneville Salt Flats are seriously the mecca for hot rodders and custom car nuts. This 1929 roadster typifies; race car and family history of Salt Flat and Land Speed Racing you're sure to find with every trip to the Salt. The owner Larry Volk, together with his family of Land Speed Racers have their own Salt Flats racing history. The Volk Family was kind enough to loan me their racing scrapbook full of newspaper clippings and photos so I could scan a few to share that rich history here at MyRideisMe.com. The recent pics you see were snapped this last Saturday at a church parking...
2008 Speed Week-“Car Show” on the Salt
posted by Hechtspeed
Bonneville Salt Flats: 2008's Pictures: I'm a little intimidated to tackle a story that even has the words: Salt Flats, Bonneville, and Speed Week included. The 2008 Speed Week day-trip I made last year was only my second time on the salt in Bonneville, the "Fastest Place On Earth" as the Bonneville Speed Week website declares. I wanted to share a few words and pictures from that day. I made the 1.5 hour drive out to Bonneville International Raceway with my good'ol 1959 JC Higgins rat rod cruiser pedal bike. The Bonneville salt-essentials strapped on the rear rack: bottles of water, sunflower seeds, sunblock and the old point and shoot camera. You need a bike just to get around the pit area. Why you ask? The pit area is 3 miles long and about 2 miles from the starting line!!! I spent most of my time near the starting line and in the pits soaking in sun, salt and of course the coolest "Car Show/Cruise-In" ever! OK, so there's no official car show, but that's what I call it. There are a few hundred old roadsters, coupes, muscle cars,...
Speedseekers Photobook: Vintage Drags & More – Book Review
posted by pikesan
Speedseekers is new book by German born designer and photographer Alexandra Lier. Visiting Speedweek's salt for the first time, she was hooked. Suddenly a fascination with fast cars, hot rods and customs drove her from her design studio to garages shooting top mechanics and builders or she was off to races to get more pics of the cars she loves. That passion is captured in her first book, Speedseekers Organized into five main chapters, History, Garage, Speed, Landspeed, and Style & Sound. That first chapter about history might as well say "vintage drag racing" cause the included photos are a fantastic collection of legendary racers from Wild Willie Borsch to to Big Daddy Don Garlits to a fiery burnoutin his first rear engine dragster by the legendary "TV" Tommy Ivo. I spent over an hour studying the vintage pictures, then explained some of them to my sons: "This guy held on with only one hand!" I can't get enough of nostalgia drags and the people and cars that made it great (and still do in some cases). From there, I skimmed over the Garage chapter to check out Speed....