Inliners International Forums General Discussion Bench racing Bonneville?

Okay, I'm not always the most astute person around, but when I was reading the current issue of the 12 Port News, I saw Bonneville listed as next week. I will be in the Pacific Northwest at the end of this week, for a week and there is a chance I might be able to go. It would be a big deal for me to get there, so I was wondering if that was a misprint (or maybe I misread it) before I head off in the Model A (not inline anymmore, but if we get it together in time ).

Worlod Finals October 3-6 Inspectin on October 2nd.

Info on World Finals

http://www.scta-bni.org/

I will be there with the twin turbocharged, efi, big block Chevrolet in the #787 Studebaker, I know, it's not an inliner yet. I've got to get the red hat before the inline GMC 6 goes in.

Okay, that answers that, thank you all. I will do my best to make it.

Is the sink hole still there right when you get on the salt?

GH, Red Hat, yes, perfectly understandable.

Watched some motor cycles at Bonneville last night on Speed Channel during a "Sport Bike" show. Man,they sure do wobble alot. Scarry.

Yeah, the salt looks alot 'greasier' than dirt (from the video and film clips). Or is that just the setup being biased for top end only?

Having gone 212+ at Speedweek, GH knows what the surface coefficient on the salt is as well as anyone. If it's hard and dry, it's not too bad but not quite as good as asphalt. The trick is that you're running on skinny tires inflated to 50-70 lbs. Get it crossed up and you'll spin forever.

Mark Miller holds three records with his inline powered pickup. Like GH he wanted that red hat. He took an turbocharged 80's Firebird to a new production record at the World of Speed just a few weeks ago with a two way average of 222 and change. Now that he has the hat, he's going to sell the car and concentrate on making "our" motors even faster.

If you make it to World Finals look for membership chairperson Jean Weigt and husband Jerry. Also pay attention to the weather in the mountain passes tou have to travel through to get back where you're going. I think I'd rather spend a couple of extra days at the Rainbow Hotel than along side the road in a foot of snow.

I just came across some old photos from 1977. It was the second time I was at Bonneville and my buddy and I were passing thru on our way to a 2-week camping trip. The little Datsun was very loaded down but managed to hit 95 MPH on the speedo! The Datsun 1974 710 Coupe had a 200Sx 2000CC motor, 5-speed tranny, Weber 48, long collector tube header, and was lowered 2". It was a fun little Inliner to say the least and got over 35 MPH!
I would take any opportunity to go to Bonneville. It is a hell of a lot of fun!

RapRap
1940 ChoppedChevyCoupe



5:30 AM on a deserted Thursday morning! Perfect opportunity for a run on the salt!



Photo taken right before our big assault. It took over $8.00 in quarters to rinse all the salt off when we got to SLC that morning. The Campground dude just looked at the car and shook his head. I guess the California license plates and the big grins on our face was enough to tell the story.



A little salt on the Datsun.

We are on the way home from World Finals, we are in Cortez, Colorado. Dropped another valve through a piston, ran one time at 234 MPH. Taking the Stude home broken again. Not fun!

GH,

Sorry about the valve, but a 234 is not bad!
Any photos of the Stude? What caused the motor to blow? Timing, Fuel, oil pressure, rpm?

RapRap
1940 ChoppedChevyCoupe

Straight 8 Howard and I made the scene at Bonneville this year as well and ya gotta give it a major thumbs up. First thing we saw after checking in at the pit gate was a '32 roadster going through the short course traps backwards....with the chute out....! Second thing we saw was the Weigts, lotsa bench racing.

Many exotic and a few downright wild and crazy. One of my favorites was the Hudson Brothers, it's a real Hudson powered streamliner (sort of streamline, anyway). Went pretty fast for an old, flatty 6 banger.

Anybody know what the current production record is for a '68 Camaro with a 250 six banger? Just wondering.....!

See ya next year, too bitchen to miss.

6BETRN8

Wow, sorry to hear about the engine GH.

I actualy made it to Boneville, at about 4 am on the 6th (Saturday). As most of you probably know the meet was called at noon on the 5th. Where was I at noon on the 5th? On the road in the Model A :rolleyes: . Oh well, I wanted to see the salt, and I did. I got more than the 1000mi my machinist wanted for break in the engine on that trip too. I only lost 2 exhaust hangers (darn road construction in SLC) and the top (covering) on the way back (I know, way cheap by comparison). I am amazed I lost it where I did (geographically, Western Idaho on I 84) as running the highway North (the one west of Wendover that goes towards Twin Falls and Mountain Home) the wind was blowing something fierce. I think it was actually blowing harder sustained that it was from SLC to Wendover and I had to stop to shut the driver's door as the quartering winds would gust just right and the combination of body flex from the gust and the air leaks in the car blew the door open (more than once), and I couldn't pull it shut at freeway speeds. I figure the wind was at least 50MPH worth of headwind sustained (going North on Sunday after a few hours sleep at Motel 6) gusting to I don't want to know, so you add that to 65-75MPH (whatever the limit is there I was tired and don't recall right now). So with 65 + 50+ = 115+ MPH airspeed, I'm surprised (in hindsight) the top didn't leave there.

Of course there was the near death experience with the herd of minivans that were pasing semi's coming south on the same stretch of road. One minivan pasing 2 or 3 semi's okay, 2 maybe, 3 in a row with no possible way for the 3rd guy to see where he was going, WTF?!!!!! Wound up just clearing (2" MAX!!) as I went for the ditch (was able to keep it on the road, thank god for narrow cars). Whatever happened to Driving? I swear some people just sheep herd their ride down the road.

Sorry for the rant, but it was only 2 days ago and still upset's me severely.

That's a bad stretch of road. I've lost two good friends on it.
I always wonder if it saves any time over going to Salt Lake and then the 90 mile buzz west.

Now for the big question. Does anyone have or know of links to photos of this year's (07) Speedweek?
I met a guy in Waco that was planning to run a little bike engined liner. I saw that they had the car registered but haven't seen much more on it.
I plan on being there next year to keep my every 10 year string alive 88, 98 and hopefully 08.

Pics at bottom of this page.

http://www.scta-bni.org/SCTA-NewWeb/Bonneville/SpeedWeek_07/results.htm

Thanks, I found one photo of their car, So they did make it. It was a lakester powered by a 4 cyl motor cycle engine. 1100 cc with a turbo.

Chopped 40, you can see photos of the Stude on my site...geocities.com/garyhartracing...I did not drop an exhaust valve through a piston, as previously thought. The valve pulled the guide down out of the head and the valve got bent, just touched the piston. We are giving .004" clearance on all the exhaust valves. I am assemblying the engine now, will run the car on a chassis dyno this winter to see if it will hold up to 7000 rpm for a good minute and a half.

Gary,

Fantastic Video!!
Was the top speed measured between 3 & 4 mile marker? For a 200+ run, it seemmed fairly smooth and straight. Any Cross winds at the #4 marker? Great driving!
What's your estimated top speed? The 300 club is my guess. Very nice car!

RapRap
1940 ChoppedChevyCoupe

For those interested, the current Hot Rod Magazine has a good article on Bonneville and several photos of inlines.

If you use the photo and video links under "Misty mornings", there are lots of pictures of Bonneville and the Lodi picnic.

Fireside_memories: weblog - photos - videos - audio - pulse - profile - reviews - events - subscribe!


http://www.xanga.com/Fireside_memories

Chopped 40, the video was taken at Speed Week 06, the speed was an average between 4 & 5 miles. I went 234 mph this last October at the 4 mile, that has been the best so far, am hoping to run around 250 this August. Then I will put in the 311 ci GMC in it. I never notice the side winds, the car weighs in at 4500 lbs, goes real straight and is a dream to drive.