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Bonneville Speed Week 2019: How The Heck Does The Record Setting Procedure Work, Anyway?


Bonneville Speed Week 2019: How The Heck Does The Record Setting Procedure Work, Anyway?

It is the dream of many hot rodders to attend Speed Week at Bonneville. It is the dream of a smaller group to actually drive something down the salt in anger, and it is the dream of an even smaller few to actually set a record on the great white dyno. Many of you will be following our coverage of the event starting this week and we’ll be talking about stuff with respect to record setting that may be a little foreign to you.

As funny as it sounds, setting a record at Bonneville is more complicated than you might imagine. We’re not saying that in a negative way as the procedures in place make perfect sense and have been in place for years, but they do bear out some explaining so that we’re all on the same page. If this is all new to you, don’t be ashamed or freaked out. The VAST and we mean VAST majority of people have no idea how this process or the procedures associated with it actually work. Consider yourself better educated than most if you can fight your way through my drivel here.

SO I WANT TO SET A RECORD AT SPEED WEEK….HOW DO I DO IT?

1.) We’re not going to go into depth on selecting a car (today) but we’ll pick up your record attempt with the assumption that you have built a car that is legal for the class you are running with and meets all of the SCTA’s stringent safety requirements. To pick a round number, we’ll say that the record for the class you are racing in is 202-mph. We’re also going to operate on the assumption that you yourself are licensed to operate a car at 200 on the salt. There’s an incremental licensing procedure you need to go through and since you have been doing this for a couple seasons, you are there.

2.) The first thing you’ll do is head to the course. There are long and short courses on the salt. The long course is held for cars that can run 175mph or faster and has a five mile accelerative zone. There are two miles of run-up and three timed one-mile segments. There’s also a 1,320ft timing trap that starts at two mile mark which racers refer to as “the quarter”. This trap is a good indicator of how hard the car is pulling and if the run is going according to plan or off the pace. Quarter speeds are used as tuning tools by the racers. The short course is three miles long and has two miles of run up and a timed mile at the end. There is also a “quarter” speed given to racers on the short course.

3.) Since we’re 200mph material in our imaginary car, we’ll go to the long course and get into the staging lanes to wait our turn to run. Like at the drags there’s plenty of tinkering, planning, and thinking as everyone waits their respective turn. Due to the crushing heat on the salt, drivers normally stay out of the cars as long as they can before putting all their gear on and strapping in. Once we get to the head of the line the starter makes a final safety check of the car, gets word that the course is clear, and sends us on our way. We now have control of the salt and it is time to get busy.

4.) As our car streaks down the course and heads into the timed portion of the track, we’re watching our tach because we know that at 7,200 RPM (small block, baby) we’ll be going 203 and that’ll qualify us for the record. We manage to clip that 7,200 at the three mile mark so we finish our run there and pull safely off the course. It should be noted that lots of competitors reach terminal velocity long before the end of the track and that is OK. There is no requirement that you run the entire distance. Your fastest timed segment, not the exit speed and not the quarter speed. It has to be the fastest flying mile. This is important to note because often we we talk about streamliners and other incredibly fast iron, the discussion will be split between records and exit speeds because the exit speed is almost always higher than the record average.

5.) Ok, now the real fun begins. Why? Well because we have qualified for a record. We haven’t actually gotten a record yet because the number needs to be backed up. This begins our foray into the famed Bonneville impound procedure. Dan Warner is the guy who runs impound and he’s definitely a guy you want to spend some time with during Speed Week and not just for the bad jokes. Nope, if you and Dan are being pals, it means that you are fast and that you have a legitimate chance at grabbing a record. Dan’s recent explanation of the impound procedure on LandRacing.com does a better job than we ever could, so here goes:

To qualify for a return record run you must exceed the current record by .001 MPH. There are no minimums at SW, however there are minimums for the Bonneville 200 MPH Club. Please check with the club at the compound near the pit exit if you are planning for a Red Hat this year.

When you check into Impound please present your timing slip and the white copy of your Entry Form. The official will log you in and place your form in a pile. The tech crew will handle your vehicle as soon as they can. MOTORCYCLE entries, bypass the trailer at the gate and proceed directly to the Motorcycle Tech Trailer.

You have 1 HOUR to check in based on the time stamp on the timing slip. You have 4 HOURS to perform any maintenance needed on your vehicle, this time is based on the check in time. A small sticker will be placed on your vehicle with the stop time noted.

While in Impound your vehicle will be checked for a gas tank seal, if entered in a gas class. The body will be certified and cannot be changed or altered in any way prior to the second run the next morning. IF you have any correspondence from an official concerning modifications to you vehicle be sure to have it available during the certification process. IF YOU WILL NEED GAS for the return run you will have to take an empty gas container to the ERC trailer, purchase the need fuel(gas) and they will seal the container. Back in Impound an official will observe you adding the fuel(gas) and reseal your tank. DO NOT remove any seals unless an official is present.
Please plan ahead for your fuel(gas) consumption. 

Please be courteous to your Impound neighbors, it can get very crowded in the area.

If you can perform major engine work, change heads, replace a piston, etc. within the 4 hour period you can do that. You CANNOT change the engine block you qualified with.

The next morning:

Everyone waits for me at Lands End. I will arrive approx. 5:30 – 5:45. We will enter the salt as a group. It is very dark at that time of the morning and I do not want anyone getting lost. You will have 1 hour to prepare your vehicle for the second run, 6 – 7 AM. All times are Utah time, Mountain time. We all proceed to the staring lines(you must run the same course you qualified on unless instructed). The gate will be closed at 7 AM sharp. If you are not out of the gate or moving to it at 7 AM you have lost your opportunity and must qualify again. If you have completed your preparation prior to 7 AM you may leave the Impound and line up in the designated area. Please do not block the gate!

Following your second run you have 1 HOUR to arrive at the tech area under the inspection canopies. . DO NOT return to the Impound area. Depending on the layout you will informed  on the correct path to tech area. There will be an official at the end of the line to mark you arrival time on the time slip. Once this has been done send a crew person to the front of the line so that paperwork can be started. MOTORCYCLE competitors will return to the Impound area and proceed directly to the Motorcycle Tech Trailer.

When in final certification the gas tank seal will be checked if you are in a gas class. the body will be checked to see if any modifications have been performed. It is here that the engine will be checked for proper displacement. Please refer to section 1.H for the info concerning measurement. If you do plan on competing in other classes a wire seal can be placed on the engine for later verification. Please have somewhere on the TOP of the engine prepared for a seal. If you do seal for later verification ALL paperwork will be given to you and it then becomes your responsibility. NO paperwork = NO record. No records are valid until the engine displacement is verified. This means that others in your class will qualify on the old record or that no Red Hat can be presented.

6.) So we’ve gotten to Dan on time, wrenched for a couple hours to check the motor and all the rest of the car, gone home for a steak and some beers, grabbed some sleep and we’re back waiting for Dan to lead us out to impound in the pitch black. There is not a cooler place on Earth than the salt flats before and during sunrise. This is success, dedication, perseverance, and smarts defined. All the work, all the long nights, and you are minutes away from taking your best shot at a record and a spot in the history books.

7.) We warm up the car and take every last second available before pulling out of impound with all the other record qualifiers. The procession is both stately and quick. We all head to our respective courses and wait. The cool air of the morning provides a couple hours of relief before the sun will blaze the place to well over 100 degrees. Normally, the car will run better now than it will for the rest of the day.

8.) SUCCESS! Down the course we go, recording a speed of 206 (we bumped the chip!) in the same mile we were timed in before. REMEMBER you must set your record speed in the SAME mile that you qualified in. Meaning that if I set my top speed in mile three and then ran slower in three but faster in mile five on my record run, I would be out of luck. I’d have to start the qualifying procedure again. But we didn’t do that, the little car ran great and now there’s one last stop as Dan mentioned….final certification. Here we’ll go through a third technical inspection to make sure the car is class legal and because we are, the record will be certified. We’ll slap hands, smile, throw an 8,000 RPM chip in it and get ready to get back into line again….

THAT’S THE BASIC IDEA OF HOW THE RECORD SETTING PROCEDURE WORKS. THERE ARE TONS OF WRINKLES, DRAMA, AND OTHER STUFF THAT HAPPENS DURING THE WEEK BUT IF YOU KNOW THIS MUCH WE’LL BE ABLE TO FILL IN THE BLANKS FOR YOU STARTING NEXT WEEK!

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2 thoughts on “Bonneville Speed Week 2019: How The Heck Does The Record Setting Procedure Work, Anyway?

  1. DanStokes

    Good article with one small error ; Dan Warner has retired as Mayor of Impound. Mike Khaney (hope I spelled that right) is the new boss. Still, the procedures are correct.

    Let me add that we check for the 1 hour time from the end of the run to you reporting to Impound. DO NOT take the race car to the pits before arriving in Impound. If the race car has been to the pits or if you took more than an hour to get to Impound your qualifying run will be void and you’ll have to start the process over again. The goal is to assure that the car we watch over in Impound is the exact same car that you ran to qualify (makes sense, no?).

    Failure to follow pretty much any of the rules that Dan noted will result in voiding the run. If the body is found to be out of compliance you may be able to correct the issue or you may need to change class to continue running. Each group of classes (say, Comp Coupe) has a committee that oversees the rules and they will be brought in to Impound if there’s any uncertainty concerning the vehicle’s class compliance.

    Hope all this is helpful

    The other Dan

    1. DanStokes

      And one more thing…..

      Fer Pete’s sake, toss your (required) tarp in your support vehicle before you leave the pits to make your run. I can’t tell you how many folks stand around with their 4 hour clock ticking because they had to send someone back to their pits to get a tarp before they can park the car and get to work. The BLM required that each car be on a tarp when parked on the salt with the intent of catching any fluid that may drip and we have NO discretion on that rule.

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