The Bonneville Speed Week 2019 Aftermath

Learning by doing is a good thing because it moves you forward. Knowledge can be acquired in various ways, but one of them is definitely; practice. So even if we only got one chance to race this year (and a couple of test races down the rookie race lane) we got a deeper understanding about Landspeed racing in general and Speed Week in particular.

We had the time to get to know other races, while we all waited for the racetrack to dry up and we experienced how slushy the salt can be when the weather gods is against you.

People who really knew, explained how the Bonneville Salt Flats dry up every spring, how it differs between the years and how the flats gets a hard raceable salt surface. Finally, we got a little bit humbler. At least when it comes to reaching +200mph on the Salt.

To reach our goal, a lot of stars needs to be in their right position. The race car must work perfectly. The tow truck must be perky and all drivers needs to be cool, focused and happy and in addition, the race track needs to be better than good. Then…

Nevertheless, at some point in time we pulled up the 449 Amazon on our trailer...

...and headed out in the Wild West. As usually, new places was found.  Places like Ely where hotels like Hotel Nevada, provided a nice atmosphere.

After a couple of days in epic landscapes, we were back at Erik and Ruth's Place in California. We met Nisse The Camtwister and his team and we all had the same task. Wash, clean and fix technical problems and pack.

Cleaning strategy after Bonneville Speed Week:

Clean rigorously. Crawl under the vehicle. Start all over again. Repeat the proceedure five times, minimum. Spray the anti-corrosion fluid of your likings in all cavities. 

When the race car and our Suburban finally were nice and shiny, we cleaned up the electical system as well to avoid future race disturbance.

Eventually everthing came to a happy end.

The Salt Slush Racing Team got more experianced. The 449 Amazon is better than ever and Anders, Eriks and Ruth's son got a Salt Slush Tee.

And yes, there was a really nice after race party too!

Rocket Ride

- If says Rocket…just seal the deal. That was Magnus words of wisdom, when Carina asked for advice. As it turned out, he was right. The Ariens Rocket Rototiller is a good thing to have. Because when it eventually start up, it's a powerful...destroyer. 

Years passed and Magnus advice was softly pounding my brain. Then suddenly, in the middle of the desert, when I was in despair, it was standing there. Like a vision. Right beside me. A 1949 Oldsmobile Rocket just sat there softly in the sand. Waiting.

 One year later I learned that it was for sale and yes, I bought it. But why? A no-brainer. It was a Rocket. A Rocket 88.

So what's so special about a rocket? What makes it magic? 

Well... it's aiming high, it has speed, it's there to find new places in new space. Like a meterior it will bring change. Of some kind.

Once upon a time it was groundbreaking. The Oldsmobile Rocket 88 entered the scene in a time of hope and blind naive believe in future and technology. Similar like today. It created the first muscle car craze and initiated a performance race that lasted for decades.

 As a consequence, the first Rock'n Roll song was about the Rocket 88.

Rocket 88 came with a overhead valve V8 with 300% more power than the average European car and 40% more than Ford V8 in US. On top of that easy to tune. Consequence; It won NASCAR and Le Carrera Pan Americana 1949. The Oldsmobile sales went ballistic. I'm not surpriced,

Yes, people were tempted to use this power source in even lighter vehicles.

The Rocket 88 Commercial: Go fast, aim high with rocket speed.

Go to the Moon! Even to March!

At this point in time the grey hangover of the 70-ties were still far away.

Epilogue: Magnus is correct. If it's called Rocket search for the wallet. It's good for you.

Later on, new fast forward looking words entered the scene.

Supercharged and Turbo are two of those.

We know all about it.

We've been here, we've been there...we've basically been everywhere!

There was this rumor. Based on a thousend year old story about a basement in which corpes were kept at times when corpes were kept in basements. A rumor about ghosts and a creepy basement for all to enjoy. 

However, Salt Slush Racing seems to be ghost repellent. Probably too busy dreaming sweet dreams of speed on Salt. No time left for slow going ghosts. Therefore we didn't pay attention to howling spirit of unease . Consequence; Wanbo Herrgård left nothing but a beer bill to remember.

Why did we go to Dalarna, Sweden for Gasoline MEGA meet a couple of days after coming home from our Bonneville Speed Week in US of A?

Here's why... 

1. Anders Magnuson Supercharged LS equipped El Caminoooo needed a proper shake down.

Since she ain't no trailor queen, we took her for her first 450km spin.

Pictured: Kalle, a survivor, proud as can be.

 

2. Cina likes to travel, espscially when there's ghosts on the agenda.

3. We like to help to heal the soul of those in search of pointless power.

Because only then we're coming close to the meaing of life. 

4. Amazon in flames. Worth the trip.

5. Happy customers coming to see us.

That's why. 

Volvo Amazon 122 over the top

Just take a look !

There are more crazy people with the ambition to make Go Fast Amazons.

First one is Mr Toads Wildride !

When you go over the top and make it real, 

when everything is working and fits together, it all becomes very nice.

Ok... There's a hidden Corvette under the Amazon 

but the craftsmanship and the way it is done is fantastic.

Below You see another Amazon, aimed for Dragracing with a turbocharged big block. 

We're talking about Charlie Ostedt's 'Amazing Delivery.

Seems to be very nicely done too !

 The Salt Slush Racing team gets inspired. Very well done benchmarks.

Mother f** Nature!

They told us already from the beginning. They warned us about her. Becuase she's bad to the bone. She's evil and got no remorse. We're talking about Mother Nature.

Experienced Landspeed Racers told us that there was this Trinity. Something that was hard to understand but would be obvious to us sooner or later. They explained that technology, driving skill and nature was all involved in each race. We've looked at those guys for a couple of seconds and went back to think about cam timing, turbo matching and aerodynamics and other important stuff.

We're now enlightened. We've travelled from Sweden to L.A. We've picked up our Green Burb In Ventura, we traveled from L.A area to Bonneville Speed Week and we were tagged, prepared, and ambitions, because the 449 Amazon is calibrated and Cobra fast. We were a bit anxious because we knew that we were about to go fast on the salt. 200 mph was not out of hand.

Then she showed up. In bad mood. She literally rained on our parade. Mother f*** Nature.

Here's what happened; The Friday before the Saturday when it was all about to get going, the rain started falling heavily. Consequently, the salt bed was flooded, and the race postponed for three days. Then suddenly, on Tuesday the race was on! But only on track out of four was open.

With only one track opened….we waited under the blistering sun for the moment of truth. 

We carried our own shadow for ten hours and finally…

...it was our turn. Our slot. Our time to shine and perform. After approximatly 300 meter / yards we suffered an electrical problem, the engine stalled and we quitely rolled off the track, well aware of the fact the there was no time for a second run.

Yes, we restlessly drove around at the shortend 1 mile rookie track at 150mph a couple of times, after we fixed the electrical problem just because we could, but…

...except for one hell of a sun tan, the only positive outcome of the Bonneville Speed Week 2019 is deeper understadning of the land speed racing, a kind of respect for how whimsey Mother Natur can be and the virtue of waiting.

But we'll be back!

We'll be fast

Be sure!

The Race Is On!

We've been waiting. We've been walking around in...Salt Slush…for days. But now it's finally time. Time to get to get going.

Long before any sensible Cook would crow, we'll be on our way to The Bonneville Flats.

Can we run? Will we go fast? Nobody knows.



Out there on the Salt, The Amazon is waiting….

...to be towed away to the race.

Only one thing is for sure....We'll know more 24h from now!

Preparation ongoing. Only a few days left until Bonneville Speed Week 2019.

I'll keep this short. Because the hour is getting late. We're in a process. We're on the move. While we're flooding in sweat under the Californian Sun our ToDo list is getting shorter hour by hour. We're currently doing fine, we're on track, but at the same time we know that anything can fail anytime. That's racing.

Anyhow, here's short report, from Today, Wednesday, August 8th:

The Amazon runs fine, engine oil level adjusted, all essential bolts tightened and secured, coolant system checked.

After the usual struggle with loading our race car…

...we finally got it up on the trailer (no casualties). Tomorrow morning we're heading out in the desert. First step; LasVegas.

 

Meanwhile, Erik and Rick are working really, really hard to get their race car ready for Bonneville Speed Week.

Thier machine, a turbocharged (EFR 7670 turbo) Ardun V8 is braking new ground. To package a bi-turbo Ardun V8 engine in a bomb tank, lakester ain't a task for beginners.

The yard at Erik's Place is getting crowded, since more people are getting ready for Bonneville Speed Week. Nisse and his team from A-Bombers is loading his lakester...