We're at Bonneville Speed Week! The Race is on!

We're racing. The short dark nights are cool, but the long days are hotter than hell. We're at the end of the rainbow. We're at Bonneville Speed Week with our Salt Slush Amazon! Here's a short status report before I need to sleep dreamlessly for some hours.

 

The Amazon is now approved at both El Mirage and Bonneville!  

Morning in at The Salt Flats. Approved. Ready. 

Catrine & Carina are ready too. 

Race cars must be towed when sailing on the salt. We're heading to the start line 4. Temperature is raising.

 

Karl-Johan is not freezing at this point. It's 38deg C outside. Luckily he has his 5 layer race suit and helmet on... 

Tensions released! Kalle is happy as can be after a successful Rookie race. Next step awaits. 

No glory without pain. While the race car works fine, the starter motor in our Suburban gave up today. On the Salt when the Burb was working as push car. But, with support from the amazing Carrillo Brother Auto Service in East Wendover I managed to get the Burb towed and repaired in 4 hours. On a Sunday. Won't happen in Sweden. Ever. Thanks!!

Summary: We managed to complete 3 successful Rookie runs today at Bonneville and fix a broken Chevy Suburban.

We'd better call it a day and get going with some more racing tomorrow!

United in the palm shadow. The team and The Amazon. Day 5 in US

We haven't seen our race car since May when we test drove it at El Mirage after Erik and ourselves had tuned the weight, chassi and engine calibration. Therefore it's nice to meet again in the hot shadow outside Erik's workshop in L.A.

 

Now, when the whole team has gathered in L.A, we need a couple of days to make tick in all the box on our to do list. We need to get our race gear, preparing the race car with the last details and fill our Suburban with equipment needed for Bonneville. Then drive for a couple of days. Vacation is definitely over. The fun begins.

Anders has already learned to work in 35 degC /95 degF 

A big tachometer is now installed. 

The Borg Warner EFR 9180 turbo has got a cover in order to keep engine bay cooler and the paint on the hood ok... 

 

Dry, cool and marked for life. Things are getting better. Day 3 in the US of A.

After trouble comes peace. At least temporary. Our Suburban has got a new Thermostat, a new Coolant pump and new hoses and is now it's sealed and dry. Moves majestic.

We're touring around in So Cal, while waiting for the rest of the team to arrive in US. Step by step we're heading towards the Amazon and Bonneville.

The Burb runs fine, but something was still missing…

 

From good to great.

Other than that? Carina finally had a Martini at Musso & Franks.

 

Dreaming is over, we're in the brutal reality. Day 1 in US...

Before we left Sweden, Carina stated; 

-We'll be spending the first two days working on the old big block Burb.

I ignorde her negativism and gave our the team Cassandra a realistic answer;

- Don't you worry, it ran perfectly when we parked it. In April...         

So here we are outside Magnuson Superchargers in California. Anders and I are investigating...a minor water leakage...  

One hour later. Anders and I are changing a water hose.  Yes, Carina took the picture.

1.5 hour later. We managed go change the hose, just to realize that it was the coolant pump that was leaking and not the hose. We left the Burb at Pep Boy Service station in Ventura and went to our hotel. We'll pick it up on Thursday. Hopefully sealed and dry. Yes, Carina took the picture. 

While dreaming about Bonneville Speed Week...

When you in slumber, in no man's land, between dream and reality, your mind is levitating and anything could go in any direction. In this creative mode you're waiting for

The Wake up Call.

If the time in wonderland was alright, you normally don't feel the urge to wake up, but if you've been reaching for the unreachable and never get there, the morning light feels good. Really good. 

So what's this all about?

Have we all gone mad?

No.

We're just waiting for

The Race with capital letter and the epic adventure to begin.

Our flights to be announced

Soon we'll be wide awake.

Meanwhile...Annika Wangnik created art on Carina's part washer.

She has not signed it. Yet.

Still, priceless. 

Carina planted various green stuff outside Salt Slush Racing establishment, where green stuff is growing and the Salt Slush Racing Amazon was built.

The hanging garden of Ringön a homage to the Gods of Speeds. 

.

 As temperature was raising outside, our -36 Chevy was serving as a vehicle of dreams.

But before showing up in dreams…

….brake caliper were in need of some TLC reality.

Eventually it all paid of.

When the Salt Slush workshop was all heated up, we woke up sweating just to realize that we still were in dreaming mode.

But we'll not stay in this condition for long.

Because soon all flights to US of A has taken off and we need to leave our mental ground and get ready to make our Bonneville Land Speed Racing dream come true.

 The time for dreaming is over.

It's time get real.

Blue skies. Cool minds. Relaxing while preparing for the Salt Flats. Bonneville Speed Week coming up.

It ain't easy to relax if you're the active type. And it ain't easy to prepare mentally for Bonneville Speed Week either. We're trying and we're trying hard. We've heard from Ron Main that The Salt at Bonneville is good this year. Better that in many years. We've heard the race will be just fine if it all keeps dry. 

Besides, we've done our best to prepare what needs to be prepared. 

What more can we possibly do to be ready for The Challenge?

Here's what. We can (try to) relax in shape mentally.

We can sip beer in the sun…

 

...or let 24 cylinders and 18,8 liter displacement move us to.. 

...a moment in the sun when all was cool.

All Swedes are now hit by the unusual summer heat.

Some are down and dry.

Others drunk and dumb.

All? 

No, there's still one small spot where deeds are done daily. 

Yes, you're all correct.

The Salt Slush Speed Shop is of course open.

Race turbos can be shipped.

Superchargers can be ordered.

El Camino prop shaft can shortened to fit the LS + Magnuson supercharger engines. 

 Besides. I need to stop write now. The hours is getting late. Gotta get some sleep before we're heading for a roadkill kind of tour... I'll tell you more in a couple of days. If we survive.

The Factory? Or just any Sunday at Ringön, Gothenburg...?

The Team has a Van. A Chevy Van.

The concern: You need a hammer in addition to the key to start it. Other than that it runs just fine.

The advantage: You can Cadillac it down the road. In comfort. It runs great in the any speed of your liking. It has a sloppy 305 V8 engine that's humming low. Smooth and Quietly.

Red and white on the surface.

But with a burning red plush interior from factory inside.

Best Texas whorehouse style.

Before we bought the Chevy Van we had VW bus.

Which was grey inside.

 Like a German office. 

The swap felt refreshing. 

But there's always a but. 

Like when a failed starter motor... 

... serves just like a group activity.

Our Ringö neighbor, a reasonably famous artist, who has a substantial dog, came by to which us luck. The dog was full. Just hade a meal. Felt good.

While our other garage friend took off with his stuff to a, for us, new unknown destination. We'll miss him.

Eventually, the Van the Man needed no hammer. It now starts like dream every time the key is turned. Ready to cruise on open roads with storys telling friends. 

 Meanwhile life goes around all around us. At Ringön, Gothenburg.