West to Bonneville
There is a place on Earth where, since the beginning of the 20th century, mechanical enthusiasts and adrenaline junkies have come to challenge the Gods of Speed. Here, you come to break records and the question is to know what to possibly modify on your machine in order to succeed. The result? Picturesque-looking, half-retro, half-futuristic vehicles, a visual and sonorous cacophony where originality is only bounded by the imagination and ingenuity of each driver, all served in a lunar scenery. This place is Bonneville, vestige of an ancient drained lake, located in northwest Utah, near the border with Nevada, in the United States.
Originally, a lake of more than 51,000 km² with a depth of at least 300 meters, which came into being 25,000 years ago, covering an area that today would correspond to the north-west of Utah, the north-east of Nevada and the south-east of Idaho. Following the end of the last ice age more than 10,000 years ago and the ensuing global warming, Lake Bonneville gradually evaporated making way for the current Great Salt Lake near Salt Lake City, and further west, to a set of plains covered with a thick crust of salt reaching up to two meters in places, the largest one being the Bonneville Salt Flats near Wendover.
The Bonneville plains occupy an area of approximately 120 km², a portion of which is reserved for the "Speedway" and speed records. To get there, take Interstate 80 (I-80) from Salt Lake City, where the nearest airport is located, and count on a bit less than a two-hour drive.
On a side note, it was the American geologist Grove Karl Gilbert, who publishing a detailed study of the area in 1890, decided to name the lake "Bonneville" in honor of Captain Benjamin Louis Eulalie de Bonneville, an officer of the American army of French origin - he was born in the Paris region in 1796 - and a great explorer of the American West. His adventures were for that matter transcribed during his lifetime, under the pen of the writer Washington Irving, in the book The Adventures of Captain Bonneville, published in 1837.
But let’s get back to our heroes of the day. It all started one day in 1896, when a certain W. D. Rishel, who was preparing a cycling race between New York and San Francisco, discovered the existence of these "Salt Flats" and realized their potential. It was the perfect place to organize speed races. The news spread, and very quickly, a few daredevils came to try their luck. In 1914, it was Teddy Tetzlaff who, in his Blitzen-Bentz II, officially set the very first speed record reaching 230 km/h. However, it was mainly from the 1930's that Bonneville gained popularity, thanks to the pugnacity of one man, the future mayor of Salt Lake City, Ab Jenkins. A very good racing driver himself, he did everything he could to give this place international fame, not hesitating to land several great English drivers, including Sir Malcom Campbell, who in 1935 became the first man to pass the threshold of 300 mph, with a speed of more than 482 km/h. Since then, records have been coming one after another and the enthusiasm for Bonneville has never stopped.
A particularly popular event takes place there every year since 1949. It is the famous Bonneville Speed Week. Scheduled for the month of August, it welcomes for a week several thousand visitors who come to admire the mechanical achievement of some five hundred participants ready to challenge the "Salt Flats". Some do not hesitate to make the trip from New Zealand, Japan or even Sweden to fulfill this childhood dream. Here camaraderie is the rule. Everyone gives a helping hand. It's not uncommon to see competing teams trading tools or sharing a beer. The public, for its part, has the opportunity to walk around the pit lanes, chat with the drivers, admire the vehicles up close and even have a front row seat on the starting line, something unheard of in a speed race. The atmosphere is really relaxed in Bonneville. No one earns either money or a reward. The usual sponsors are also absent, which is not without adding an underground vibe to the race. So then no rivalry, the goal is to push your own limits back in quest of the ultimate thrill and set a new record by the sweat of your brow. We are talking about enthusiasts who, for the most part, work on their machine in the depths of their garage, often for years, and simply with the tools at hand.
The best example of it, if there is one, is of course Burt Munro. In 1920, then barely 21 years old, he bought an Indian Scout from a motorcycle dealership in Invercargill, his hometown in southern New Zealand. He would spend years building it, alone in his garage, creating hand-crafted parts, such as pistons, cylinder heads, the clutch or the handlebars. In 1957, he set a first record at Open Beach by exceeding 200 km/h. He was already 58 years old. But his lifelong dream was to cross the Pacific, and take his Indian Scout for a ride on the Bonneville Salt Flats. It would be taken care of in 1962, where he set a new record, approaching 288 km/h. His passion for speed would never wipe out and he would return to Bonneville many times, and he did right in doing so, since in 1967 he made history for good by pushing his motorcycle to over 296 km/h. At 68 years old, Burt Munro achieved a feat, to make his motorcycle the fastest Indian Scout in the world. His record has never been equalled to date. A real life lesson: there is no age to believe in your dreams and keep doing what you love.
© Alexandra Lier
© Bonneville Speed Week 2019 by GTspirit
© Simon Davidson
© The Blue Flame rocket, 1970. Gary Gabelich set a new world record by reaching the incredible speed of 1,014.51 km/hour.
© The Dauphine of Renault Classic at the Bonneville Speed Week 2016.
© Shinya Kimura at the Bonneville Speed Week 2013. Shot from the movie The Greasy Hands Preachers.
“When I was young, I just liked to ride a bike, because it was just cool and exciting. No other reason. For about the last 10 years, since many peaople ask me why I like bikes, I started to think about it. I guess I’m attracted by the vulnerability and the thrill of bikes.”
“When I design a bike, I’m aware of the flow of the bike, from the front to the tail, it has to be one continuing line. And the flow between a bike and the scenery. It has to suit in the scenery. I realized… that everything has a flow. When I ride my bike in Bonneville, for example, I try to present it as cool as possible. I mean the flow of producing bikes won’t finish until a person rides it in the most suitable location. […] My whole life is also a part of this flow. In the job and in my free time, I’m always aware of the flow.”
Words are by Shinya Kimura, from the movie The Greasy Hands Preachers.
Meet Shinya Kimura again and a glimpse of the Bonneville Salt Flats in the remarkable The Greasy Hands Preachers, a documentary film directed by Arthur de Kersauson and Clément Beauvais, released in 2015. Shooted in 16mm, the two accomplices went to meet the most courted motorcycle builders of the moment: Shinya Kimura, Deus Ex Machina, Shannon Sweeney from SS Classics, Roland Sands, El Solitario and Blitz Motorcycles. They joyfully embark us to Utah, to California, but also to Spain, to France, not to mention Indonesia and a magnificent road trip in Scotland. The film highlights the artisanal and manual work of these custom enthusiasts in their quest for the perfect motorcycle, one that manifests their identity by subtly combining aesthetics and performance, all to better satisfy this thirst for freedom that characterizes them all. Riding and discovering the world without planning or knowing what to expect; a lifetime experience. Yes, but as a pack it’s always better. And that's what the movie celebrates too: friendship, sharing, new encounters, this community spirit that stems from this same wonder in front of old bikes and the excitement of having to transform them in order to immediately set off again to live new adventures. Something to get inspired by!
