Spectators can walk through the staging lanes and pits and talk to the drivers and crews. Each car runs alone on the course, competing only against the official timer’s clocks. Bonneville racing events are different than most- there is no side-by-side competition. Due to the curvature of the earth, you can’t see from one end of the course to the other. The speedway is 80 feet wide and 10 miles long with a black reference stripe down the middle.
The events end when rains cover the area with a few inches of water, giving it the appearance of a very shallow lake. “Speed Week” takes place mid-August, followed by “World of Speed” in September, and the “World Finals” take place early October. Some of today’s records set by jet and rocket engines are in excess of 600 mph! Bonneville speed trials are scheduled throughout the summer. The first world land-speed record here was set on Septemby Sir Malcolm Campbell. If you’re a race fan, you might want to visit when the action is taking place, but at all other times of year, the interpretive signage explains the history and significance of the area. World land-speed record times represent an electronically-timed average of two runs over the measured mile within an hour time period-one run in each direction. Timing of world land-speed record runs is under the jurisdiction of the United States Automobile Club. Not only does the high concentration of salt here make the terrain unique, but this is also the home of Utah’s famed measured mile and the site of world land-speed record runs. Named after an early military explorer, the flats are about 12 miles long and five miles wide.
The flats were formed when ancient Lake Bonneville slowly evaporated and left behind a hard, white salt crust that can be up to five feet thick in the middle, tapering to about an inch on the edges. If you’ve never stopped for a closer look, take Exit 4 just before reaching the Nevada state line. While driving on Interstate 80 in northwest Utah, you can’t help but notice the barren Bonneville Salt Flats.
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