Author Topic: SpeedWeek 2017 - the event!  (Read 357154 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline ronnieroadster

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 973
Re: SpeedWeek 2017 - the event!
« Reply #255 on: August 24, 2017, 03:47:36 PM »
 Save the salt is not working!  RETURN THE SALT should be the focus. Until there's more salt to work with the conditions will not get better. The salt is so thin now any extreme attempts to making the surface smooth will only remove what little salt remains and leave dirt in its place like Sid wrote.
Working in the shop I use the 'F' word a lot. No not that word these words Focus and Finish go Fast and Flathead Ford!
 ECTA  XF/BGRMR Record 179.8561
 LTA    XF/BGRMR  Record 200.921 First  Ever Ford Flathead Roadster to hit 200 MPH burning gasoline July 2018
 SCTA  XF/BGRMR Record 205.744  First gas burning Ford flathead powered roadster to top 200 MPH at Bonneville August 7, 2021 top speed 219.717
 SCTA  XXF/BGRMR Record 216.131 plus a Red Hat
"Life Member of the Bonneville 200 MPH Club"

Offline NathanStewart

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1241
Re: SpeedWeek 2017 - the event!
« Reply #256 on: August 24, 2017, 04:42:06 PM »
It seems the old method of dragging does a good job of knocking down the high spots but doesn't do much to fix the low spots and it's these low spots that make for all these mini pot hole bumps that make the courses and other dragged surfaces rough AF.  In my mind I thought something kind of like what JL mentioned but much bigger than a floor grinder since we've got a many miles of track that are hundreds of feet wide.  I Googled 'rotary grader' and found this: https://www.sportsturfspecialties.com/laser-grading?lightbox=dataItem-igv3y2li

Click on that and then go to their main page.  They do laser guided grading for ball fields mostly it seems but perhaps it's worth a phone call for some consultation.  Maybe we need to pony up for a road grader and build a rotary "blade" for it.  Prep the courses before the winter rains and hopefully they turn out flat the next year. 

But who knows.... 
El Mirage 200 MPH Club Member

Offline noboD

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 141
Re: SpeedWeek 2017 - the event!
« Reply #257 on: August 24, 2017, 05:00:33 PM »
Save the salt is not working!  RETURN THE SALT should be the focus. Until there's more salt to work with the conditions will not get better. The salt is so thin now any extreme attempts to making the surface smooth will only remove what little salt remains and leave dirt in its place like Sid wrote.
  Amen!! How many Euclids would it take to haul enough salt back from across the road to build a good course?  And congrats Ronnie, on your record run.

Offline desotoman

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2815
Re: SpeedWeek 2017 - the event!
« Reply #258 on: August 24, 2017, 05:45:48 PM »
If anyone that lives in SoCal has driven the 101 freeway in a 3/4 ton pickup with a utility bed loaded with tools, knows that you did not want to be holding a cup of coffee in your hand without a lid on it during certain stretches of that highway as you ended up wearing the coffee. The truck would be bouncing so hard that you thought the frame was going to break.

Well someone came up with a solution and that was to build a machine to grind the high spots on the freeway, and after that was done bingo a smooth ride. So the machines have been built.

That is what needs to be done at Bonneville and then a machine like a Zamboni in behind the grinder that would gather the loose salt add a tinge of water and fill in the grooves and potholes. But I am afraid the salt is not thick enough for this type of operation.

We just need more salt on the flats, weather by pumping, trucking or conveyor.

Tom G.
I love the USA. How much longer will we be a free nation?

Asking questions is one's only way of getting answers.

The rational person lets verified facts form or modify his opinion.  The ideologue ignores verified facts which don't fit his preconceived opinions.

Offline DallasV

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 578
Re: SpeedWeek 2017 - the event!
« Reply #259 on: August 24, 2017, 07:12:33 PM »
Save the salt is not working!  RETURN THE SALT should be the focus. Until there's more salt to work with the conditions will not get better. The salt is so thin now any extreme attempts to making the surface smooth will only remove what little salt remains and leave dirt in its place like Sid wrote.
Return the salt is the focus of Save the Salt. Spent some time talking with Stuart Gosswein about just that. Hopefully some things will happen that force the BLM to return the salt back with govt. funds. That is the focus of the fight currently
Records or parts, I didn't come all this way not to break something.

Offline ack

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 334
Re: SpeedWeek 2017 - the event!
« Reply #260 on: August 24, 2017, 07:18:43 PM »
There's just not enough thickness to put a blade to it, that will likely just peel it off the the brine dirt base. I think the only way you could do anything with it that might work would be a really big power trowel but you'd have to hit it when it's still wet. The fact that it's so thin now means the grooming window is so small between too wet & too dry. If you take a good look at it now you can also see the marks of the drain water direction as it went down the gurgler to the plant, they run across the course. By the marks in the pit area it appeared SCTA used some type of harrow to try & knock it down.  
  Sid

 Will likely, or maybe, at least try it off course.

  I think several Terrazzo grinders set up in a triangle on a platform might work. Not the actual grinders but blades
set up as in lawn mowers but longer, with stones attached. Or maybe just the blades from the grinders would be best as their all ready set up to change stones. Set up on a wheeled platform that can be raised or lowered. grinder linked with belts and powered by a good salvage yard  pre-computer motor. Several feet long to hit the high spots and just wide enough to transport with out a permit.
  
  Grinding the high spots  filling in the holes an compacting the salt after scraping with their tire compactor.

  Terrazzo grinder is a machine with grinding stones used to polish a marble slurry. Used for many commercial floors.

  Something different needs to be done. Look at all the turn outs, give ups, spins and crashes in the results.

                  JL222
 

Nothing new

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqvpcX4HoCg


Offline Stan Back

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 5879
Re: SpeedWeek 2017 - the event!
« Reply #261 on: August 24, 2017, 07:45:25 PM »
I agree with Sid --

You gotta have something to grind if you're gonna do it.
Past (Only) Member of the San Berdoo Roadsters -- "California's Most-Exclusive Roadster Club" -- 19 Years of Bonneville and/or El Mirage Street Roadster Records

Offline jl222

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2955
Re: SpeedWeek 2017 - the event!
« Reply #262 on: August 24, 2017, 08:19:42 PM »
It seems the old method of dragging does a good job of knocking down the high spots but doesn't do much to fix the low spots and it's these low spots that make for all these mini pot hole bumps that make the courses and other dragged surfaces rough AF.  In my mind I thought something kind of like what JL mentioned but much bigger than a floor grinder since we've got a many miles of track that are hundreds of feet wide.  I Googled 'rotary grader' and found this: https://www.sportsturfspecialties.com/laser-grading?lightbox=dataItem-igv3y2li

Click on that and then go to their main page.  They do laser guided grading for ball fields mostly it seems but perhaps it's worth a phone call for some consultation.  Maybe we need to pony up for a road grader and build a rotary "blade" for it.  Prep the courses before the winter rains and hopefully they turn out flat the next year.  

But who knows....

 Yea Nathen, something like that.

 
« Last Edit: August 24, 2017, 10:24:00 PM by jl222 »

Offline jl222

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2955
Re: SpeedWeek 2017 - the event!
« Reply #263 on: August 24, 2017, 08:47:12 PM »
It seems the old method of dragging does a good job of knocking down the high spots but doesn't do much to fix the low spots and it's these low spots that make for all these mini pot hole bumps that make the courses and other dragged surfaces rough AF.  In my mind I thought something kind of like what JL mentioned but much bigger than a floor grinder since we've got a many miles of track that are hundreds of feet wide.  I Googled 'rotary grader' and found this: https://www.sportsturfspecialties.com/laser-grading?lightbox=dataItem-igv3y2li

Click on that and then go to their main page.  They do laser guided grading for ball fields mostly it seems but perhaps it's worth a phone call for some consultation.  Maybe we need to pony up for a road grader and build a rotary "blade" for it.  Prep the courses before the winter rains and hopefully they turn out flat the next year. 

But who knows.... 

  Yea Nathan, something like that.

 I wasn't posting about a single machine [ that would be nuts] but using the design of the terrazzo machines using several blades [ they have replaceable cutting stones mounted on blades] and mounting them on a long platform for a more even course.
  Or cutters as in Ack's post but bigger and more of them, staggered as in lawn tractors to get max coverage.

 It always amazes me how someone with no experience grading can say it can't be done. A little salt graded off the top will fill a lot of holes.

  Its worth a try with a small machine off course. 

                  JL222

Offline kiwi belly tank

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3132
Re: SpeedWeek 2017 - the event!
« Reply #264 on: August 25, 2017, 11:47:09 AM »
For the last few years I've gone down & inspected the salt after the water is drained off & it's starting to dry off. Last year the golf-ball-like surface was about a 1&1/2 miles long but thus year it's a good 2/3 of the whole salt flats. Those big dimples are actually created in the brine dirt surface & the thin salt crust has formed to that shape. My suspicions are that what is happening is the thin salt crust actually becomes fluid when covered with water & agitates the divots in the dirt then the salt dries to that.
Next spring I plan to go down earlier with a boat when it's flooded to see what the real story is.
If any of you go back again this year, take the time to scratch around one of those divots & you'll see what I'm talking about.
  Sid.   

Offline SPARKY

  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 6908
Re: SpeedWeek 2017 - the event!
« Reply #265 on: August 25, 2017, 11:56:13 AM »
Sid----get a John boat and call the propster
Miss LIBERTY,  changing T.K.I.  to noise, dust, rust, BLUE HATS & hopefully not scrap!!

"Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing."   Helen Keller

We are going to explore the racing N words NITROUS & NITRO!

Offline fastesthonda_jim

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 587
  • Ready to Rock 2003
Re: SpeedWeek 2017 - the event!
« Reply #266 on: August 25, 2017, 12:35:36 PM »
SSS, Where is the audio from the Lamm/Cook interview on Bolivia.  I went to Meredix.com (never heard of 'em before) and there is no "Listen now" (or whatever) link.
Thots please?
Thanks,
Jim Knapp
2006 SCTA High Points Champeen
2006 Dirty "2" Wrench Of The Year
Bonneville "2" Club 2003
El Mirage Dirty "2"'s 2006
Bonneville Records: G/GS, F/GS (Boy)  G/FS (Girl)
El Mirage Records: F/BFS, F/FS, F/GS, I/FS, I/GS, K/BGS
FIA Records A, II, 8
Unlimited License
300mph line qualified (305.129 best mile speed)
The older half of San Diego's Fastest Couple
2016 Man of Distinction Award
DLRA 2019 Top Speed of The Meet (309.438 Mile - 323.3 GPS)

Offline typo41

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 133
    • Huntimer Photography
Re: SpeedWeek 2017 - the event!
« Reply #267 on: August 25, 2017, 01:13:06 PM »
So I talked so someone that has seen a number yearly salt surfaces,, like over 50 years.

He mentioned that this year the salt dried too hot too fast, so the higher pressure ridges were hard dry and the lower areas were still soft, then when the late rains came, the soft was diluted back into the mud, so the holes.

When BNI came to smooth, I heard the drag just chattered over the salt, normally you would have the soft salt to use to smooth and fill just not this year.

And what about all the salt that was blown down to Floating Mountain from Roads End (remember the 'lake' photos)?
I hear it is thick and flat,,,,,,,,
Tony Huntimer
Huntimer Photography

Offline jl222

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2955
Re: SpeedWeek 2017 - the event!
« Reply #268 on: August 25, 2017, 01:25:54 PM »
So I talked so someone that has seen a number yearly salt surfaces,, like over 50 years.

He mentioned that this year the salt dried too hot too fast, so the higher pressure ridges were hard dry and the lower areas were still soft, then when the late rains came, the soft was diluted back into the mud, so the holes.

When BNI came to smooth, I heard the drag just chattered over the salt, normally you would have the soft salt to use to smooth and fill just not this year.

And what about all the salt that was blown down to Floating Mountain from Roads End (remember the 'lake' photos)?
I hear it is thick and flat,,,,,,,,

  I know what that chattering is from grading my long driveway, I had to add a lot of weight to stop it.

                            JL222

Offline Seldom Seen Slim

  • Nancy and me and the pit bike
  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 13158
  • Nancy -- 201.913 mph record on a production ZX15!
    • Nancy and Jon's personal website.
Re: SpeedWeek 2017 - the event!
« Reply #269 on: August 25, 2017, 02:39:38 PM »
Jim, the audio is archived at the Meridix site on the landracing.com page.  I know it ain't easy to find anything in particular - as I remember it isn't sorted by anything other than the day.  That is, to find the interview you'll need to have some idea of what time of day it was (and which day) and then go through the thing, fast forwarding your way 'til you get to about the right time, then listen slowly 'til you find it.

Slick it ain't.  I admit that I've never really tried it - will see if I can figure it out this weekend.

But anyway -- it should be there.  Ya just gotta find it.  Sorry for the incornvenience.
Jon E. Wennerberg
 a/k/a Seldom Seen Slim
 Skandia, Michigan
 (that's way up north)
2 Club member x2
Owner of landracing.com