Landracing Forum
Bonneville Salt Flats Discussion => 2017 and before: SW & WF => SpeedWeek 2014 => Topic started by: tallguy on August 05, 2014, 05:28:41 PM
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I'm keeping my fingers crossed . . . this is a BIG question for me:
Will it be permissible this year for spectators to drive out of the
pit area, and head "downcourse" (outside the "barrier fence),
and park near the finish line (at the end of the measured mile),
outside the "barrier fence" of course ?
I did this last year. It was very important for me. Saw Speed Demon,
the fastest vehicle of the meet, go 384. It had gone faster on an
earlier day.
If I drive all the way to Bonneville this year and am not allowed to watch
vehicles cross the finish line, I'll be sorely disappointed and may decide
never to go again.
Thank you for any information anyone can provide. Even a reference to
a source of the answer would help.
tallguy (in Northern California)
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Hey, tll fella. Don't count on being able to park adjacent to the 5 mile (end of the powered part of #1 long course). If you could see it to your satisfaction last year -- well, maybe again this year. But elsewhere on this Forum I see that someone noted that there might not be any spectators allowed beyond the end of the pits. I'll mention, though, that I was told the pits will be about 1 1/2 miles long this year. It's pretty common for the pit entrance by registration/inspection/impound is directly across from the timing tower - and that's about the 3 or 3 1/2. Go a mile down course from there - to the proposed end of the pits - and there you'd be at about the 5.
No promises and only hearsay. That's all I've got for you now. :?
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"If I drive all the way to Bonneville this year and am not allowed to watch
vehicles cross the finish line, I'll be sorely disappointed and may decide
never to go again."
Well, since this is surely a spectator sport, we'll pass that threat on to the powers that be.
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Stan, you're tough. :-D
I'll stan back in case I get Ko'd. :cheers: :cheers: :cheers:
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He needs to build a vehicle and then he can see the 5 mile marker real close. That is after he goes 175 in the 2-1/4 on the short course.
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Dang it, there goes the crowd count!
Sounds like a great place to be nabbed by the BLM Mounties or worse yet by a race vehicle full of smoke with very little peripheral vision (no names shall be used here but I also took out the finish line clocks) due to all the safety gear we now wear (I ain't bitchin, honest)!
One Run, out.......................
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I'd take the name of anyone that made threats like that and
use the usual suppression methods on the ungrateful whelp.
This is a perfect situation to apply Political Correctness.
If it rains maybe G O D is punishing him????
FREUD
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they had every body that was past the 5 mile marker just outside of the pits move back into the pits last year. Bunch of people were pissed off so I called the wa-wa-wambulance.
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Sir!!
Your post is really dumber than a box of worms in my back yard.
I don't know if you majored in physics or basket weaving, but I would point out that these folks (SCTA) have no doubt figured out all the angles on what can possibly go wrong with 5000 HP in a nitro fueled unit with possibly a stuck throttle.
Just ask Tom Burkland; if that can be classed as a "BIG EYED MOMENT".
He's easy to find; no doubt working tech, about 6' 3", 270ish#, white straw cowboy hat, gunfighter mustache, and a smile from here to Jerico.
I'll bet, that since this outfit goes back to 1949. they may have been around before you were a dirty thought in your old man's mind.
However... if your need for speed is not satisfied by 400+ mph in stream-liners, or the 300+ runs from the 911 roadster you can always retreat to the boring circle burners.
Decorum prevents me from venting further.
Regards,
Big Tall Jim..
Be content to observe from the 5 mile, if that is allowed.
I used to carry an 8' ladder, and sitting on the top, with a really good pair of binoculars, observed quite a bit.
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Dear Texican, Could you be more specific as to whos post is dumber than a box of worms in your back yard. Thanks
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Well,
I guess I was referring to the tall gentleman who suggested that if SCTA didn't want to do it his way, he just might not come back.
THas all...
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I came all the way from southern Australia, I'd sure be happy if the event is on, and I can see cars and talk to people. :-)
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Tall:
I never under estimate the audacity of the general public.
There are NO guarantees at Bonneville, period.
If I were you I would reconsider my position (attitude). Most of us that race there and have a lot of time and money invested are happy to still be allowed to race on that sacred ground. What with all the regulations, insurance issues and red tape I am amazed that we all still have the opportunity to race on public land. The SCTA has a monumental task of operating the Speedweek event keeping the venue in top shape, inspecting cars to race safe, operating and enforcing courses regulations on FOUR courses simultaneously, managing spectators, traffic, timing operations, pit activity, impound activity, staging lanes, helping racers/crews all with VOLUNTEERS...let me repeat that VOLUNTEERS. When spectators or racers exhibit an attitude such as yours it hurts all of us. NO ONE from SCTA, BNI, BLM, or Volunteers owes you anything. Racing and Spectating at Bonneville is a privilege and a privilege we guard jealously. So perhaps you should consider more than you selfish need to sit at the five mile mark or my I suggest you stay home.
my 2 cents
BR
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I'll buy that.
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X2, or three, or whatever we're up to now.
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Amen!
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Boy, I guess we told him.
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Well said! :cheers:
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Original poster here (tallguy).
I didn't mean to push anyone's buttons. Honestly. I've been to Bonneville
a few times, and may someday race there. I am very thankful to all the
volunteers, racers, crew members, SCTA, BLM, etc. for all the great racing
that goes on, and for keeping it all relatively safe (statistically, anyway). I
have no quarrel with any of this. And it wasn't my intent to appear that I would
want to -- or could -- DEPRIVE anybody of anything just by staying home.
I'll try to explain what my intended message was . . .
Watching a race vehicle begin its run doesn't seem as exciting to me
(because it's not that fast, near the start, and is going away), compared
to watching the vehicle go by at hundreds of miles an hour. I am aware
that the "barrier" kept me perhaps a thousand feet away from the race
lane. No problem there. I wouldn't want to be hit by a vehicle.
But if I can't watch from a similar place as before, then I won't have the
(perhaps historical) experience, for example, of clearly seeing a motorcycle
drive by at 400+ mph, the first ever to do so.
I never wanted to come across as a whiner in all this. And I was never a
poor sport: the type to say "it's my ball -- if you don't like the way I play,
I'm gonna take my ball home, depriving you all of the opportunity to play"
I made an assumption (right or wrong) that if the course is in good condition,
Speed Week doesn't change drastically from year to year (regarding what the vehicles
look like, and how they perform, with the exception of records being broken -- and
good luck to all the racers and crews!
For me, it would be particularly meaningful to watch the making of history that is of
specific interest to me. An example would be the first 400+ mph run by a motorcycle.
If I offended anyone by posting, I humbly hereby apologize. And I never meant to
demean anyone or their efforts. I appreciate it takes a lot of time and money to
go fast -- as well as a lot of discipline, sacrifice, problem-solving, etc. -- and I am
a mechanical engineer. I got into this field decades ago due to my interest in race
vehicles.
I also have seen, first-hand, how nice the racers, crews, SCTA officials, and spectators
are. I never doubted any of what I had read about this.
I am on a limited budget. I hope you can appreciate that. That is one reason I
might stay home next year, if the spectating experience isn't expected to be unusually
promising for me.
If it looked like a new wheel-driven record was about to be set, I'd want to attend and
watch -- even if I wasn't at a viewing spot even-with-the-5 when it happens. I'd prefer
to be there, though.
tallguy (Andy Lampenfeld, in Northern California)
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Well said Andy. The problem with the internet is that it's really hard to get a point across without being face to face with the people that you,re attempting to communicate with. On the other hand it's really easy for those people to misinterpret what you're trying to say.
I wasn't really happy with your original message but with your interpretation of what you were trying say you make sense and your message is good and understood. :-D :-D :-D
Pete
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Tall
Point taken.
Glad we all understand
BR
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There is a spectator parking area at the north end of the pits, to go beyond there requires a pit crew permit on the chase vehicle, a fire extiingsher, body panel removal tools and being a crew member, even the press needs to be escorted to that zone. 90% chance you will be run out or even have your pit pass taken. The rules are for everyone. I have been going to Bonneville since 1953, and a past SCTA board member and chief Timer as well as a member of the emergency team. Play by SCTA-BNI rules.
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There is a spectator parking area at the north end of the pits, to go beyond there requires a pit crew permit on the chase vehicle, a fire extiingsher, body panel removal tools and being a crew member, even the press needs to be escorted to that zone. 90% chance you will be run out or even have your pit pass taken. The rules are for everyone. I have been going to Bonneville since 1953, and a past SCTA board member and chief Timer as well as a member of the emergency team. Play by SCTA-BNI rules.
Amen Glen.
1 9 5 3 hmm that was three years before I was born and I ain't no spring chicken.
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tallguy its all good. I will be out around the 4 1/2 mile marker, look for a silver Buick Roadmaster. Stop by and have a :cheers:
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Find a crew that could use your help. Then as part of a crew you could be down course waiting for "your" car to come.
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At Lake Gairdner ten,or so, years ago it was quiet enough at the start line that you could hear an engine all the way down the course. That was all you needed, if you heard an entry that was running close to record go through all the gears and top out you knew it was on the money. Watching them go past isn't the same for me.
People can be rough on the net Tallguy,hope you have a good time.
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The only time I get to see the 5 mile is when I'm driving the race car :cheers:
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Tall guy, you may as well stay home from SCTA and USFRA meets and go to the Mike Cook Shootout. That's where you can watch those ultra fast vehicles put their chutes out. They use a one mile timed trap with a kilo trap inside the mile. When a vehicle runs EVERYTHING stops and spectators are moved to the trap area. No one is allowed outside of that area during a run and kids on 4 wheelers have been ushered off the salt for using them during a run. Draconian? Yes! Safety considerations? ABSOLUTELY! There's possibly twenty or so runs during a long day so you have a great opportunity to situate yourself for the runs.