While I had the joyful experience of racing several vehicles on the pristine international course at Bonneville from 1970 (The Blue Flame) through 1974, 1971 was a difficult year on the salt. I-80 was under construction, built on a berm of earth, rocks, etc., alongside US40. During the winter of 1970-1971 debris consisting of mud and clay washed out on to the international course. When the summer wind and heat dried the Salt Flats, the debris was blown away leaving a veritable motocross surface ? well, not quite, but undulations remained in the high-speed section. That was when we ran the Honda Hawk motorcycle streamliner for the FIM record attempt.
Honda Hawk had a fixed rear suspension. As a result, at high speeds the rear wheel left the ground. We continually had two modes of failure on several record attempts, both related to over-revving the motors. While the motorcycle did have a rev limiter, it didn?t work. Solid state electronics were temperature sensitive in those days. The rev limiter was calibrated in the dynamometer lab at higher temperatures than the frigid conditions that October in the high desert. The result was disastrous.
At high speeds the rear tire would unload and the motors would rev up before Jon McKibben could roll back the throttle. Several times this resulted in bent valves when they floated and hit the pistons. Other times, when the rear wheel was over-speeding in the air it came down and overloaded the drive chain which stretched or snapped. It was not possible to make the FIM-required reverse direction runs in the time available. Finally, the 1971 salt flats racing season was over. Thank God!
Thankfully, in 1972 and 1974 when I came back with the 2 Pollution Packer rocket dragsters to attempt standing start records, Mother Nature had successfully restored the flat surface which lasted for several more decades.
Apparently, the BLM (should be Bureau of Land MISmanagement) has succeeded in destroying a beautiful natural wonder. I sincerely hope Bonneville salt flats will recover.
