Steamrolling the salt?

[Gary Perkinson]

Hey, everyone. Just curious--does anyone know if steamrolling the salt would make it smoother than the dragging and/or grading methods currently used? I know little to nothing about heavy machinery--so hopefully any flaming will be kept to a minimum--but it seems to me that if five or six (or however many it took) steamrollers could be run abreast down each course, they might do a pretty good job of compacting the salt into a smooth surface.

Any construction folks out there?

Gary

[k.h.]

How about a big zamboni?

[Stan Back]

I've been told that the surface was not flat.  And it appeared that way by the reaction of most cars.  It would seem to me that steamrollers would only follow the contour of the surface, which apparently to some was the whole problem, not the roughness or texture of the salt on top.

[Dynoroom]

"I know little to nothing about heavy machinery--"
Gary[/quote]

"Heavy" would be just be part of the problem, the salt can't stand too much weight in one spot, some people do get stuck from time to time.
This was just a year that Mother Nature delt us, there will be others.

[landracing]

Denis Manning has some new idea's on cutting and smoothing the current surface for his meet coming Sept 5-9. We will see how this will effect the salt and see if his idea will work.

I was also told steam rolling was not an option and would be to heavy.

Maybe this rain will help for the next coming event, I will post about the surface when I go back here in about 14 days.

If you want to be kept in touch with the surface and want to possbile run USFRA meet, please email me personally. If you may come out if surface is good then please keep in touch when Im out there 5-9 of September.

Denis has a 10-11 mile track mapped out, and if his ideas work and the track is good I would think that maybe the USFRA would use same course??? Maybe one of those guys will comment.....
Jon

[DallasV]

I probably have as much salt dragging expertise as anyone except Fred so here is my salt tragging 101 course.

1) Dragging: smoothes the course, clipps off any high points, and takes the loose salt off. Note: taking the loose salt off is very important. Start in the middle of the course and work out moving the loose salt to the outside edges. this is the best way to prep a course

2) Steamrollong: We tried this a few times for USFRA meets. All this does is mash the loose salt into the pores of the salt where it will work it's way out later, and turns high points into mashed loose salt.

3) Wheel packing: wheel packing is best when the salt is damp. the wheels fling the water into the air so there is more surface area of the water being evaporated by the air.

The problem with the course this year is the roughness and potholes allow a lot of spots for the loose salt to gather. so when the track is dragged instead of the salt  being dragged to the outside of the track it's collecting in the potholes and low spots. Thus a lot of spots for tires to break loose and unsprung cars are really screwed. I would be interested to know how many unsprung cars got records or ran fast.

Dallas

[hawkwind]

Interesting ,we had similar circumstances at Lake Gairdner this year ,it was under water for several months but had dried out enough for our meet ,the results were very different though , very hard and smooth ,why ? I believe Bonneville has a high concentration of potassium chloride (potash) where as Gairdner is mostly comprised of sodium chloride and gypsum ,dont know if this has any bearing on how they dry out ,just a thought
Gary

[bak189]

The grapevine tells me that by Sept 1 we will know if we can run the BUB trials......if not lets go boating...that is if they allow 2-stroke motors on the lake.

[JackD]

I have an underused 28ft sail boat on Mission Bay.
With 11mph winds and 89 degrees, the weather is mostly light in the daytime and mostlt dark at noght.

[JimW]

Is there something that could be done while the salt is under water that would encourage good course formation?  (I have no idea).

Thanks,
Jim W.