1 of 52; completely unrestored...

and racing on the salt like it was born to. 

HRD: original badass.

a few salty rides...

story of my life...

all hooked up and out of gas

in my own defense, i didn't think i could blow through 2 gallons of 104 octane that quickly. and i did get one pull in but the computer messed up and didn't record the data. i should have seen this coming.

the foregone conclusions

wow, weird, out of gas, again, in Utah, again

 the salty family! deny any recognition of the fools on the left. the fine individuals on the right are Ed, Brian and Tucker; anyone would be lucky to know these folks.

 time to go, and act like idiots.

 it took a solid 45 minutes to wash most of the salt from my under-carriage, getting the van cleaned was even harder.

blahblahblah

the main thing you do on the salt is wait in line. first you wait to register, then tech inspection, then pre-staging, then at the starting line. about the only cool thing with waiting in line is that it seems to be your only time to BS with other teams. 

 these are the cats that made life way better. we met them a few years ago and apparently made enough of an impression.

 on our way to the hardware/solution store

 so our main issue out there was holding traction. a tire swap was out of the question so many we did what the older guys were doing, adding weight. the only option was conduit filled with cement. it got us 22 pounds heavier and 4mph faster. too bad the tech-guys said they were only letting us back on the track because we promised this would be our last try.

 searching for the very elusive "good angle"

continued...

some of the shit that was torn out: the water pump, fuel pump, timing cover and all the appropriate hoses and bullshit. that lucky duck earned himself a few burritos

 some rain on our parade

 livin large bitches

 on our way to staging

an idiot's trip the the Bonneville Salt Flats

after driving for most of the night and camping behind an 18-wheeler we finally made it to the salt. on the trip there dylan had installed the new radio, pointed out our need of "more modern and not filled with water" headlights and noticed a slight oil leak from the depths of the van; 2 quarts every 150 miles. either way, we got there again. 

 seeing the sun come up over this church of speed should be on every gear-head's bucket list.

 as luck would have it we found a familiar face at the "the bend". this is Ed. Ed is awesome. Ed makes up 1/3 of Speed Team Doo (STD) and races an old triumph 250 in the partially streamlined class. the be more specific, he owns the current record. if it were not for him and the rest of STD, our trip would have been far more miserable.

 waiting for them to open the event.

 dylan assigned himself the dubious task of chasing the leak and plugging it. this was no small task by any means and in the process he managed to mummify is backside from lying on salt all day.

the story is coming soonish

my van fell apart as soon as i dropped dylan off at the airport. i see that as a sign that the van fears him...    anyways, once i finish washing the salt from my socks we will post up the intrepid tale of fortitude, disaster, romance, shark attacks, a cursing santa clause and an epic fail.

hmmmm....

http://saltflats.com/traction.html
considering our troubles, this was a brief but good read.

Bonneville