Bonneville Racing News 2010

Well, we made it back for the October 2010 meet – didn’t make the August meet this year – too much work left to be done on a new car build for a customer from Texas.

The new car was a rebuild of an old salt car from the 70’s. So we were able to finish and run in October with high hopes for both cars. However, we have had better years.

First, our car barely made one run – 217mph and blew a head gasket. Too much boost and we were lifting the heads off the block. So, back to the drawing board – we’ll be back next year.

Now for the new car – a ’27 “T” modified roadster with a baby motor 180cu in V8 small block Chevy - trying for an F Class record right at 200mph. First our check out pass – son Joe drove the short coarse 3 miles. All systems were working fine with an uneventful pass at 120+ mph. The second run, another check out pass testing traction, steering, boost pressure, handling, etc. Felt good – everything was ok. Easy pass at 172+ mph. Good day.

The next day we planned to get out on the long course and get with it. In the morning, after a few minutes of warming up the engine, we noticed way too much blue smoke coming out of the right side of the engine. After checking it out, we found that both seals on the turbo were literally blown out. I must say, in all the years we have run turbo charged engines, we have never had a turbo failure. So we didn’t bring a spare – we will next year!

So that was our 2010 Bonneville experience. Even the “not so good” years are great, just being out there with the “heat” in August and the “cold” in October. The sunrises and sunsets on the flats are fantastic and everything in between with racing your car and visiting with your race car buddies – there’s just nothing that can compare. I can’t wait for next year. Enjoy the photos.