VOLUME ISSUE SEPTEMBER , P113
temperatures every night, presenting
more challenges for race equipment,
but if you can fight the freeze, the
tradeoff is cooler running tempera
-
tures.
The biggest challenge presented
by the largest salt flat in the world
is its remote location. Traveling
to and from the Salar de Uyuni is
a task in itself—throw in several
freight containers being shipped to
Chile and trucked over the Andes
into Bolivia, and you have yourself a
logistical nightmare that land-speed
competitors such as Mike Akatiff
and Al Lamb have yet to fully resolve.
Still, the allure of the Salar, and
the prospect of the last remaining
natural surface capable of allowing
two-wheel speeds of 300 and 400
miles per hour has the world's best
coming back time and again.
"If you want to come to the best
land speed track in the world, this is
the best place to be, by far," com
-
mented Richard Assen of Australia.
"You got 15 miles—you never get 15
miles on any track anymore. Any-
where in the world. The opportunity
to come here is great. It's fantastic."
And yes, there is already talk of a
2024 Bolivia land speed event.
W
hen it comes to the "great
white dyno" that land speed
racers seek, the Salar de Uyuni is
the ultimate proving ground, and for
some, the only suitable one. Utah's
Bonneville Salt Flats, the historic
home of land-speed racing, lacks the
appeal it once had, as its surface has
become compromised due to mining,
as well as by increasingly erratic
weather. The salt crust has been
reduced to inches in many places,
and it is rare to find a suitable race
-
track longer than 10 miles across its
46 square miles anymore. Storms
have now forced the cancelation
of Bonneville Motorcycle Speed
Trials (BMST), the only FIM Land
Speed World Records event in North
America, for two years in a row.
On the other hand, size is no issue
for the massive Bolivian Salar de
Uyuni. At 4000 square miles, the Sa-
lar is half the size of Massachusetts,
and during the winter season (our
summer), has a rock-solid surface
up to 30 feet thick. Coming up with
a 15-mile track is hardly a challenge,
but the Salar comes with a different
set of difficulties, not least of which
is the altitude. A searing altitude of
12,000 feet makes it hard for engines
(and humans) to breathe, although
the tradeoff is improved aero with
less atmosphere to push through.
Winter temperatures on the Boliv
-
ian Altiplano plunge into sub-zero
Bolivia?
At half the size of
Massachusetts,
the Salar de
Uyuni is the new
definitive proving
ground for land
speed world
records.
Why
