VOL. 54 ISSUE 37 SEPTEMBER 19, 2017 P95
For 2017, the conditions at the Bonneville Salt
Flat were at least raceable, rather than ideal.
Temperatures ranged in the mid-80s to the
mid-90s for the week in which Speed Demon
Racing and their four-cylinder streamliner car
with George Poteet at the wheel went a stagger-
ing 423.521 mph in the early hours of Sunday,
August 13.
Watching someone go 400+mph on land is a
mesmerizing experience. On approach, it doesn't
look like the machine is going that fast, but once
the car crosses in front of your vision and drives
into the distance with a 50ft rooster tail of salt in
its wake, you know you're watching something
incredibly, terrifyingly, fast. The spectacle makes
your skin itch and the hairs on your neck stand at
attention.
SENDING IT
DOWN THE SALT
Indian Motorcycle earmarked the dates of Satur-
day, August 12 to Wednesday, August 16, as their
window to try and hit that magical 200 mph mark,
but the salt had other plans. The team would only
see three usable days in which they completed
just four runs, Lee topping out with a speed of
191.28 mph on his second run down the five-mile
Short Course on Saturday.
With such a speed attained on that first day
of trying, Munro and the team lengthened the
gearing on the Scout and headed to the nine-mile
Long Course in the hope of cracking 200 mph
on Sunday, yet came up drastically short when
high winds and poor salt conditions caused the
rear wheel to spin in top gear, limiting the Spirit of
Munro to 186.415 mph in what was Indian Motor-
cycle's only run for the day.
The team headed back to the Long Course
on Monday, but the rough surface meant the run
(Above) The
hot rod culture
is alive on
the salt.
(Left) ) Danny
Thompson's
Challenger 2
went 435 mph.
That. Is. Fast!
