2015 Speed Week at Bonneville Salt Flats cancelled

The 2015 Speed Week at the Bonneville Salt Flats, USA, has been cancelled due to heavy rains that deteriorated the condition of the salt surface on the flats.

The Southern California Timing Association (SCTA) reportedly visited the site and found that there was not enough dry area of the salt flats for a race course. Wet salt flats make for muddy conditions not suitable for carrying out high speed runs and competitors may get stuck as well.

As of now, only 2.25 miles (or just over 3.6 kilometres) of salt was in good enough condition to make for a safe race course, not nearly enough space for high-speed runs. For competitors to attain high speeds capable of setting new land speeds, a minimum of six miles (7.2 kilometres) is required, to get up to speed, hit their speed traps and slow down.

The Bonneville Salt Flats is an arid landscape completely devoid of life. The crusty salt surface has varied in thickness over time from about 6 inches to just about two inches these days. And beneath the salt surface lies a muddy, quicksand-like surface that makes racing or traversing the flats impossible. This year, no six mile stretch has salt over two inches thick, due to recent heavy rains.

The Bonneville Salt Flats have been used for high-speed racing since 1914, with the first official land-speed record being set in 1935. This is not the first time environmental delays have hit the Speed Week. Even last year, the event was cancelled due to heavy rains which triggered flooding to the salt flats.

Racers who were planning to compete at the Speed Week will now have to wait for the World Finals event that will take place from September 29 to October 2 at Bonneville.

In the motorcycle world, all eyes will be on Guy Martin and the Triumph Rocket endeavour to to break the land speed record in the Division-C Blown Fuel Streamliner Motorcycle class. The current land speed record of 376.363 mph (605.697 kmph) was set by Rocky Robinson in 2010 in the Suzuki powered Top-Oil Ack Attack streamliner, and has stood for five years.

It remains to be seen if Triumph will be looking at an alternate site for an attempt, although a record setting attempt anywhere else than Bonneville will not be the same for the Hinckley-based company, considering its developed history on the flats.