Bonneville Salt Flats

So vast and open are the Bonneville Salt Flats that it could easily be the vacation place of choice for claustrophobics. So enormous is this famous natural wonder that astronaut John Glenn could easily pick out the glistening white geological plain from space. The salt beds are not just flat, they are wondrously flat, a benchmark of flatness where awe and dread can be simultaneously measured on the first visit. It is this flatness that has produced an industrial-age disease termed “Salt Fever.” Similar to the “Need for Speed,” also experienced this century as society transitioned from agricultural-based to machine-dependent, people that have an insatiable desire for triple digit speed experiences find relief on the salt flat. Doctors have found no cure. The affliction settles deep into the hearts and minds of those for whom speed is an essential part of being alive. Salt fever makes the psyche experience a unmerciful “speed itch.” Only temporary relief is possible -- obtained by traveling as fast as possible as many times as possible in a given racing season. More powerful than the lunar pull on earth’s oceanic tides, a side effect of salt fever can be observed when a Bonneville enthusiast (racers and spectators seem to be equally affected) ponders the wonders of the salt. Such thoughts have reduced rough and tough, gruff men with tool-calloused hands to unashamed tears. So big are the flats that you can spin-out at 200 mph and not hit a darn thing. From the ground the curvature of the earth is readily apparent to anyone who dares venture onto the pancake wasteland. Possessed of an eerie lonesome nature, just standing on the surface is like being on another planet. No space suit required. Just as space exploration has its risks, so to does the quest for speed. High speed. Not just a little tromp-your-foot-on-the-throttle for a few seconds and hope you don’t get arrested speed, but all-out, flat-out speed. Speed like most people will never experience. Speed of such ragged edge excitement proportion that only a determined few will know the rapture. Located immediately north of Interstate 80 near the Nevada and Utah state lines near Wendover, the flats are comprised of approximately 44,000 acres. The salt crust ranges in thickness from 4 feet to less that 1/16 inch as it grades into the surrounding mud flats. Because the elevation is ?4,500 feet above sea level, racing vehicles have to be specially tuned for the rarified air. The long distances demand specifi

שנה

1999

שפה

English

הוצאה

SAE International

מהדורות

1

עמודים

156

ISBN

9780760306055

מקור הנתונים: Wikidata