Various classes of competing vehicles emerged, including streamliners, roadsters, and by the early 1960s, jet-powered cars. For the next 35 years, nearly all land speed records were set at the salt flats.Īrt Arfons stands alongside his jet-propelled “Green Monster.”ĭrivers descended on the flats from around the world, bringing with them custom-designed vehicles with precisely streamlined bodies and extraordinarily powerful engines. The area became internationally famous in 1935 when Malcolm Campbell set a new land speed record, making him the first to break the 300 mph (480 km/h) mark. Jenkins went on to set up a 10-mile (16 km) circular course on the salt which he used to establish 24 hour records in 19.

Rishel continued to promote the area for racing, and in 1927 Ab Jenkins raced against a train over a 125-mile (201 km) stretch between Salt Lake City and Wendover.

The use of the salt flats as a speedway began in 1914 with Teddy Tetzlaff’s run there which exceeded the land speed record, although the new record was not officially recognized. A railway line across the Bonneville Salt Flats was completed in 1910, marking the first permanent crossing. In 1907 Rishel and two local businessmen tested the suitability of the salt for driving on by taking a Pierce Arrow onto the flats. The flats were first recognized for their potential as a speed-testing ground by Bill Rishel, who in 1896 had cycled across the area to win a competition run by the newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst. Since 1935, Bonneville’s been one of the primary venues for land speed record attempts, with most land speed records recorded between 19 set there. Speed freaks began using the terrain for racing way back in 1912. The Bonneville Salt Flats are in Utah, USA, near the border with Nevada, and as the name suggests it’s a very big and very flat area of land. Setting speed records on the Bonneville Salt Flats Speed Trials, 1966

Salt flats racing utah