How about a 120 mph Custom RV? You won't be complaining about being caught behind this rig! Words and Pictures by Jim Vogarino Sitting on the huge expanse of pure white salt, the evil looking all black motorhome looks even bigger than it is. Everything is black…windows, trim, head and tail light covers. It couldn't be more sinister.   Britt Palmer pulls himself out of the custom racing cockpit, ducking under a complex structure of roll cage. He’s a good sized guy, 6-2, maybe 6-3 and he gives a solid hand shake. You’d never know he is suffering from a debilitating disease that eventually will rob him of all movement. Right now he’s too excited.   "We’re headed home,” he says, slipping off his race togs and giving high fives to people who have gathered around the vehicle in his pit area during Speed Week 2013. “We came to just run for speed and I think we did pretty well." Bonneville Speed Week is pretty well known for odd vehicles and the 1977 GMC Kingsley motorhome easily fits that category if only because of its size. Sitting at the...

World's Saltiest 1966 Barracuda!   Normally when you see a car in impound, the crew attends the race car's mechanical needs, if any, then starts cleaning and removing the salt from the last run. Don'tcha wanna look your best? (going to impound's a good thing! Look here for Setting a Record at Bonneville)   These are a couple cool-lighted morning shots of Robert (Bob) Dally's 1966 Barracuda on the way back to the starting line to backup their record run on Sunday morning. Bob landed in impound since they went 113 mph on a soft 100 mph F/CPRO record. On Monday, the record was set at 115 mph, then again on Tuesday at their top speed of Speed Week 2013: 132.85 mph.  F-size engines are only up to 183 cu. in, so Bob's Barracuda wasn't running a Hemi, it was a little old slant 6. Salty Grille! Bob and his crew didn't spend much time cleaning, so it was an opportune time for me to grab some shots! As you could have guessed, some people complained about wet conditions out on the track and the 'Cuda certainly shows that.   ...

Chip Barbee's Hot Rod and Custom Car Pics from Bonneville Words and Pics by Chip "Teach" Barbee See the full hot rod gallery here.   Chip's another friend from Bonneville Speed Week. I've seen him, shared the starting line, "media only" spot and had a great time getting to know him. This is his first time being published at MyRideisMe.com, so please make him feel welcome!   "It's in the record books. The 65th annual (SCTA) Southern California Timing Association's Speed Week is History !!! Some records fell. The crowd was lively and the Hot Rods and Custom roamed the salt and local casino curse night with ease. Come along and take a look at my favorites from the salt and the Nugget car show." - Teach   1) So what do you do with that rusty 4-door Edsel your uncle Fred leaves you in his will ??? Break out ye old trusty Plasma Cutter, remove all the ugly and end up with this sweeet Edsel Roadster the we ran into everywhere during Speed week.   2) Who says imports can't be cool. NOT US this little custom is...

Mark Jacobs' Salt-shots from Bonneville my man... Mark's come through with a great set of pictures from 2013 Bonneville Speed Week. With his wife Teresa, they flew down from Washington to attend their 2nd Speed Week. Instead of an over-priced hotel room, they stop by a sporting goods store, or Target or the like and get all the camping gear - and cooler full-a-cold-ones - to hang at the local KOA campgrounds with friends. Between or busy photo sessions (consisting of mostly shooting every cool thing we see!) we hung out and caught up on what's been happening since last year's Speed Week...   So enjoy Mark's photos and tell'm hey over at his Photography Fan Page.   Rob Ida's Tucker recreation. It was awesome to meet Rob and see the Gyronaut X-1 recreation Rob worked on as well. I've seen some amazing picture of the Tucker floating around Instagram.  Rob's a Tucker fan because his grandfather owned a Tucker dealership!   Tell me Mark shouldn't make posters of these fine hot rods!!   Do you prefer the color, or black and white?   Click here for all of...

Somebody get me a longer camera lens! I'm not a professional photographer.... I don't have a super long lens... like this guy:   I could sit around and whine about what's fair, but instead, I decided to experiment!! I've been going to Bonneville since 2009, so I've seen alot of the great white expanse. I haven't, however, spent too much time near the end of the track. The Bonneville race cars speed by at 200 to sometimes 400 mph, so you don't have much chance for photos! I tried my Nikon 18-200 anyway and here's what happened... Chute pops!   This #507 owned by Dan Aleshire running in the  B/GR  (roadster) class.   We were standing near the 5 mile marker (as you can see in the photo below). The "long course" at Bonneville was 5 full miles of race track. You can set a record in any mile, or you can slow down and exit the track anywhere as well. Only cars running 175 mph or higher are allowed on the long course and the faster cars will use every bit of the 9 mile run-off to slow down....

280Z powered Falcon Ranchero Race Results   Remember this car? Just looking at it's low, built-for-racing stance, it was easily one of my favorites from Bonneville - and that's before I saw under the hood. With a Nissan 280Z inline six suppying the power, I had to ask the owner to keep me posted on his first year racing results from 2012 Bonneville Speed Week. If you need to see so more pictures, check out this 1960 Falcon Ranchero here.   Here's what Alan Morris out of Montrose, CO had to say about the first time out with his Ranchero:   "I apologize for not replying sooner. I've been busy cleaning the car, removing the engine and assessing the engine damage. Plus I needed a rest. I have thrown most of my energy at the car for about two and a half years. At 70 years old I don't seem to have that much energy anyway.   The first run (the maiden one for the car and me as well) they only want you to run to the two mile mark and pull the parachute. They don't want you to...

Photos by the great Peter Vincent Amazing Bonneville Salt Flats Streamliner Set to Run 550 mph   Five-hundred-fifty miles per hour. Yes, you read that right! This air-slippin' hot rod's set to demolish the "fastest wheel driven, piston powered" car record by 100 mph.   Here's a few details to wet the appetite: Does it look long? It should. It's 43 feet long. (13.1m) and only 3 feet high (0.91m) Frontal area is an anemic 8.61 square feet (0.8 square meters) with an included angle of 1.5 degrees Power comes from two Dodge V8 Hemi's boosted by Whipple Superchargers Fueled by alcohol, there's 2500 horsepower on tap... EACH. Power is applied by two B & J 4-speed transmissions - shifted simultaneously- by steering wheel controls   This is the Marlo Treit and Les Davenport "Target 550" streamliner. A Few of the Crew   Marlo Triet the project coordinator and from what I can see, the "ring master". On the salt at Bonneville Speed Week 2012, Marlo was tough to corner as he answered questions from curious racers, spectators and media. As I took pictures, Marlo was being filmed. From the "Crew"...

Nissan Z-powered Land Speed Racing Falcon Ranchero   So I'm riding by on the XR70 bike my buddy Erock loaned to me (a sight to see with my long lanky frame) and I see this wicked looking Ford Falcon Ranchero.   Anyone following this site knows I'm partial to the round bodied Falcons... so much so I'm building a 1963 Falcon Wagon myself. It's your typical summer remake that's taken 4 years so far. Anyways, that's another story.   As I walked up on this bad little pickup, I saw only one valve cover poking up... I thought, SWEET! He's running a Ford six just like me. To my surprise, Alan Morris out of Montrose, CO chose a 1980 Nissan 280Z motor to chase the F/CFALT record of 165.224 held by the Cohn Jucewic Monza.     I was surprised because in addition to being the owner/editor/janitor of MyRideisMe.com, I'm also a test engineer for Nissan. One of my favorite Fords combined with different and unexpected powerplant that's also from the folks who pay my mortgage... win, win, WIN!   The sixer runs a healthy 14:1 compression and triple...

Land Speed Racing Cars Shake the Salt You wait all year for this... then on the first day, you're in impound.  Here's how that looks: Willie Boelcke looks happy because he is! Not only has the rain dried up from yesterday, his "Low Sodium" racer ran 239.158 mph against the B/FRMR roadster record of  235.436 mph set at Speed Week in 2009. You'd be smiling too! Willie's roadster already holds the C class record so now he's doing what alot of racers do and adding cubic inches to go for another record.  The A-engine class might be next since that record's only 207! (someone build an A engined FRMR and get a red hat!! Here's a look at what used to be a 1927 Ford Roadster. See the painted part? Tomorrow, at 7AM, Willie and the other folks who beat the existing record speed will head to the front of the line to try and back up their record and officially break it.   Need to know more about setting records at Bonneville? Check out, How to Set a Record at Bonneville   Also smiling big was this guy:...

Failed Bonneville Hot Rod Take-over at the Nugget   What do I mean failed? Well, compared to shows at the Nugget years ago, this one was a bust.   First off, it's been raining on and off since we rolled into Wendover. It'd be easy to say that the show was small because of the weather, but my buddy Keith kept saying, "Well, the cars have to be parked somewhere!" For me, I kept snapping photos. If you see a blurry spot on a pic, it was mother nature's fault.       Looking closer, we noticed most of the parking along the casino was blocked off. The normal parking spots along the road were filled with the first-come-first-served hot rods, but as new roadsters and heavily chopped coupes rolled in, they found nowhere to park. I bugged the casino manager, "What gives?" He explained that after the show last year where there were too many cars and too many people, the fire marshall shut them down. Sorry, I call BS. I think it's more likely that the casino's management blocked off more hot rods from filling their parking...

The Fastest Car in the World - 300mph Sports Car   Does this long red something-or-other get your heart racing? It should!!   The long, slick nose see here cuts through the air with ease at a record shattering 305.596 mph. With the graceful design and three-large top speed, this 1971 Triumph GT-6 easily earns honors as Bonneville Speed Week 2011 Baddest Race Cars #5.   Feel slighted that, "This isn't the fastest car in the world!?" Well, what is then?   Consider, for a second, this sleek, not-so-little Triumph flat out WHOOPED the Enzo Ferrari running in the same class. The Enzo, owned by RSL Racing Richard Losee, had the record from last year at a, seemingly soft (gulp), 237.871 mph. This year the Enzo crew, with their hired helicopter not far behind, topped out at less than two-bills...   Ripping the record previously held by an Enzo Ferrari, easily one of the fastest cars in the world, by about 65 mph... that's hot enough, but truth is, the Triumph was ON FIRE on the record backup run! More on that in a bit, let's learn about this...

Round Two goes to the Salt 2011 Bonneville Speed Week sponsored by Spectre Performance My last post about the Spectre Performance "SpeedLiner" detailed THE PLAN. Everyone knew bringing 5 motors and trying to break 5 records was a stretch. Nobody'd argue that, but the team is motivated and prepared right down to the spare quick change rear axle they'd need after yesterday. Then "the salt" announced it's plan. The Cadillac bullet shown above sits sadly alone. Supplied by the Cad Company and owner-Cadillac-genius Courtney Hines out of New Mexico, the 434 cube heavy hitter had tons of potential coming off the dyno, but announced a "chirp chirp chirp" sound when cranking that said... "I'm done here." See what happened in Day 1 Results - click here. By the time I got done shooting the record certification runs for Sunday morning (guys looking to backup the runs made Saturday) Steve Schmalz and the extremely hard working crew from Performance Fabrication had the motor out and the new one ready to go back in. With the complexity of a setup like this, be impressed. Every trick, injected, electronic, data-logging gizmo availble's...