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Bonneville - Who drives your dreams? Part 3

24/10/2019

The continuation of the story behind how I got to ride on the Salt Flats during Speed Week. Part 2 can be found here

Christine's run - 13th August 2019
The Bonneville course starters are super-cool professionals and have the whole process of seeing you off on your run down to a fine art. They check you over, confirm what speed you and the bike are cleared to ride at and make sure you're comfortable with knowing how to signal if you have an emergency. Then a short wait till you hear that the previous rider or driver has cleared the track and then boom. Just like that you're signalled to go. No wave of flag just a smile and off you go, in your own time. It seems somewhat of an anti-climax, your moment to shine should be signalled by fireworks surely? But actually it's quite relaxing not having to wait for the sound of a cannon or gun. You have a good run up before the track to get comfortable on the bike, putting yourself prone as low as you can go in the case of a bike and build up speed slowly. Not always easy when you are wearing new, tight leathers though.

One of the starters getting us in line.

Total focus. Total concentration as Dino prepares to run.

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Bonneville - Who Drives Your Dreams? - Part 2

11/10/2019

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The continuation of the story behind how I got to ride on the Salt Flats during Speed Week. Part 1 can be found here

Thursday, 8th August -
first time on salt
This morning we all woke energised, early and ready to drive the 8 miles to the salt flats down the long straight piece of highway that abruptly stops to denote the beginning of the speedway. This is where the famous Bonneville sign is which has been half stickered to death so you can't actually read all the historical information on it. Nevertheless we also stuck ours up and there was copious photographing and posing before we drove the mile or so on the salts to the pits to set up.

This was the first time we had been driving on top of the salt and the backdrop of the mountains was just jaw-dropping. It looked like the scenery to a movie, eerie other-worldly colours everywhere, with mountains casting shadows of light amber to dark and putty grey on the crystaline surface of the speedway. There were ominous low clouds too, which added an extra strange feeling to the exposed supernatural place.

The flats cover 30000 acres so the whiteness all around burns into your eyes. You can get snow blindness it's so bright. It burns the skin in record time too, factor 50 essential just about everywhere as the sun bounces off the salt and you can be burnt up inside your shorts and in your armpits.

Cars, bikes and rockets started to arrive all during the day and we were treated to sights of some amazing machines driving to their pitches. Everyone was friendly, everyone was smiling. This was where they hoped to make history. The air was electric. That, it turned out, was just the problem...

Dino, Rosaria, Louisa and Maurizio, pilots in the Italian Open Eyes Dream Team

The famous start of the Speedway. BELOW: arriving on the salts for the first time

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Bonneville - Who drives your dreams? Part 3

Bonneville - Who Drives Your Dreams? - Part 2

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