The Bonneville Salt Flats is a 260 km2 salt-covered plain in in Tooele County, northwestern Utah, United States.
Because the area is very flat, it is used for speed races where cars and motorcycles have achieved several world records.
From May to September, when the lake becomes completely shallow during a drought, hundreds of racing drivers and simply amateur enthusiasts from all over the world come to Bonneville to compete in the most incredible and exotic cars and motorcycles, but not with each other, but with an opponent more serious – at the very speed.
Access : Coordinates: 40.799722, -113.8 /
Highlights :
- Several films and television series have filmed at the location, including: Knight Rider, Warlock, Independence Day, SLC Punk!, Cremaster 2, Cremaster Cycle, The World’s Fastest Indian, Gerry, The Tree of Life, Top Gear, and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. The Pontiac Bonneville automobile, the Triumph Bonneville motorcycle, and the Bonneville International company were named in reference to the salt flat.
- Hundreds of records were set and broken here. In the 1920s and 1930s, auto racing enthusiasts from across the Western United States, who regularly gathered at Bonneville, founded several racing associations.
- Every August, the Southern California Timing Association and Bonneville Nationals Inc. host a week of competition, Speed Week, which attracts hundreds of competitors from around the world.
- In September, the Utah Salt Flats Racing Association organizes the World of Speed, a similar event. This association also organizes meetings every Wednesday in the summer. There are different vehicle categories, each with its own record.
