Tasting the Salt

Shinya Kimura tunes his `47 Harley Knucklehead land speed racer on the Bonneville Salt Flats in August 2018. Image: Henri Boulanger

Where does our fascination with motorsports racing come from, and why are so many drawn to the famous Bonneville Salt Flats? Similar to a bicycle time trial, it’s human and machine against the clock, with every technical advantage taken within the spirit of the rules.

Henri and I experienced the majesty of Bonneville in 2018, and plan to return with Jean this year to support our friend Torsten Robbens in his first attempt on the legendary ‘white desert’ between Salt Lake City and Wendover, Utah in late September.

My family and I became acquainted with Bonneville after watching Anthony Hopkins portray Burt Monro in The World’s Fastest Indian feature film after we arrived in California from Ohio in 2006. Then we crossed the threshold of custom motorcycles through The Greasy Hands Preachers documentary in 2015, where the names Roland Sands, Shinya Kimura, David Borras, Michael ‘Woolie” Woolaway and others entered our wide-eyed world. The impact on me was so dramatic, I left the bicycle industry after nearly 25 years and switched hard to motorcycles at 49.