Bonneville, Black Rock, Ehra-Lessien, Nardo: Where to Go to Go Fast
Temples of Speed: The four main sites of velocity worship.
It wasn’t always so. Back in the early ’60s, a British auto magazine broke the road-car speed record by taking a Jaguar E-type to 152 mph using nothing more than a quiet stretch of England’s recently opened M1 motorway. But as cars got quicker and roads more crowded, high-speed testing (mostly) moved off public roads, especially as the supercar boom of the late 1980s and early 1990s pushed the production-car number to the seemingly unbeatable 240.1 mph posted by the McLaren F1 in 1998 at Ehra-Lessien in Germany. Of course, that didn’t deter Volkswagen from spending the best part of $500 million on developing the Bugatti Veyron just to take the crown.
Not all record setting relies on a European test-o-plex or carmakers’ money: Bonneville and Black Rock are still the places to go for ultimate, totally nutso speed in cars shaped like suppositories. Herewith, the four venues where drivers break the vast majority of records.
BONNEVILLE SPEEDWAY
Where: Utah
Date established: 3924 B.C. (creationists)/10,000 B.C. (geologists)
Who owns it: Uncle Sam—overseen by the Bureau of Land Management
Open to the public: Yes.
Fastest recorded speed: 630 mph (Blue Flame, 1970)
Why was it created?
That's a bigger question than we can deal with here, but the salt
flats—the remains of the former Lake Bonneville—have been used for the
business of going insanely fast since 1912. Now there are several
organized meets each year, the most famous being the Southern California Timing Association's Speed Week, along with less official run-what-ya-brung events on the salt.
Why go stupidly fast there? Can you think of a better place to max a rental Impala?
BLACK ROCK DESERT
Where: Nevada
Date established: 3924 B.C. (creationists)/7000 B.C. (geologists)
Who owns it: It's a combination of federal and private land.
Open to the public: Yes, in part (inaccessible in winter).
Fastest recorded speed: 763 mph/Mach 1.02 (ThrustSSC, 1997)
Why was it created?
As the land speed record moved toward supersonic velocities, Bonneville
proved to be too small and crowded. The Black Rock Desert's dry
lake-bed surface gave the space necessary for the jet-powered ThrustSSC
to do its thing and take the land speed record supersonic—it needed six
miles to get up to speed, six miles to stop, and another 20 miles of
runoff in the event of a parachute failure.
Why go stupidly fast there? You're an RAF pilot with your sense of fear surgically removed.
EHRA-LESSIEN TEST TRACK
Where: Lower Saxony, Germany
Date established: 1968
Who owns it: Volkswagen Group
Open to the public: Nein.
Fastest recorded speed: 267.86 mph (Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport, 2010)
Why was it created?
VW Group reputedly chose the Ehra-Lessien site for its main testing
complex due to its proximity to the former East German border,
discouraging aerial overflight. The high-speed track consists of two
5.6-mile straights connected by banked corners, allowing greater speeds
than circles and ovals because of minimal tire scrub. That's why it's
become the leading location for manufacturers seeking to set "official"
speed records.
Why go stupidly fast there? Because you're a test driver.
NARDO RING
Where: Lecce, Italy
Date established: 1975
Who owns it: Porsche (purchased 2012)
Open to the public: Rarely—owners with mega-powerful cars can pay to enter the "Top Speed" event run by a German magazine each year.
Fastest recorded speed: 241.01 mph (Koenigsegg CCR, 2005)
Why was it created?
Located in the deep south of Italy—near the tip of the stiletto
heel—Nardo is an unlikely location for a test track. Built by Fiat in
1975, at a time when most of the company's products had difficulty
getting past 60 mph, its highlight has always been the 7.8-mile circular
track.
Why go stupidly fast there? Because you're in Italy.
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