Heading out to the Bonneville Salt Flats is a surreal experience. Civilization fades away along with all signs of life and the land turns dry and desolate, bleached bone white. After driving for hours, and just when you think you might hit the edge of the world, you arrive at the epicenter – the Bonneville Speedway. There on packed salt, white as snow yet hot as blazes, cars come from all over to compete for coveted Land Speed Records. Every August Bonneville Speed Week attracts enthusiasts to this remote open desert with some very strange looking vehicles together to see how fast they can go. The fastest vehicles look more like Jet-propelled wingless airplanes and can reach over 600 MPH.
At Bonneville, you can try for a Land Speed Record for your car’s chassis category and engine class and size. The Southern California Timing Association lists 75 engine types within six categories of vehicles, plus open classes for those that don’t compare to anything. Almost all of the Bonneville records set by any land speed Saab have been within Category C: Classic which covers eight engine classes for vehicles made between 1948 and 1981.
Though a far cry from keeping up with the rocket cars, Saabs, being “Born From Jets,” still somehow seem right at home. The designers always factored in an aerodynamic profile into the design process, which naturally lends itself to these things. Classic Saabs are generally seen as wildcards at speed events when surrounded by cars with four-digits of horsepower, but having been built on such a robust platform, they have proven remarkably resilient to engine modification. This, along with the general shape of the cars, makes them an excellent choice for competition in classes for older, classic vehicles where records have stood unmatched for decades. Here are a few examples of classic Saab land speed cars that have set records at Bonneville.
Richard Catron’s Saab 96
Richard Catron was the first to set a Land Speed Record in a Saab in 1962. His was a 1958 model 96 with a three-cylinder, two-stroke motor running in the 1300cc and below F-class. Richard was competing against an Alfa for the record during a time when “sports cars” were only just starting to compete at Bonneville. Richard’s drive to break a Land Speed Record was extraordinary. When his engine was not fast enough for the record, he pulled it out of the car in the middle of the street on a Tuesday, drove the engine 120 miles to Salt Lake City and shipped it to Saab’s US headquarters in New Haven, CT for a rapid rebuild by Saab’s racing department. It was bored from 841 to 890cc and the compression ratio was raised to about 15-to-1 before it was shipped back. An airline strike delayed arrival by six hours and a connection was missed, but the engine arrived that Thursday, only two days after its removal, and was installed in 24 minutes to set a Land Speed Record that afternoon with 100.44 MPH – the fastest recorded Saab on the planet. Richard returned two years later with a 1960 93f with a similar engine to break his own record at 105.453 MPH.
Bertil Sollenskog’s Saab 96 Monte Carlo
Richard’s record for fastest Saab stood for 45 years before Bertil Sollenskog arrived at the flats in 2011 in his 1966 Saab 96 Monte Carlo 850 running an original three-cylinder, two-stroke engine. It took Bertil’s car three tries before his car held up long enough to set a record. In 2009, his engine blew on the dyno only days before he planned to leave for Speed Week. Then in 2010, Bertil drove his 96 all the way to the flats only to blow the motor again during a record attempt. After another year of rebuilding, he returned and finally set the record in the Classic Category, Production Class with 110.113 MPH on August 16, 2011. Although by 2011 plenty of newer Saabs existed that could beat that speed without modification, Bertil’s 1966 96 left the factory with a top speed of only 75 MPH!
Tom Donney’s Saab Sonnett II
That same year, Tom Donney set another Land Speed Record Record in a 1967 Saab Sonnett II two-stroke in the Grand Touring Sport (GT) body, J-Class in 2011 with 98.968 MPH. Tom’s Sonnett was originally a 1967 chassis that was so rusted that it split in half once the fiberglass body was removed. After extensive repairs, he combined it with a 1968 body and some additional safety features to make it class legal. He returned in 2012 to reach 115.619 and again in 2013 to reach 122.033 – setting Land Speed Records both times. He returned again in 2016. Plagued by mechanical issues that included two starter motor failures, water pump failure, complete brake failure, and computer glitch that limited RPM, his team prevailed and after four tries, he beat his record again with 123.075.
Dan Haugh’s Saab 900 Turbo
Also in 2016, Dan Haugh arrived back at the flats in a resurrected 1981 Saab 900 Turbo. Dan searched long and hard for his 1981 c900 after speed records were broken in other classes that he was considering. Dan had to pull out the CIS injection system and use compatible parts from a 1976 Porsche to pump more fuel to the engine. He set a Class G/Blown Fuel Altered Land Speed Record of 140.857 MPH.
Tom Kreger’s Hayabusa Powered Saab 93b
Others have clocked even higher speeds in Saabs that were much more highly modified. Tom Kreger set a Land Speed Record in the I/GALT class with 149.866 MPH in 2011 in a 1958 Saab 93b with a turbocharged Suzuki Hayabusa motorcycle engine. Tom was given the car as a rusted, burned out shell and he turned it into a Land Speed Record holder. However, Rex Svoboda claims the most highly modified Bonneville Saab – a 1964 Saab 96 dragster powered by a 2,000 HP Hemi that reaches over 250 MPH.
So if you think your daily driver can scoot, and you’re ready to throw down for the title of world’s fastest classic Saab land speed car, just keep in mind that past record holders faced what at times must have seemed like insurmountable obstacles. But with a resilience far beyond that of even the most devoted Saab enthusiast, each set their eyes on the prize and let nothing stand in their way.
Even if you’re not shooting for a record, eEuroparts can help you turn your rusted out heap into a high-performing rig. Visit the eEuroparts website, type in your make and model, and visit the “Performance” tab to find some of the best products on the market for your vehicle. EBC brake pads, Bilstein and Koni Shocks, Powerflex bushings, do88 custom intercoolers and silicone hoses, and eEuro custom tuning and performance kits are just a few of the options of race-level equipment that can make your daily drive a lot more fun.
The author wrote:
“driving on salt is like driving through pie crust. It’s not like pavement, it slows you down. Salt flat speeds are hard to compare to dry pavement speeds.”
He leaves an in correct impression. The salt flats became world renown because your speed machine can achieve stable high speeds (>600MPH) on the concrete hard surface, not a pie crust. That reference has only been applicable on the edges and in recent years when wet weather surged and the annual drying cycle was interrupted. Otherwise, Bonneville’s surface is the most speed friendly place you can find in the USA.
Unfortunately, years of unbelievable mismanagement by the federal caretakers, the BLM, have caused a massive imbalance of salt north and south of Interstate 80. It is no secret that salt is the waste product of the potash mining authorized by the BLM since 1965.
However, those dear souls at the BLM never thought they should have the mining companies (Kaiser, Reilly, Intrepid) put it back from where they took it. So now, 50 years later, what was God’s own gift to motorsports enthusiasts worldwide (or stupendous science for all you agnostics), is fast becoming a dirty, dusty saline mud bog.
For details and factual documentation of this synopsis, go to: http://www.savethesalt.org
“LandSpeed” Louise Ann Noeth
Thanks Louise, that is a great resource and we appreciate your addition. Inaccurate impression of driving on the salt flats removed, you would know best!