Off Limits: Bonneville

Running Video Description Time Code 00:02 Zout from nose of Hercules Narration Cold Open: Bob Williams: Nothing can hold a candle to what you will see at the Bonneville Salt Flats. Sound Up: streamline vehicles race by Glen Barrett: Salt fevers permanent. This place could break your heart. IT could be the happiest day of your life. You just dont know. Sound Up: Muscle car engine revs Randy Nelson: Make a mistake at 300 miles an hour and a lot of times its not a walk away. Bar Hodgson: Theres an element of danger. If you have a get-off on that at a very high speed, youre going to do some tumbling and who knows. 00:36 00:58 OFF LIMITS Packaged Opening Key: Racing On The Salt Flats / Bonneville Speed Week / Just Outside Wendover, Utah, USA

VO 1.1: Narrator: In the world of motorsport, no event captures the imagination like Bonneville Speed Week. Once a year, car and motorcycle enthusiasts ravenous for speed, congregate in one of the most alien environments on the planet, as they chase land speed records on a seemingly endless expanse of hard packed salt. The Bonneville Salt Flats are located on the western Edge of the Great Salt Lake basin in Utah, in the USA. This natural anomaly is the remnant of an ancient freshwater lake left behind after the last ice age, about 15,000 years ago. Today, naturally evaporating ground water

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Key: Gary Hensley / Staiger / Hensley Racing / 200 mph Club Member Gary OC Orange car L to R

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Trophy tilt up

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Announce booth and crowd shoot.

continually regenerates a flat crust that in some areas is almost 5 feet thick. This massive expanse of salt covers approximately 46 square miles of land located 100 miles west of Salt Lake City. The salt flats are Inhospitable to even the simplest of life formsnothing grows here. Temperatures range from below freezing in the winter to triple digits in the summer. Its the last place youd expect to see people lining up for hours to compete for land speed records. Gary: This is very harsh out here, and its - and theres no air to run your engine on so its a tough place to go fast. Theres no prize money, no glory, you barely get in a magazine or ever heard of. VO 1.2: Narrator: Despite the harsh environmental conditions, the Bonneville Salt Flats are a near perfect natural drag strip the miles of flat hard packed racing surface and long run offs have drawn land speed racing enthusiasts for more than a century. The first unofficial land speed record was set here back in 1914. The Southern California Timing Association has been organizing land speed racings premiere annual event since 1949. Back then Bonneville Speed Week became an officially sanctioned venue for land speed racers daring enough to attempt to set world records in one of 40 categories. The Bonneville Salt Flats are safeguarded by the United States department of the interiors Bureau of Land Management. They decide who can race here and when. There are only a handful of land speed races held annually out on the Salt Flats. Bonneville Speed Week is the oldest, largest and most attended event of them all. Gary: It only happens once a year. This is the big 7 day event. This is the big daddy of them all. And if youre a hot rod or motor enthusiast this is nirvana. This is really where the best amateur racers collect every

04:05 Key: Les Hodges / Spectator

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Plane like car Right to Left Key: Speed Demon / This Weeks top recorded speed: / 365.941 mph Same car Right to Left Key: Kent Riches / Driver, Riches/Nelson Team Driver Cocooned in drivers seat of plane like car. Key: Randy Nelson / Crew Chief, Riches/Nelson Team Starter raises hands and signals go

year to show off their stuff. Les: You read about this place, you see movies about the place and you dont, until you get here, realize what the ah, the scale of this is. This is just mind boggling. Um, the cars, the ideas, where they get them from, and they actually got the nerve to drive the things at the speeds they do, and ah, were just, were amazed. Sound Up: Speed Demon Races by

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04:37

Kent: You pretty much have to be on top of the game to run 300, you know and and everything it cant be just ok, everything needs to be perfect. Randy: Its just gotta be no mistakes, you know you dont get a second chance you make a mistake at 300 miles an hour and a lot of times its not a walk away. VO 1.3: Narrator: Today there are literally hundreds of vehicle categories and just as many land speed records to chase and set. In many cases the vehicles on-parade at Bonneville are as unique and one of a kind as the Salt Flats themselves. Bob Mundei: The cars you see here, ah, youll never see anywhere else on earth. When I came in this morning I was following a 32 Duce coup and behind me was a 1940s hotrod, and both of them had salt all over them. And youve got cars that are streamliners that do 300 miles an hour, and youve got guys that are setting records at 30 and 40. For example, this little thing over here is a rubber band car. It runs on elastic bands. Big elastic bands, but its elastic bands, 2 engines, put a 5 speed transmission in it. And hes gonna try and set the elastic band record for the whole world here. Where on earth can you find that? Where else?

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Interesting purple car revving and start L to R. Red streamline car nose

Rubber-band Car Key: Bob Mundei / Crew Member, Team Arrow Racing

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Motorcycle with older woman. Key: Connie Beavers / Motorcycle Racer, 70 years old / Set land speed record in her category: 211.284 mph Motorcycle L to R (under Key) Key: Dan Warner / Chief Impound Steward, Bonneville Speed Week Streamline car in pit area. Various beauty shots of cars. Engine bay open, racing and show

Connie: I hope to go 210, ah break my own record, which is 205. I set it last year. Speeds in my blood. Sound Up: Connie races off on her motorcycle.

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06:15

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Beauty shot of graphic on streamline car Closeups and racing + sound of current land speed record.

Dan: There is no purse. Everything that it takes to compete and return is out of your heart and out of your own pocket. And its passion. Ive been coming here long enough that Ive seen kids dating, married, have kids, and those kids have kids. Bob Mundei: Its an emotion pit. Sure people put their life savings in here, but then people put their life savings into sailing, golf. Uh, some people save up all year and come here on 5 or 10 thousand dollars, some people have got millions. Um, yeah you can put as much money into it as you want, or you can substitute innovation for money. If youre brilliant you can do that. If youre not, you can- Its a money pit. (laughs) VO 1.4: Narrator: And occasionally, when the combination of both money and innovation hits the jackpot: the results can be mind bowing. Case in Point, the Turbinator; An apache helicopter motor powered streamliner capable of streaking over 458 miles per hour; The fastest wheel driven vehicle on the planet. Sound Up: Turbinator makes its record breaking run

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Visual Transition Various shots of drivers home garage Key: 3 Weeks Earlier / Team Arrow Racing Headquarters / Windsor, Ontario, Canada Various shots of streamline

VO 1.5: Narrator: For land speed enthusiasts, the Road to Bonneville Speed Week starts well before the rubber hits the salt. Building and maintaining a vehicle that can withstand the salt flats harsh conditions is a daunting task. No one knows this better than Bob Williams, owner and builder of

motorcycle without external covering

Shots of streamline motorcycle running

08:35

Various close up shots of engine (motorcycle)

Key: Bob Williams / Team Owner, Team Arrow Racing Various frame shots of streamline motorcycle

Washing caked salt off car

the Arrow Streamliner motorcycle. Despite its futurist torpedo shape, beneath this aluminum skin lies a motorcycle with two wheels. The heart of this beast is a 500CC, four cylinder turbo charged Honda motorcycle engine. Its been carefully wrapped in a custom built frame welded of chrome-moly steel. And by the way, the streamliner also houses a driver who must ride lying on his back while looking through a 3-inch periscope. This year, Williams is once again returning to Bonneville in a 3rd attempt to break the 500cc blown fuel, or turbo charged, motorcycle land speed record of 211mph . That record was set back in 1956 by the German motorcycle company NSU. Bob and his team have come tantalizingly close to BREAKING this record in the past, but close in this sport, just isnt good enough. Bob Williams: The bike is 8 years old. 2 years in building and 6 years in campaigning. It started out with a fuel tank from an F4 phantom fighter. 24-inches in diameter, 13 feet long, with a few dents in it for 500 dollars. That was the tip of a very big iceberg. I built the hoops, matched the inside of the diameter of the shell, so the outside of the hoops fit inside the 24-inch shell. The frame becomes extensions of those hoops. The ah, swing arms were parts off motorcycles that I had to modify and strengthen so they could take the forces of the heavier weight and a more powerful motor. Its been such an evolution all the time, getting to the point where it works. What you think works, you take it down there and it doesnt. And the salt, and the other things you have to deal with, its like trying to build something for the moon when youre on earth. Cause the circumstances are so different. VO 1.6:

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Working on streamline

motorcycle

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Bar revving blue motorcycle Bar OC in room full of motorcycles Key: Bar Hodgson / Rider, Team Arrow Racing Bob working on streamline motorcycle

10:45

Team eating pizza

Narrator: Bob Williams and his crew have discovered that preparing the streamliner motorcycle for Bonneville Speed Week is easier than finding a qualified rider to pilot the machine. Finding candidates for the job of hurtling at speeds of 200 plus miles an hour, on a runway of salt while lying on your back, just inches above the unforgiving surface has proven to be difficult. This year, long time motorcycle-show promoter and experienced drag racer Bar Hodgson has agreed to take on the challenge. After ogling the Arrow Streamliner at one of his own shows, the 70 year old couldnt resist stepping up to the plate after hearing that Team Arrow Racing was searching for a rider. Bar: Well I used to drag race back in the old days and run big Harley strokers and when I turned 60 I decided to take up road racing and did that for about 10 years and now Ive hit 70 and Bonnevilles one of the last things I havent done, so nows the time to do it. Bob Williams: Theres no blue print on how to do this. Theres no guidelines on how to do it. I have a wonderful group of friends that bid into my dream. If it wasnt for that we couldnt do it. I couldnt do it by myself, and I couldnt do it without the help of all these people who all volunteered. Its about the human spirit, as much as it is about racing. Sound Up: Team Arrow racing raise glasses. Bob Williams: To the record boys! Here! Here! Cheers! VO 2.1 Narrator: This years Bonneville Speed Week kicked off 2 days ago, with it have come long lines and prolonged wait times are inevitable at the start of the week. But Bob Williams is a veteran at this game. This year he arrived a few days into the

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Bonneville Flats Marker and open salt expanse Key: Bonneville Speed Week / Monday / Bonneville Salt Flats. Utah, USA

event to ease the stress on the teams new rider 70-year-old Bonneville Rookie, Bar Hodgson. 11:36 Insert of hands on steering wheel. People in procession to get to speedway. Bar: Bonneville speedway, you go oh heres a race track. You pull in and expect to see grandstands and buildings and everything, nice black pavement all laid out and green grass down the sides of it, but theres nothing; Just one big expanse of white salt. Isnt this a bizarre experience, guys are driving motor homes down there. Everybodys strutting their stuff and theyve got all their great stuff here. Customs and rods, and everything Only in America. Dan: This is a huge area as you well know and a person can get lost out here and we try to verify make sure that everybody knows where theyre going at any given time, you dont want somebody wandering out on the racetrack when theres a vehicle coming the other direction. And thats why you see an abundance of cones out here. VO 2.2: Narrator: Before they can chase a land speed record, all registered competitors must have their vehicles thoroughly checked by Bonneville Speed Weeks meticulous staff of technical inspectors. Each vehicle must meet the SCTAs strict safety requirements. A teams failure to meet these tough standards will result in being disqualified from racing. Sound Up: Inspector: What happens if the front of the car brakes off? Driver: My legs are up there, Im paraplegic then. This section of the car wont break up. Dan: Safety is key most. Records are what were here for; safety is - we want these guys coming back. While this looks like a very simple form of motor sports where

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WS Low Level of SUV on salt flats. Long Z out Key: Dan Warner / Chief Impound Steward, Bonneville Speed Week

12:30 Commuter cars in cone laneway Black pickup race L to R Inspectors looking at vehicles.

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Close up of car being inspected

you just get in a car and drive it in a straight line. Its not. And things happen real fat at 200 plus miles an hour, so we want to make sure all the guys and gals that drive up here are thoroughly protected. Sound Up: Inspector: My concerned is, I mean, theres, Im not really feeling anything underneath the seat where its secured. Because, okay, lets say he takes an impact, the seat comes down, the belts come off his shoulders because hes compressed, and now hes not restrained within the vehicle anymore so Various shots of cars being Gary: The rules for safety are very, very inspected strict. These are the strictest rules that Im Gary OC aware of in any form of racing, because Key: Gary Hensley / they dont want anybody to get hurt. The Staiger / Hensley Racing / whole idea is to have fun, go fast, and not 200 mph Club Member get hurt. WS Pan of flats VO 2.3: Narrator: After passing technical Key: Short Course Line-Up inspection, racers cue-up behind the / Monday 11:15 am / D starting lines and wait to make their timed License 1st attempt run down one of the clubs three temporary drag strips. With over 500 entries this year many find themselves baking for hours in the sweltering heat. SCTA Licensed Riders, returning to Bonneville can attempt to set a record on Various shots of cars waiting their 1st run, but Bar Hodgson is a in lineup Bonneville rookie - and before he can even attempt to make a record run of over 200 Various car shots miles per hour, he must first prove that he is capable of going fast out on the salt by obtaining a series of licenses. Yellow hotrod Bar: Bonnevilles not about just going there and racing. You must obey all the Starter signaling rules and theyre all safety-oriented rules, Bar OC so youve got to prove you can go fast. You Key: Bar Hodgson / Rider, have to go a step at a time, you have to Team Arrow Racing prove you can go 125 miles an hour, and 150 miles an hour, and 175 miles an hour, and then 200 miles an hour, and get licenses for each of those, before you get to go over 200 miles an hour.

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Sound Up: A motorcycle takes off on the salt. Bar: Well we werent going to go for our license right off the bat in the streamliner because there was a bunch of work had to be done to it yet, and I could save a lot of time by using the standard super-bike to get my lower licenses. Well move to the streamliner when we go for our higher licenses. 15:20 Bar on Superbike Trying to attach GPS to bike Sound Up: Bar waits in line. Bar: Were trying to adapt this GPS to it so that I can get a mileage, an accurate mileage read because this race bike only has a tachometer on it. So Ive got to guesstimate my speed, and I cant break out, Ive got to run, Ive got to run 125 to 149 without breaking out. If I hit 150 Ive got to go back to the back of the line and do it all over again. So we dont want to do that. Ive got some concerns, you know. I havent raced on salt before. I feel apprehensive coming in to it and I try to think of everything. If I can clear my mind enough to say, youve covered all your angles Bar, I have no problem being resigned to something and ah, going for it. Sound Up: Bar: This is the borrowed leathers. These we borrowed from Doug, one of the, actually one of the tech inspectors when mine wouldnt pass. Sound Up: Starting line Official: Tuck it right in there, the views nicer up there. Bar: Yes sir. Bar: My age really hasnt been a factor, it never bothered me all my life when I was younger, it doesnt bother me now. So do I consider 70 years old as a barrier here to me, and that? A bsolutely not; I

Z Out of people waiting in line

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Key: Short Course LineUp / Monday, 1:20pm / D License 1st attempt Bar walking bike to starting point Bar OC

Bar suiting up Worms eye view

mean everybody here has grey beards, everywhere I look. Theres an element of danger, but frankly being on the open bike, that was concerning me more than anything because if you have a get off on that at a very high speed youre going to do some tumbling, and who knows.

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Key: D License 1st Attempt / Monday 2:45 pm / Target Speed Range: 125 mph 149 mph Bar talking to Starter Sound Up: Starter: Have you gone down yet today? Bar: 1st time. 1st time today. Starter: Okay, how fast you going to go? Bar: 135. Starter: and any problems what-so-ever, which way are you going to turn out. Bar: Im going to turn that way. Starter: Okay, nice clean run youre going to turn out to your right I want you to pull you parachute when you go through the traps. Bar: what are you talking about? Starter: Youre paying attention, thats all good. Have you ever driven on Salt before? Bar: No. Starter: Youre gonna enjoy this Starter in radio: 8780 with a rookie attached! VO 2.4: Narrator: Hodgson has raced A Motorcycle before, but never at these high speeds and certainly never under these harsh conditions. The temperature is high, nearly 100 degrees but the pressure to perform is even higher. A crash on his 1st run at close to 150 miles per hour could be fatal. Sound Up: Bar: The uh, I took a small peek at the GPS and it was uh, reading 83 miles an hour. (laughs) and I went, hmmm.

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Starter pan to Bar about to start Several WS of bar racing

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Bar Races, Flash To White

(laughs) Its just a big guessing game. Sound Up: Bar: 8780 Timing Official: Yes sir. (hands Bar his timing slip.) Bar: Thank you. Timing Official: You have a good one. Bar: It says 113 miles an hour. That means that were, that we need to be in 5th gear or 6th gear. It means were so far off it isnt funny. No good. Gotta get back in the lineup, do it again. Streamline car rolls to start VO 3.1: line Narrator: Bar Hodgson isnt the only one Key: Bonneville Speedweek going for a land speed attempt at this years / Monday 3:05pm - Long Bonneville Speed Week. Out here on the Course Salt Flats of Utah, it appears every land speed racer dreams of setting a new worlds record. Streamliner Push Start 19:52 Streamliner push start and run Sound Up: Racer at starting line: I laid in bed for an hour this morning going through the gears with my eyes closed. The records 232, but Im pretty confident we can do it. VO 3.2: Narrator: Depending on the class of vehicle, land speed racers use a 7 - mile long course or one of two 5-mile short courses where top speeds are recorded by the SCTA officials down to 1 Onehundredth of a mile per hour. This dizzying amount of Data is recorded and tracked in the clubs Master control tower located between the two courses at the 3 mile marker. Here a team of dedicated volunteers scour countless timing readouts throughout the week. Sound Up: Glen 1946 will be next up on the long course. Glen: This is the master control here, we do all the course control, the safety dispatches, all that and I announce all the speeds and basically, you know, whats going on throughout the day with everybody. Weve got three computers that

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Cut to WS of control center

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ZOut for control center Shots inside control. Car push start Glen OC

Key: Glen Barrett / Official were using up here on the - in the tower Timer, Bonneville Speed itself. Plus, you know, weve got auxiliary Week equipment downstairs. Everybody has a monitor so were not looking over each others shoulders like we used to in the old days. We used to set up on a scaffold with a computer read out thing about this big, it had these big huge dials on it and they were Car Engine spinning like, you know, all that. You know, it wasnt- very sophisticated, now we got over 500 entries and 3 courses, so you know its a big system. Sound Up: Glen And in the last mile, Bob, he went 244.535 Glen: Everybody says, oh yeah I can bring my drag race car up here and go 350 miles an hour but most of them dont understand and uh, to make a car run for 5 miles without blowing things all over the track is very difficult, a quarter mile car you can do it. They will not live here a quarter of a mile. SPINOUT WS releases parachute and loses it 21:54 Spinout Cont. Key: D LICENSE 2nd ATTEMPT / TUESDAY 8:00am / Target Speed Range: 125 mph 149 mph Bar about to start again Bob OC Key: Bob Williams / Team Owner, Team Arrow Racing Superbike R to L 22:37 Superbike near end of track Bar OC Sound Up: Glen We have a spin on 4 long course. VO 3.3: Narrator: For Bar Hodgson a high speed get off is not an option. Now ready for his 2ndattempt at his 1st of 4 required licenses, he still has a long, hot, salty road ahead of him before he can take a shot at the record. Bob Williams: Theres such a great chance of the conditions not being right, the salt not being hard, too much wind, rain, and you have that window of opportunity like a space shuttle, and if it goes by you go home with your hat in your hand. Sound Up: Bar races on motorbike Bar: When you get down to the end and you turn off that throttle, you have a sense of elation, because you go, you know youve gone though the timing traps. Its

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Key: Bar Hodgson / Rider, Team Arrow Racing

Crew at end point

all history now, youve just got to get the numbers now. You turn off and you come to a stop, youve gone so fast down there that youre all by yourself out on the salt, and you just stop, and you just have time to think about things before your crew even catches up with you. Thats a great time; a time to really be personal about the whole thing with yourself. Sound Up: Bar: Well that was a good one. The car just verified that it was a 135 right on the money, exactly what we needed. (Takes off Helmet) Oh my sunburn is hurting Big load off my mind really, no guessing no nothing, I could see exactly what the speed was, I saw 135, held it right there. Guy verifies: 135 (clap). Yesterday they towed me 8 miles without a helmet on and, like my sunburns covered in salt youre rubbing salt in my wounds. (Bar climbs onto bike) Alright so back to the line, well get on the end f the line, well get all set for the next run. Dave Powell: okay. VO 3.4: Narrator: Instead of obtaining his D License, Hodgson and the Team Arrow Racing crew collect some surprising and discouraging news. Bob Williams: According to the rule book you need to qualify with licenses: a 125 miles an hour, a 150 miles an hour a 175 miles an hour, and 200, but this time they said you have to do 2 runs in each category. Well that slowed the process down a little bit. But luckily, the pits are thinning out and uh, probably 30% or 40% of the people have gone home for whatever reason; Time or they blew up or had mechanical problems or whatever, but now that the number of racers is diminishing, we can do more runs now without as much hassle. Uh, youre not going to spend 4 hours in the sun trying to get one pass.

Bar taking helmet off

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Superbike towed to start

24:09 Key: Team Arrow Racing Pit / Tuesday 8:30 am Various shots of less populated area

Motorcycle streamline in workbay

Sound Up: Bob Williams Are you ensured, Dave? Dave: For what. Bob Williams: Life insurance in case it falls on you. Bob Mundei: I thiunk they exclude motorcycle streamliners. Dave: As soon as they found out I was coming to Bonneville they cancelled me. Bob Williams: I see. Bob: Well what were doing here is were uh, taking the skin off to prepare the bike to go through tech inspection. They cant inspect it with the skin on. It looks pretty, but thats not what theyre looking for. Were just tidying up some wiring now. Some salt got into some of the electrical components and caused us some grief. We had to jerry-rig a few things but we were able to make it work. They are strict, strict, strict on safety here. Extremely so, um, ah, and theyre strict on displacement. If youre 500 ccs and youre entered into 500 cc class, if youre 501 youre out, 1 cc more. And theyre strict on gasoline, if you use their gasoline, if youre running in a gas class, the gasoline standard has been the same forever. No matter what happens with new gases, they keep the same quality of gas, so that everybody who sets a gas record is the same as the gas record 10 years ago. Okay, and they seal the tank, and then when you come in after you give them your time slip, first thing: they siphon some gas out. They do a spectra-analysis to make sure its their gas. Sound Up: Starter What, you again!? Bar: Yeah, me again! Starter: Youre having way too much fun. Bar: What happened was, they changed the rules, we didnt know about it on the

Bike without skin Various inserts workingo n car

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Key: D License Back-Up Trial / TUESDAY 9:45 am / Target Speed Range: 125 mph 149 mph Bar at start line again

motorcycle end of it. Motorcycles only, must back-up each license run. Hedy: Do two passes. Bar: We have to do 2 passes. Sound Up: Another motorbike takes off from starting line. Strarter: 8780. Go ahead. Bar starts up, races off. Bar: Ive got my 3 time slips now so now Ive got 3 of my licenses lined up, Im feeling very very happy and Im now headed for 175 to 199 miles per hour, but gotta do it twice. Sound Up: Official in Booth: Okay, there you are, congratulations, well see you on the next one. Bar: Thank you Joanne. Bar: Originally we were going to do the 175 199 in the streamliner, but this bike is proving so damn fast that were going to go for it because we went 171 so Im just going to keep it pegged close to the rev limiter and we can break it, I think we can break it. I think well break it and get it on it. 28:17 Key: Bonneville Speed Week / Tuesday 5:00pm Long Course Starting Line VO 4.1: Narrator: As Bonneville Speed Week Various shots of cars waiting unfolds, the harsh conditions of salt and in line sun start to take their toll. Despite shorter line-ups at the starting lines equipment malfunctions frustrate many of the racers waiting to make a run. Sound Up: Racer Mark Seeley waits for another streamliner to start: Id like to see him get off there and get this thing going. Starter: Okay so you guys dead for the moment?

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Dip to black Key: Bonneville License Office / Tuesday 3:00pm / Bar Hodgson collects E, D, and C Licenses Bar at timing booth

28:49

Long motorcycle at start line Key: Mark Seeley / Rider, Famute Special

Dessert Rose racer: For the moment. Starter: You want to push it out, work on it, well tuck it back in later. Dessert Rose Racer: Okay. Mark Seeley: I was all ready. Try to keep myself calm, I was set to go and now Ive gotta wait again and its hot. So ah, Ive just had to kind of sit here, keep it together, Ill be alright. Its got the turning Radius of the Queen Mary..

Rose streamline car

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Various shots of blue motorcycle at starting line Blue motorcycle starting Key: Long Course Line-Up / Tuesday 5:25pm / B License 1st Attempt

Bar preparing to race again

VO 4.2 Narrator: Of all the records being challenged at Bonneville speed week, the 500cc blown fuel motorcycle record has proven to be one of the oldest and most difficult to beat. Set at 211 miles per hour by a German government backed racing team back in 1956; it has remained unbroken to this day. Bar Hodgson is now 1 license away from attempting to smash that record. Sound Up: Dave Powell: If you think of it, what you could do is: you know what happened to Rossi eh? He found out at 200 miles an hour the clutch lever was being pushed in by the wind, so poke your finger out. Bar: were gonna go, flat out in each gear, Im going to power shift each gear, and when we get to the second, end of the second mile, come into the second to the third mile, Im going to be laying down for the entire mile and I hope its a big number. Bar: Id be some kind of wimp if I started thinking about do I have any limitations here, because nobodys got limitations

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Bar standing by bike Key: Bar Hodgson / Rider, Team Arrow Racing

Truck push start Pan to Bar next in line

Bar OC

here. You know if youre not in to what youre here for, you really shouldnt be here. So this is an opportunity for me, its a chance to just steep in this whole atmosphere here, which is a very unusual atmosphere, and very hard to describe. Its timeless. Starter: Motorcycle 8780. Its yours.

Car in other lane starts, pan to Bar Key: B License 1st Attempt / Tuesday 5:45pm / Target Speed Range: 175 mph 199 mph 31:42 Dip to black Bar OC on bike Inserts of salt on bike Bar: Well were not happy, we got 168. But it seems as the day has gone on things have gotten hotter, we can hear water boiling in the engine its so damn hot. The salts throwing up and its getting to the grid work on the radiator and heats coming up. So thats all were going to get out with this motor. Dave Powell: Back to plan B which is the streamliner. Dave: Bar has to go with the streamliner for tech and I think thats our best bet for right now. Its not going to go any faster today. So we got a long tow, weve got a 7 mile tow to get back to the pits. Back to the ranch! Bar: its a grueling process, its hard on everybody and its, its, its tough, you know. Its a test, theres no doubt about it. Thats, thats the game, you want to win the big prize, thats the game. Bar: But I tell you bob, Ive been pretty intense on this thing for a couple of days now, so Ive got to get my head back over here.

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Dave OC Key: Dave Powell / Crew Member, Team Arrow Racing

32:26

Bike about to be towed

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Visual Transition Streamline motorcycle in pit area Key: Team Arrow Racing Pit / Tuesday 6:30pm

Bar: Well I think this whole thing is a total learning experience, its a test, its definitely a huge test of endurance and fortitude, and a whole bunch of other good platitudes. But I think we set out to do a certain thing, and we did that with the pro star bike, we got our first three licenses. Now thats powerful. We could have failed at that point, we havent. So now its in, and get through our final tech, show them we can bail out with safety, and then go for our shake down run. Well, this is a little weirder. Bar: As all our runs had been on the standard superbike for the qualifying for our lower licenses, this was the 1st time actually in the streamliner, so that was going to make it very interesting. Bar: Bob lets review your fire pulls here. Bob Williams: Okay. Engine compartment, this is the only one you really use. Bar: Ive got to get in that cockpit, Ive got to know exactly what my procedures are, and Ive got to do those procedures. And if I do them all right, and we have luck on our side, which is a big part of the experience here, and the machine holds together well, well get it. The machine can do it, Its good for Ill bet 275. We have a chance not to just break this record, but to shatter it. The only thing thatll hold me back is if we do our first run on my B license, because I cant break out 250 on that. Bob Williams: Okay, straight down is on. Forward is a starter Vroom okay? So its Off, On, Start. Throttle is on your foot, okay. You want to shut it off? Pull it back. Okay, you just shut the ignition off. Bar: Yeah, okay.

Insert of superbike Shots of Bar lying in streamliner

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Shots around streamline in pit with Bar in seat

Closing door

Closeup of cockpit controls

Bar OC

Various fast cars on strip

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Visual transition Key: Team Arrow Racing Pit / Wednesday 9:00am Getting into Streamliner motorcycle

35:23

Buckling in 36:00 Gary OC Key: Gary Hensley / Staiger/Hensley Racing / Former Racer, Team Arrow Streamliner

Bar: Its very tough to get practice time in a streamliner. Thats one of the things that makes it very difficult in record setting because where are you going to run it, you cant run it on the street. You could rent an airport and we tried to do that but theyre very short so you cant get up to high speeds. Thats why Bonneville is where people come to from all over the world because its 11 miles long and you can run a streamliner. Gary: So what were going to do now is get you in, and make sure that all this stuff here which cant be adjusted on the line is adjusted. VO 4.3 Narrator: Although he s now wrenching and driving for a different Land Speed Team, Gary Hensley rode the Arrow streamliner for Bob Williams for 3 years. He came close to breaking the 500cc record in 2006, but crashed the streamliner during the attempt. Garys focus at this years Speedweek is setting a land speed record in a new 4-wheel vehicle of his own, but passing on his knowledge and experience of riding the streamliner is crucial to Hodgsons success. Bar has very little time to learn as much as he can from the former Streamliner rider. Gary: Theres a big learning curve. It depends on the conditions of the course and the weather. A motorcycle streamliners probably the hardest thing in the world to ride or build and be successful. Theres damn few of them that have ever been successful. Lots of them have been built never did a thing. Gary: Because this is what theyre looking for right, when you go through tech, hes going to grab your hand and pull it to see if it comes out of the chassis. Because imagine that theres no skin on this right now, and youre sliding upside-down, you

wont have enough strength and enough awareness to pull your hands down. Gary: Youre afraid youre going to crash the whole time. Uh, this bike is moving around all the time, its got a very low roll centre and youre actually looking through a periscope so what youre actually seeing is the world turning around you. And youre constantly trying to figure out which way to turn the bars to keep the thing from crashing. So its a job and its really very stressful and not a very happy time. Sound Up: Gary: How do you feel? Bar: I feel good. Gary: Good. Now pretend for a second youre upside down. Bar: Gary: Now you got to get yourself out right now okay? Cmon. Cmon out. Bar: Show me the operational.. Gary: Its right here. All you do is that. Bar: How does it work? Gary: You just flip it. Your all your buckles are loose dont touch anything. Dont do anything. Just get out. Slide you ass down. Get your chin up. Bar: This is much like being an astronaut in that it isnt about getting out and racing, its about knowing all your procedures and the precision involved in it and making all the right steps to make sure that your missions accomplished. Sound up: Bar: Well, that worked! Bob Williams: I think were ready. Finally. I think Ive dotted all my is and crossed all my ts, and were ready for inspection. This is the 7th time the bike has gone through tech inspection. Sound Up: Bob: Okay are we ready? 38:17 Car pulling parachute Fade to White VO 5.1:

36:55

More shots of Bar in cockpit preparing for run

Bar exit from motorcycle

Bar OC

37:45

Bar infront of bike Key: Bob Williams / Team Owner / Team Arrow Racing

Bar flashbacks Key: Team Arrow Streamliner / Wednesday 12:00pm / Official Inspection 38:39 Key: Bob Williams / Team Owner, Team Arrow Racing

Narrator: Bar Hodgsons journey at Bonneville Speed Week has been anything but a smooth ride. Hes still 1 license away from getting a shot at attempting to break the 500cc blown fuel motorcycle land speed record. And before he can ride in the Arrow Racing Streamliner, the motorcycle must first pass this years technical inspection. Bob Williams: The NSU record is the oldest record in Bonnevilles book. Set in 1956 and if we do set a record the rider gets into the 200 mile an hour club. What that is, its not going 200 miles an hour, its setting a record over 200 miles an hour. Sound Up: Inspector looks at engine: I see it. Bob Williams: You see it? Inspector: Yeah. Bob: It was there all the time I just forgot Im sorry. Im getting old. (laughs) Bob Williams: Well we got held up a little bit going through tech, uh, so were in the process of doing that now, it just slows the game down again, keeping us off the track. No matter how prepared you are, worked all year on it, you think you got all your ducks in a row, you know, and then ah, something comes along, a little glitch And weve got military spec connectors, weve got all the best, and still we have problems. Sound Up: Bob Williams: Tell them where this is: Ive got extra hoops for this, all set to bolt in, in case I win the lottery I can make it longer and put two motors in. (laughs) But Id have to win, Id have to win the bloody lottery 1st I tell ya. Inspector 2: When you get the money for setting the record right? (laughter) Bob Mundei: Yeah, that and a bottle-cap will get you ball-point pen. Bob Williams: Nothing goes easy, its

Motorcycle being inspected

Bob OC

39:58

Bar suiting up

Bob OC More inspection

always an uphill grind, but it makes victory that much sweeter. This is ah, you know, funded out of your pocket, out of your, I guess ah, your RRSPs and your kids inheritance, and uh, but its a love, its a labour, its a engineering. Its just, you know you meet people that you wouldnt meet anywhere else. The technology that you see at Bonneville is just fabulous. Sound Up: Inspector: Alright, so, lets just imagine you have an issue with fire or engine failure. Okay? Go! (Bar unbuckles and climbs out of hatch) Inspector: Thats perfect. 17? Yeah I got 15, thats great. (team members applaud). Bob Williams: That was faster than last time bar, it was 19 last time. Bar: I was more worried this time. (laughter) Inspector: And hell do it faster when hes on fire. Bob Williams: We passed tech inspection. What well do is well ah, go back to the pits, fill the tires with nitrogen, top up the gas and the oil, uh the coolant water and so on, and ah, put all the shell back on, pack the chutes, and be ready to run.

Bar in driver seat running emergency sims Crew claps for good exit time

Visual Transition: 41:37 Key: Team Arrow Racing Pit / Wednesday 3:00 pm / Final Streamliner Preparation

41:42

Sound Up: Gary: What I try to do is get the thing warm on the line so itll idle all by its lonesome. Bar: Yeah. VO 5.2: Narrator: With Tech inspection complete, Former Team Arrow Rider Gary Hensley

41:51 Gary OC

stops by the pit to help Hodgson with the controls in the streamliner. Gary: You know of they have a good week out here this bike could easily go 275 with no stress or strain what-so-ever. Bar: Well my biggest concern was remembering everything I had to do considering I hadnt done it before and everything was totally foreign, so knowing where all my controls were, keeping that fresh in my mind, what I had to do, um thinking it through on my head on where I have to make my shift points and all those things that you must do. Gary: We were just going over the procedure he needs to follow to get down the track safely the first time. Hes got to know when to shift, so he doesnt go too fast and make the starter mad at him. Cause hes still speed limited, they dont want him going more than 200 on this pass. So we went over the gearing chart, and we set up the lights on the shift mechanism so he can see when to shift, and when not to go too fast. Bob Williams: Were geared to go 300. So depending on the conditions, well not only take that record of 211, but we expect to go 260, 270 without any problem at all. Now that and a dollar buys you coffee, okay. If conditions arent right, if its too windy, if we have a mechanical failure or something goes wrong, we could very well come back with our hat in our hand again. But our chances this year are as good or better than theyve ever been. Sound Up: Gay: You know who should be packing this is Bar. Now Im not being smart, when I drive my racecar or whos

Crew in pits with motorcycle

42:19

Crew talking over car/strategy in pit Key: Gary Hensley / Staiger/Hensley Racing / Former Racer, Team Arrow Streamliner

42:42

More shots in pit area Bob OC

Finishing touches on packing tent

ever driving my race car, the guy driving the damn car is the guy that packs the chute. Bob Williams: Everybody gets anxious, excited. Weve had things where the rider accidentally bumped the shoot, and the shoot came out and the rider cant tell, theres no rear view mirrors. Sound Up: Gay: Okay, you want to pull that wire through? Bar: in terms of thinking of worst case scenarios, you really dont do that outside of, knowing that, if something goes wrong okay Ive got to pull my chute, Ive got to fire off the fire extinguisher, you know, this is how were gonna go down, its all a matter of thinking it out ahead of time, in case theres a bad scenario. Bob Williams: I think that the persistence and the stick-to-itiveness is the key to success for anybody in anything. Education, doesnt guarantee you anything. You make your own opportunity, but if you attack something, then drag it to the end, you know, dont give up. VO 5.3: Narrator: In order to earn his B License, Bar Hodgson now has to ride the streamliner down the timing course within a precise window of speed: no slower than 175 miles per hour and no faster than 199 miles per hour; and, he has to do it twice. Bar: Thisll be our first ah, qualifier on our B license, well have to back that up in the morning, and then were good to go over 200. Right now I got one thing on my mind, is getting in that cockpit and doing my job, and Ive got everything focused on that and tuned on that. I want this record

Bob OC

43:44

CU of putting parachute in container

Rolling motorcycle out of pit area

44:10

Motorcycle rolled out of pit and attached to truck. Beauty shot of maple leaf on nose cone

44:34

Streamliner in tow

44:53

Key: Long Course Line-Up / Wednesday 5:45 pm / B License 2nd attempt Key: Bar Hodgson / Rider, Team Arrow Racing

Motorcycle in tow

without a doubt. This is the culmination of my motorcycle career; Ive ridden motorcycles since I was 15 years old. I drag raced, I took up road racing at 60, and the opportunity to go out and grasp that record, I can smell it and I want it, theres no doubt about it Sound up: Car at the front of the line races off.

45:53

Bar suiting up Key: B License 2nd Attempt / Wednesday 6:30 pm / Target Speed Range: 175 mph 199 mph Bar Suiting up

46:11

Bar looking down line Other cars starting Key: Long Course Starting Line / Wednesday - 6:47 pm

46:36 Key: Bonneville Long Course / Wednesday 7:00pm

Bar: While waiting in line, there was no fear, I was not afraid of anything, really the excitement level was starting to build as we got closer and closer to the line. Bar: I guess my concern at this stage is to just keep mentally doing mental checks of what I have to do, to know that my job is right down pat. If all this is taking place all day long, I better do my job right, (laughs) because its only going to be a short run. VO 5.4: Narrator: After a full day of preparation, 70-year-old Bar Hodgson is still raring to go, but at the Bonneville Salt Flats it takes more than desire to a set land speed record. As every competitor knows, it takes patience, perseverance, and at this late time in the day, It also takes a little bit of luck: something that hasnt come easy to the Team Arrow Racing crew. Sound-Up: Starter: Guys youre not going to make our timeframe here. You guys are not gonna have time to get this in. Okay? Dave Powell: Yup. Thank you very much. Starter: One way or another well see you guys in the morning. Bar: We had waited most of the day in the line-up and finally we ran out of time in the day, it was getting late in the night and they cut the racing off at 7 oclock and that was it, we couldnt go any farther that day. Sound Up: Bar shuts trunk, Thats it. Other Participant, So close.

Bar: Yeah. Other Participant: Youre the 1st one cut off? Bar: yeah. Bar: Well, thats the agony and the ecstasy I guess. I mean, thats racing, is how they say it. Dip To Black 47:23 Key: Bonneville Speed Bar: Next morning the weather was Week / Thursday 9:00 am beautiful. We got to the line for our start Bar OC position probably around 9am. The Starter said, Good luck he says, Youve got a 7 Dip to Black mile an hour cross wind. And with that the hatch is closed. Youre now in total darkness at this time. Sound Up: Bob Williams pushes the Streamliner off of the starting line Push Start Bar: I took it up to red-line in first gear and made my 1st shift, but I could feel a little bit of wind tugging on my right hand side. Sound Up: Glen Barrett: 1150 quarter mile speed, long course, 149. Bar: as we went to the top of second, I made my shift into third. Were now doing about 185 miles an hour. It was at that point that I started to feel the wind really take over the vehicle on the right had side and start to steer me off the course. Sound Up: Streamliner crashes. Glen Barrett: We have crash! We have a cash! Right at the 3-mile. Bar: As I got out into the rough stuff, it actually skipped about 3 times. It sounded like a 45 gallon drum as it, as it hit the salt each time; and it rolled about 3 times, 4 times. Everything was really

47:57

Motorcycle side cam view

Dip to Black Start of Crash from side camera LS of crash

Dip to black 48:49 Bar OC

bashing really hard and really fast, until we finally came to a stop, fell over to our left, and thats when I hit my seven-point harness and I bailed out. Bar: I consider myself very fortunate that I was able to walk away from such a spectacular crash at 185 miles an hour. My hand had two fractures in 2 bones in the finger bones and uh, I had battered up knees, but really, we came out of it very well. Sound Up (replay) Glen Barrett: We have a crash, we have a crash! Right at the three-mile!

Key: Team Arrow Streamliner / Severely damaged and deemed undriveable after failed B license attempt. 49:17 Dip to Black Bar OC

Several shots of commuter cars on salt Shots of Pit CU on Bar in Helemet Bar OC Visual Transition 50:02 51:00 Roll Credits Fade to Black

Bar: Would I do it again? Yes I would do it again. Bonnevilles an amazing thing. Anybody that thinks they can go down there and win a record real easy is wrong. Bonnevilles a humbling experience, its a spiritual experience the whole place is spiritual. It is a very, very different place. If you ask me if I have salt fever or if I got to experience that, Id have to say yes. Um, it is a strange feeling and as I said its very spiritual there and when I was driving away, leaving it, I felt this tugging at me and tugging at me and tugging at me. And I can see why people go back year after year. Its really a lot of fun.