THE PROOF IS IN THE PERFORMANCE

we leave Denver and drive 700 uneventful miles to a bleak desolate corner of America we're headed toward wind over Utah near the Nevada line a hundred thousand years ago all of western Utah was underwater this immense lake of concentrated mineral salt water gradually receded to form what is now the Great Salt Lake leaving a residue of more than three thousand square miles of surface salt deposits this ancient lake bed is so flat and level that you can see the curvature no animals or vegetable life can survive on the salt fence you see no birds in the air no insects on the ground there aren't even any reptiles in one part of this vast Salt desert the salt is pure and hardest concrete this forms the world's best racing service the Bonneville Salt Flats records for the world's fastest land speeds have been established here racing and hotrod enthusiasts from all over the country gather here each year to match their machines courage and know-how against split-second timing devices [Music] the Bonneville Speed Trials are sponsored by the Southern California timing Association a group of dedicated men who come up to Bonneville each year on their own time to provide the facilities to make these records official the communication system is the maze of nearly a hundred miles of waterproof salt proof wire and a dozen telephones which are required to keep the far-flung starting and timing positions in constant contact [Music] timing officials plant the stakes that support the photoelectric units used to measure the speed to one thousandth of a second [Music] each unit is set 100 feet across the course from its corresponding light the photoelectric units wear raincoats to protect them from the sudden showers that occasionally drench the salt flats during the summer even the power is supplied by portable generators without landmarks it's possible to get lost up here so the Utah State Highway Department marks a number of auxilary roadways and then they lay out the nine mile speed course and smooth the surface and tell us as level as a table town drivers and car owners register on opening day nearly 200 cars are here for the meet they will compete for national records in 45 different automotive categories following registration each car is put through a rigid technical inspection [Music] drivers and mechanics walk over to the trophy table that big trophy in the center is the one they're all after for the fastest time of the meet at the drivers meeting all competitors are briefed on safety regulations and competition rules safety is just as important as speed at Bonneville the pits now become a huge staging area where the final preparations are made before these men and machines go into battle against the clock check can double check anything that might save a fraction of a second from a running time is worth trying Bonneville is a gleaming white proving ground for innovations in automotive engineering both amateur and professional engineers combine their creativeness and technical knowledge to develop new designs and new combinations to beat the clock with a course nine miles long proper gear selection is a critical and exacting problem high speeds create their own problems special tires had to be developed as these cars first approached and then exceeded the one time Bonneville barrier of 200 miles per hour the tires are inflated with nitrogen because of its low rate of expansion at extreme temperatures and now maybe I'd better get to work I'm Cal Kennedy a member of the pit crew of the whims friction proofing streamline our three engine car is the defending champion of the meek it set its first Bonneville record in 1951 with a speed of 230 miles per hour last year we set a record of 260 1.81 miles per hour at these speeds one of the problems is wind resistance bill Ken's designed and built our stream line he engineered a body design which has a minimum of wind resistance yet prevents the car from becoming airborne at this tremendous speed our second problem is internal friction but that's reduced with winds friction proofing products we've been using winds in this car since it was first built we add winds friction proofing for auto engine to each of the three v8 engines to power the streamline metal surfaces in engines which may look mirror smooth are actually raw and jagged under a microscope under the extreme pressure conditions that any car encounters when accelerating motor oil is squeezed from between these sawtooth surfaces and they Kleist together this is frictional drag we could lose as much as one third of the streamliner 600 horsepower and frictional drag alone so we treat every spot in the car where metal meets metal with winds friction proofing we add a four ounce can of winds friction proofing special concentrate to four pounds of gear lube to treat the universal joints the streamliners driver Roy Leslie applies winds to the specially designed u joints and to the differential hot rodders tell us that when every engineering change and modification has been completed on a Bonneville car they still get an added performance boost using winds friction proofing this can mean as much as 10% faster acceleration the two forward engines of the streamliner drive the front wheels and the third engine which is separately mounted drives the rear wheels each of the cars four wheels has independent suspension [Music] any frictional drag in the wheel bearings would greatly limit the car's speed so as a part of our regular of preparation routine on the streamliner we treat the wheel bearings with winds friction proofing special concentrate winds is pre-mixed with the wheel bearing grease and we treat the bearings just before we make our run the cars are beginning to line up for the qualifying runs as we complete our preparation of the streamline we've checked every phase of the cars operation over carefully a routine inspection includes checking the action of the streamliners 12 carburetors and 24 spark plugs as well as inspecting the fuel tank the cooling system the steering mechanism and the tires at the tremendous flat-out speeds turned at Bonneville each of the cars thousands of parts must operate perfectly [Music] since the cars compete only against the clock and previous records they line up in any order in which they complete their preparations to go through the time speed traps we push the streamliner out to the starting line to await our turn to qualify for a record run the starters and timers take their places and the meet is officially open a chrysler powered lakester its body an aircraft wing tank is on its way the beam is broken time 207 miles per hour no two body designs are just alike every builder has his own ideas about where to place the engine the cooling system and fuel tank for best weight distribution this roadster must have the right formula he broke 200 miles per hour on this run the designers real challenge is how to defeat the problem of wind resistance although this car is supposed to run in the coupe and sedan class the designer kept lowering the top until it disappeared altogether this is a coupe the owners call this car half fast but it looks like it really moves when you take a Model T and put the fuel tank where the engine used to be and then put the engine where the people used to be that leaves only one place for the driver where the dashboard used to be and even that's a tight fit but then that's what makes them quick a mercury powered roadster is started this car runs in the gasoline class and turns 145 another lakester leaves the starting line this car is driven by its 18 year old owner who's in there somewhere to qualify for a record run Roy Leslie will have to travel more than 255 miles per hour that was the to weigh average speed record set in 1953 when Willie Young was driving our streamliners the starter gives us the signal and Roy is on his way he has two miles together speed before he starts through the three speed traps at one mile apart he's approaching the first speed trap now we catched the phone reports from the timer stand Roy drove the final mile at 256 miles per hour we're qualified for the record run in the morning next morning we get up very early and start work before sunrise record runs are always made just after dawn or a dusk when the air is still the starting line is a scene of feverish activity this morning only the cars which qualified faster than the previous records will attempt to set new Bonneville marks today this roadster will try for a new record this morning it has a supercharged DeSoto with a crank driven blower the shining engine is an example of the care and attention to detail that these young engineers put into their modified hot rods quite a number of the Bonneville competitors run their cars in the gasoline classes just before each run they must drain their gas tank so that the officials may supervise the filling of the tanks with gasoline certified to be ordinary service station gasoline our car and a great many others run on what we call fuel fuel is generally a combination of methyl alcohol and nitro methane although some cars run as much as 98% nitro fuel the streamliner never uses more than 20% of this high-powered ingredient Jack Richards wife Bernie is our fuel expert we put the streamliner through its regular checklist this 1956 Victoria from Houston Texas sets the pace for the meet by turning 150 point zero nine seven miles per hour the mercedes-benz 300sl is in the B sports car class owners of sport cars are seen increasingly here at Bonneville which has become the only spot in the world where absolute maximum speeds can be run with a high degree of safety Mercedes hits 138 miles per hour on its down run next a beat class modified roadster with an aerodynamic nose on the front of a Model T body pushes off on its qualifying run the d-class roadster moves up to the starting line this car was designed and built by a team of four hot rodders who put a powerful engine in a 32 Ford chassis young men with a vast knowledge of technical data and skill in its application it turns 190 1.5 miles per hour entered in the coupe and sedan class a 1957 plymouth named suddenly its 1960 begins its run under the hood is a huge Chrysler v8 with experimental fuel injection it's traveling 170 8.57 when it triggers the lightning the owners of this much modified Studebaker wanted to make sure their entry wasn't confused with the plymouth of the same name this car is driven from the back seat time one seven five point six ninety six we are particularly anxious that our two-way record run goes well today although Roy Lesley has made more runs at Bonneville at over 200 miles per hour than any other competitor here he has never before completed a two-way record run if he succeeds this time he will be eligible for membership in the exclusive 200 mile an hour Club the starter calls the push car ROI moves down the course gathering speed on the first half of his record run [Applause] [Music] bill hoses have just right to amplify the engine sounds the car is running sweet and smooth all three engines are perfectly synchronized the car is entering the first day and we have never seen it move so fast we dash over to the official stand and catch the timer's report as they come through here they come now he breaks the beam doing 269 miles per hour bilkins tries to look nonchalant but he knows it's the best time the car has ever turned now we move our base of operations down to the other end of the nine mile course while we're driving down there we dig out the record book if Roya Leslie could repeat that 269 speed on the return run our car will be able to beat the fourth-place world's record of two 68.9 miles per hour but just as we begin preparing the car for its return run a violent rainstorm breaks it lasts only a few minutes but the east end of the salt course becomes thoroughly soaked when the salt is wet and saw the tires can't get a good bite and the course becomes quite a bit slower after a quick conference bill ken's decides to change our gear ratios slightly to see if we can increase our traction since we carry a large supply of quick change parts we select a pair of gears which will give us a better ratio I slipped the gears in place and Jack Richards builds the grease gun we complete the job in a matter of minutes by the time we complete our full checklist of the working parts of the streamliner the Sun is out in the course is beginning to dry but waiting is always hard on the nerves and after about half an hour one of the little roadsters takes the signal and runs down the course without any problems this encourages the Mercedes driver and he gets the starting signal his run looks good but the official tell us it was just short of setting a new record the other cars continued their return runs but the SCTA officials suggest that we wait until the course has had every chance to dry in the sun's heat to set a two-way record the speeds must be established in like miles that is in the same speed trap in each direction the timer selects the best pair of speeds and whichever of the three speed traps provides the best average this regulation works to our disadvantage though since the streamline is power enables it to increase its speed throughout the entire distance of the course Ronny Leslie helps his dad into his gear as they plan last-minute strategy by reversing direction Roy must now try to reach top speed by the time he enters the first mile trap which will sure be a problem on this wet course but Roy is determined to make the attempt the push truck moves him out to the starting line and he's on his way as soon as Roy is out of sight we crowder on the starters portable telephone although the car was doing 268 behind the pass the third pair of lights our time in that crucial first trap was just 263 in spite of the fact that we just missed our attempt to break the fourth place world's record most of us are well pleased with our runs today Jack Richards carries a recap of all the streamliners runs and shows us that we have increased the American two way average by 11 miles per hour and in addition Roy had finally become a member of the 200 mile an hour Club so far no other car Bonneville this year has come close to our time but Roy takes Bill Ken's aside and tells him he'd like to try one more run that 269 run was too close to the magic 270 that's the speed the slide rule boys say is the absolute maximum for cars in our horsepower class the weather is cleared and the course will be fast tomorrow bill is a little afraid that we may have pushed our luck too far already we've had no problems at all this year this is unusual for any Bonneville entry and he thinks maybe we should quit while we're ahead Roy sees the bill is weakening a little go and point out that the speed trials won't be open for two more days bill may not be fully convinced but he sees Roy really has his heart set on it so he finally agrees that the streamliner should make one more run [Music] early the next morning the crew has a quick meeting to plan the strategy for the streamliners final run we're all determined that nothing will be overlooked that might help to make this the best run in the cars history outcomes the winds friction proofing again we want everything to work in our favor on this last run and we know that adding winds will help deliver every last bit of horsepower that these three engines produce several years ago Roy drove a hot rod to a new record market when the run was over he discovered the engine had lost all its oil but the service smoothing effects of winds that prevented engine seizure and he's never driven without winds in his car sent them this time we check and double-check every item on our preparation chart this is the time that really counts bill Ken's goes over the car for final inspection he finds no signs of tire wear even though we've used this that for several runs when bill is satisfied the car is in perfect condition we move out to the starting line Roy seems to be just a little nervous this morning for the first time since we arrived at Bonneville he's mighty proud of his new shirt though it signifies that he is a member of the exclusive 200 mile an hour Club which has only 35 members throughout the entire world at the meeting last night this group elected him president full safety gears of primary importance to all Bonneville drivers the only serious accident that the Salt Flats occur when an engine seizes or something happens to the running gear throwing the car out of control although Roy always says that the 41 seconds it takes to make a record run pass is too fast to upset him we are all aware of the ever-present danger besides his heavily padded crash helmet Roy has both a safety belt and shoulder harness to protect him Roy runs through the cockpit check he uses the hand pump to build up the required fuel pressure before the three engines are fired up watch the top of the dashboard you can see the needle moving on the gauge [Music] now he's ready to start the engines an official gives a sign that the course is clear the starter gives the wave-off signal and Roy is ready to go the push car eases the streamliner down the course the salt is just right just damp enough to keep the tires cool but not so wet the traction is hampered [Music] [Music] [Applause] it's a new American record 270 point four seven three we're mighty pleased crew as we pile out of the truck to meet Roy he actually reached the highest possible speed at which the streamliner was rated Roy can tell by the expression on our faces that he has broken the record again the photographers and news men were right behind us when we left the starting line so we have only a few seconds to get his first-hand report on this record-breaking run Roy had one minor mishap however the cooling system broke in the floor of the cockpit is filled with water other than that everything went his way the car handled perfectly the course was smooth and he had no problems of wind drift the newsreels move in to take the picture of the entire crew and Roy and Bill are photographed with a huge Bonneville trophy the news men tell us that this record is the world's fastest time for a car powered with production automobile engines the new record is a tribute to the engineering genius of designer builder Bill Ken's to the courage and skill of driver Roy Leslie and to the outstanding performance of the winds friction proofing streamliner the proof is in the performance [Music]