Compact cars are becoming as popular on the salt as sunburns and parachutes. Here's a look at some of this year's compact contenders
It's Bonneville time again. You know what that means. Along with the legions of pushrod-powered rolling museums that head to the salt every year, there will be a small contingent of diehards who insist on breaking records in sport compact cars. Which, when you think about it, makes a lot of sense. The cars are smaller, which means less frontal area, which translates to the need for less power. Almost makes you wonder why Craig Breedlove didn't build a jet-powered Ford Falcon.
The 57th Annual Bonneville Speed Week will be held August 13 through 19 this year. As many as 400 cars are expected from as far as New Zealand and Japan. And with 80 potential records in the 1000cc to 3000cc classes, there's a big playground for compacts.
With tuners making more and more power, many are finding their way to the salt each year. The Southern California Timing Association has responded by allowing "production supercharged" cars and "production all-wheel drive" in some classes. It's only a matter of time before an EVO or STi shows up on the salt.
Historically, sport compact cars at Bonneville are as varied as the personalities who build them. Some are designed as class-specific record breakers. Others are simply products of speed junkies bent on small cars. Either way, the results are always entertaining.
Brian Gillespie/HASport Bonneville InsightHonda fans have talked about doing this for years. Swapping a real Honda drivetrain into the oh-so-slippery Insight hybrid chassis for Bonneville is an idea that just wouldn't go away. Leave it to Hasport to be the first to make it happen.
As of this writing, Brian Gillespie purchased an Insight flood recovery casualty and fitted it with the extensive roll cage and safety gear required for Bonneville and SCTA land-speed cars. What's left is "the easy part" according to Gillespie, swapping an Alanis-built Honda K20A with an Accord five-speed into the aluminum chassis and trying to break 200 mph naturally aspirated. Plans include shakedown runs at El Mirage and one other SCTA event if time permits.