Bonneville Salt Flats
BLM Public Land · Wendover, Utah
Roughly forty square miles of hard white salt pan west of Salt Lake City, the dried bed of prehistoric Lake Bonneville, managed by the Bureau of Land Management and free to drive onto. Land speed records have been set here since 1914 and the wheel-driven record stood at 449 mph as of 2018. The salt is nearly five feet thick at the centre and less than an inch at the edges, and it is thinning — Speed Week was cancelled outright in 2015 and 2022 because the surface was not raceable.
Interstate 80 Exit 4, Bonneville Speedway Road, Wendover, Utah, United States
FREE, open at all times, BLM public land with no gate and no fee. The signposted viewing area is off Interstate 80 at Exit 4, and it is the safe access. ⚠ CONDITIONS DECIDE EVERYTHING HERE: winter typically leaves about an inch of water across the flats, which makes driving on them impossible, and wet or thin salt will bog a vehicle to the axle with no marking to warn you. ⚠ SPEED WEEK, MID-AUGUST, WAS CANCELLED IN 2015 AND 2022 because the salt was not raceable — the crust is measurably thinning where racing happens and nearby potash mining is suspected as a cause. Confirm salt and event status before travelling for a race. Rinse your vehicle underside thoroughly afterwards; the salt is severely corrosive. Nearest fuel, food and lodging are at Wendover.
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