Arrival
at Bonneville
It
is early morning on thursday the 10th november 1971, and Pete
Farnsworth and Dick Keller is driving their van out to the salt
flats, towing the Honda Hawk in its new trailer, nicknamed "The
Hawk's Nest". They pull into the small town of Wendover, west of
Bonneville salt flats, an interesting small western town stradding
the Utah and Nevada state line. Due to the predominantly Mormon
population in Utah, this is absolutely No Alcohollic Beverages
territory! Wendover is also the last urban setting before the small
group will enter the uninhibited wide-open planes of Nevada - the holy
ground for land speed records. Although tired, both men are anxious
to get out on the salt the next day. Their around-the-clock work
schedule will not end until they (hopefully) set the motorcycle world
speed record.
With
the 1970 world speed record succes, The Blue Flame, in fresh memory
Farnsworth & Keller are both very discouraged when they see the state of the salt surface! While the salt was perfectly flat and dry in 1970, 1971 is quite another story.
Recent construction work on the nearby Interstate 80 highway has left
loose debris, mud, and clay, which has washed out onto the course
during the winter rains. The course is filled with pockmarks and
undulations which promis a bumpy ride for the Honda Hawk.
On
the salt flats this day is a very concerned timing crew (Joe Petrali,
and his son David), the AMA steward Earl Flanders, and FIM officials.
Honda had a film crew ready, and Motorcyclist magazin writer Bob
Greene is taking notes in the background.
Taking the pressure
into consideration, Farnsworth & Keller are thankful for the
confidence expressed by the entourage. The Honda PR people still
think they just need to fire up the CB750s, set the record, and go
home.
Everyone
fiddeling with speed machines, knows that a new bike is really a
development project. While a lot of effort goes into the engineering,
design, and fabrication, the first running of a racer is a test
program. On this day all the people from Reaction Dynamics is aware
of this, and would like to spend the first runs with just working
crew present, to work out the kinks in the motorcycle. There will be
issues, but no one knows what the issues will be yet.
The
Honda crew was led by Bob Young and Dix Erickson. Dix had worked for
Reaction Dynamics on The Blue Flame the previous year, before taking
a job at Honda in California. Dix was actually the guy responsible for
bringing American Honda and Reaction Dynamics together on this
venture, by showing some preliminary designs of the Hawk to
his boss at Honda.
The
American Honda crew had brought with them a supply of engines, and
several engine adapter kits (sprockets, chains, mounting frames,
etc.), which they assembled in the Western Mobil gas station garage.
The 3 to 4 Honda mechanics worked their tails off rebuilding the
motors and helping wherever they could, under the amazing guidance
from Bob Young. The two very different organizations start working as
a functioning team, and as a result they were able to overcome the
challenges they faced in 1971. The team kept pushing towards the world
record, but the weather brought the record attempt to a halt just as
the record was in their grasp...
