The Bonneville Salt Flats aren't just empty, they're antiseptic. Nothing will grow on those 30,000 acres in Utah and the white salted ground stretches out so far, the curvature of the Earth is perceptible. The Flats are, intrinsically speaking, absolutely inhospitable and relentlessly uninteresting, except it's been the best place on Earth to go really fast for the last 90 years.
Since it began selling cars on October 25, 1990, Saturn has covered itself in essentially zero racing glory. Racing was, after all, never part of the "different" philosophy this division of GM was supposed to embody. But while "different" firmly established the brand back then, Saturn, which just introduced its Red Line performance brand, needs some certified racing cred to move forward now. To earn that, they headed to Bonneville this past October intent on shattering records-well, one record in particular, the G/Blown Fuel Altered record of 183.086 mph set by John Thawley (who contributed to this article) driving the Progress/Vortech Honda Civic Si back in 2001.
That record was particularly attractive to knock off because everything the Performance Division needed for the assault was something they already had. "All the engine parts are directly from the 'Ecotec Cook Book,'" says GM Racing engine specialist Russ O'Blenes.
"There's nothing secret in that engine. Everything was a proven piece from our drag racing program and carried in our regular inventory." In fact, the turbocharged Ecotec 2.0-liter four used for drag racing whacks out more than 1,100 hp under 30 pounds of boost and turns up to 10,000 rpm. Wicking it down to 22 pounds of boost so it could live over Bonneville's 5.0-mile course was rather straightforward.
The Southern California Timing Association (SCTA) sanctions the land speed record and has classes for almost any self-propelled vehicle. An "altered coupe" has to be a 1928-or-later model vehicle whose body is "unaltered in height, width, length, or contour mounted in the conventional manner with all panels mounted in the original relationship to each other." The "G/Blown Fuel" part of this particular class' name indicates an internal combustion engine displacement between 1.501- and 2.0-liters, running on a non-specified gasoline or other fuel and using forced induction.
It was the perfect class for the Saturn ION Red Line. The ION is aerodynamically slick in stock form, and the Red Line runs a new supercharged 2.0-liter version of GM's DOHC, 16-valve Ecotec four. Throw in the proven power of the drag racing Ecotec and it's no wonder Saturn decided to go for it. Taking any records at Bonneville isn't easy, but it was obviously do-able.
"We calculated the horsepower required to run 225 mph based on the Saturn ION's frontal area and coefficient of drag," O'Blenes explaines. "Our target was 670 hp at 8500 rpm." The fuel of choice for the ION's record run would be methanol.
While the engine was going together at GM Racing, the car it would go in was delivered to So-Cal Speed Shop in Pomona, Calif. Starting off as an innocuous silver ION Quad Coupe, it was So-Cal's job to fortify it for ballistic velocities.
Unlike virtually all other racecars, Land Speed Record (LSR) machines don't have to worry about cornering, braking, or acceleration. All they have to do is get up to speed, stay there, remain stable, come to a gentle stop, then turn around and do the same thing in the opposite direction. Therefore, So-Cal's buildup of the ION record racer was, in most ways, obvious and anything but radical.
"The Southern California Timing Association rule book essentially defined the safety and performance modifications that were made to the Bonneville ION racer," says GM concept vehicle project manager David Bolognino. "We retained most of the stock suspension components with a few upgrades to improve safety and stability at racing speed. The engine and transmission transferred directly from the championship-winning powertrains developed by GM Racing for sport compact drag racing. The experience and skill of the So-Cal Speed Shop crew brought the whole package together."