Book Review: Flat Out by Rocky Robinson

Way back, when I was in high school, and they actually used chalk on the boards, I read an autobiography of Wilber Shaw. Shaw won the Indianapolis 500 three times back in the 1930s. What amazed me, at the time, was how the racing team would prepare the car for a race and then take it all apart to make sure they had assembled it correctly the first time.

I haven’t thought about that book in a good many years. Not until I read Rocky Robinson’s book Flat Out. Robinson currently holds the motorcycle land speed record - a sizzling 360.913 mph. Flat Out is about the quest for that record.

There is no argument that the streamliners in competition at Bonneville are sophisticated high-tech machines. Far superior to anything Shaw raced at Indy. It is the approach to the competition that I found interesting. Robinson starts the book with his employment at Bub Enterprises, where he becomes the driver in Denis Manning’s quest for the record. Manning’s machines were specially built from the ground up, with custom designed engines and computer driven functions. The pursuit of the record was done in by increasing speed in small increments.

Toward the end of Flat Out Robinson has an abrupt change of employment. He goes to work for Mike Akatiff, as driver for the Ack Attack streamliner. The Ack Attack is powered by two highly modified Hyabusa engines. Where Manning’s approach to the salt was in small measured speed steps, Akatiff’s approach was more, “Here it is. See how fast it will go.” More of the style of Shaw.

The conflict in Flat Out is competition between Manning’s Big Red (Robinson’s previous ride) and the Ack Attack (Robinson’s current ride). A record is set when two back-to-back runs are averaged through a timed mile of the twelve mile course. Down and back. One might think that as only one vehicle is on the course at the time there would be little feeling of competition. Not so. It is more like a gymnast competition where only one athlete is on the mat at a time. The course is only open for official competition during certain time frames each year. The attempt has to be good – and fast – during that frame, or come back next year. Then there may be water on the salt. Or, wind. Always, the wind. At 300+ mph wind is a major factor.

My one reservation about Flat Out is that it could use a little more depth in some areas. This is a perception probably only I would notice. Perception is uniquely individual. I just tend to enjoy books with more detail. For instance, at one point in the book, the Bub Enterprises team takes their streamliner Tenacious II to Lake Gairdner, Australia, for testing. Having spent quite a bit of time down under I was looking forward to a romp through the land of OZ. Unfortunately, while fun indeed, the romp was only one chapter. Then again, this is a racing book, not one of notorious pub crawls.

Robinson has done a great job in describing the behind the scenes world of the record seekers. His introduction is what hooked me into the book. In that, he vividly describes what it is like piloting a 300+ mph motorcycle. How the slightest weave can put the vehicle all over the course and possibly take the life of the driver. Bang! The transmission explodes. The smell of hot oil and methanol fill the cramped compartment. Will the deployed parachutes tangle?

Read Flat Out. Have an adventure in a world not many know about. I read the book. I enjoyed it. I hope you do as well. I think Wilber Shaw would have.