Bonneville SpeedWeek is in its 78th year. It possesses a spirit akin to the Isle of Man TT, its sprawling paddock emanating the same camaraderie and robustly mutual respect that comes with death-defying time trials. And a sharing of tools, parts and resource that would make circuit racers blush.

“The car I drove has no suspension,” Lucas Bethel tells me. “At 130mph it’s like you’re in a washing machine. It’s intense. The whole time you’re debating your decision to take part then once it’s done, you’re like, ‘I’m ready again!’”

Glen and Aron are a father and son team bringing their Chevy Corvair here for the third time, each hoping to breach the double ton to earn the red baseball cap of Bonneville’s 200mph club. They neatly complement one another’s skills. “I hammer and weld and he does all this technical shit,” says Glen. “I tune a car with a screwdriver and he does it with that laptop.”

While theirs is among dozens of entries running an LS V8, partners Curt and Jen have towed their 660cc, three-cylinder Suzuki Cappuccino kei car all the way from Alberta, Canada. “The course is rough and if the wind gets you, it’ll throw you around. It’s not like driving on asphalt where you can find traction. If the wind throws you, you’re thrown. You can’t correct or you’ll spin.” Jen digs in, scores a record and proudly shows us her trophy.

We meet Corey, a stand-in driver for the absurd clown shoe-shaped Santa Fe Roadster; 88-year-old owner Herb Gehiken has surrendered the seat this year due to a hip injury. “He’d be in the car otherwise,” grins Corey. “We want to hit 300mph for him.” Then there’s the Tachmen YOLO of Bert Heath, based on the 150-gallon belly tank of a World War II plane and running a Ford flathead V8 supercharged to 400bhp. “We’re going for 200mph,” he assures me, before promptly hitting 202.286mph.

Andy Green’s impressed by his fellow racers’ ingenuity. “One of the cars out here last year [at a Prodrive event recce] was running in the 7-8-litre class. They decided to modify their car to run in the 6-7-litre class, which they did by taking a piston out and putting a balance weight on the crankshaft. The engine was still balanced, now running on seven cylinders instead of eight. What a genius solution for putting yourself in a different class with half a day’s work.

“That’s not something you see anywhere else. Here there’s lateral thinking and creativity to work out how to break records. It’s hugely exciting to be part of this community, sharing the excitement of Land Speed Record racing.”