Hot rods, exotics, and motorcycles, streaming out into the flat, open desert. It looks like the American West, but it's actually along the border between Namibia and Botswana. It's Speed Week — in Africa.

(Last year, Jeff Gerner ran a 1992 Audi S4 to a top speed of 242 MPH at the Bonneville Salt Flats. He went back this year to go faster. Our friends from QuattroWorld and eGarage were there and saw the whole thing. - T.O.)

It's hard to comprehend, but George Poteet and Ron Main's Speed Demon streamliner ran at this year's Bonneville Speed Week with an amazing exit speed of 462.345 MPH.

What draws us in to Speedweek at the Bonneville Salt Flats isn't just the how fast the cars go, it's the whole presence of the salt and the people who make the pilgrimage there. Kelly Loudenberg and Arianna LaPenne took their cameras to Speedweek back in 2010 and made this short film, "Nebulous Theorem," that…

Tonya Harding was the first American woman to nail the triple axel in a figure skating competition, but did you know she's also the first person to establish a land speed record in the Vintage Gas Coup Class? You know Tonya Harding the figure skater-turned-women's boxer. Now meet Tonya Harding the successful vintage…

Yesterday signaled the end of the 2011 Bonneville Speed Week. Once again speed freaks from all over the world made the pilgrimage to the Salt to race vehicles of almost every imaginable variety.

Few cars can pull off portholes. This chopped Bonneville Buick is one of those few cars. It's the visual salt on the rim of this potent margarita. [Keith Kin Yan via coolisacolor]

The Twin-Turbo Ferrari Enzo overcame early problems to set a class record speed of 238 mph at Bonneville this weekend. It's now both the fastest and most driven (31,366 miles) Enzo ever.

Last week during a private FIA sanctioned meet at the Bonneville Salt Flats, Charlie Nearburg set a new land-speed record of 414.5 mph with his NHRA Pro Stock engine based "Spirit of Rett."

The Dodge Viper ACR is a last hurrah before a more luxurious, possibly Alfa-based future. Here it gets the full Bonneville. [Kurt Niebuhr for InsideLine via iamrodnunez]

Bonneville Speed Week always creates brilliant stories and images. For example: Amir Rosenbaum, who's graduated from a salt-driven Ferrari F40 to the Spectre Performance SpeedLiner. In its second year running Bonneville, Amir managed a 366-mph exit speed and three records.

The Venturi Buckeye Bullet, an all-electric landspeed racer built by students at Ohio State University, set a new record of 307.66 MPH in the mile this afternoon at the Bonneville Salt Flats — and they're trying again. [Buckeye Bullet Blog]

Richard Losee's crashed-then-reborn twin-turbocharged Ferrari Enzo made its first Bonneville Speed Week showing and spun at 188 mph while attempting class-A certification. Nobody was injured, but Losee has to settle for the class-B license — for now. Updated

The twin-turbo Ferrari Enzo took to the salt today and it sounds as great as it looks. We'll find out soon what 1,000-hp and a funky aero nose will do with miles of open space. (Hat tip to sixt9coug!)

Troy Trepanier's 1969 Plymouth Barracuda "Blowfish" sets off for another pass at Speed Week. Photo:Linhbergh, KINOD Collective [SPEEDHUTNERS]

Rather than let his wrecked Enzo go to waste, one owner has converted his rarer-than-filet-at-Peter-Luger Italian stallion into a 1,000 hp salt flat beast. When we said "Save The Enzos," this twin-turbo Ferrari Enzo was exactly what we meant.

There are countless classes attempting records at Bonneville but Spectre Performance is attempting one of the most important: going over 400 MPH in a gas-powered, wheel-driven car. Audio of the engine and pictures below.

Only Bonneville is Bonneville. But where do you go if you have a hunger for speed but not the time, money, or character for Speed Week? Provided you're very stupid, here's ten places to speed on the cheap.