MONSTRE DU LAC SALÉ
Monster of The Salt
Synopsis
Monsters of the Salt
Two French superfans create a loving replica of a long-lost American racing motorcycle. To bring their dream to its conclusion, they need to transport their motorcycle back to its original habitat: the Bonneville Salt Flat. The Frenchmen never dared to hope they’d find the original bike, much less its original rider, now in his 80s.
By sheer coincidence—a random connection that could only occur in the age of Social Media—a long-forgotten American racing legend hears the story he inspired. Then he issues a challenge, pitting himself and his bike (which hasn’t run in 50 years) against the Frenchmen and their pristine replica.
That changes everthing. The Frenchmen’s journey’s not just a pilgrimage, it’s a full on race, with a coveted trophy and land-speed record as the prize.
Journalist Mark Gardiner discovered le Monstre Du Lac Salé (in French, literally, the monster of the salt lake) in France, in 1999. While the initial discovery was worth a story, it led him to the discovery of a real Monster, separated from the French replica by 5000 miles and 30 years.
This is a story about three men who―separated by a generation and growing up in different countries―share a common inspiration. It is a story of life imitating art and art imitating life. In an age of divisive global politics, le Monstre Du Lac Salé celebrates a shared culture and mutual passion.
The ‘monster’ is not a slithering creature of the deep. Instead, it was created to prowl and roar across an austere salt pan―the remains of an ancient Pleistocene lake located in the American West. For decades, intrepid inventors and adventurers like Burt Munro of World’s Fastest Indian fame, have made the pilgrimage the Bonneville Salt Flat to test their ingenuity and courage, in search of records and immortality.
The monster that Mark Gardiner discovered in France was a motorcycle, built to race for land speed records and powered by a Triumph Bonneville motor―a twin cylinder engine now revered by custom motorcycle builders for its looks but which, in the 1960s, was one of the most powerful motors available. Although the monster was created in France, it pays homage to an uniquely American event and, indeed, the American way of life.
Denis Sire is a successful French graphic novelist who has always had a passion for the Rockabilly and hotrod culture that America exported (along with Levi’s and general sense of rebellion) around the world in the ‘50s and ‘60s. An avid motorcyclist, Denis was inspired by a grainy black & white photograph of an American racer astride a drag race bike on the Bonneville Salt Flats in 1967. Based on that single photo, he imagined the rider and invented a fantastic bike, weaving it all into a graphic novel.
Fellow Parisian Laurent Romuald grew up as an avid devotee of Denis’ work. That fictional bike, known in France as, the Monstre Du Lac Salé, had a big influence on him as he became one of the most respected motorcycle restorers custom builders in France.
Laurent set out to build a motorcycle as an homage to the bike depicted in Denis’ graphic novel. When he searched out Denis for more information, Denis told him that his drawing was based on a single magazine photo, taken in 1967. The caption gave the name of the rider: Nira Johnson. That was all they knew; an online search for Nira yielded nothing. The rest of Denis’ story, and of Laurent’s replica motorcycle, had to spring from their imaginations.
As a motorcycle journalist, Mark Gardiner discovered and wrote about this story of life imitating art imitating life in his ‘Backmarker’ column on the Road Racer X web site. He asked readers to contact him if they knew anything about the man in the grainy photo.
Years passed. Gardiner forgot about it.
Until, out of the blue, he got an email from a guy named Rodd Lighthouse, an American living in Nevada. “Nira Johnson has been a close friend of my family for 50 years,” he wrote. Incredibly, he added, “and I have ‘the monster’ in my garage.”
Mark immediately called Rodd who informed him that Nira, now 80, was alive and well. “You may be surprised to learn,” Rodd told him, “that Nira is an African-American.”
Gardiner wasn’t the only one surprised by this turn of events. Nira was shocked to find out that, in France, he was famous... as a white guy!
In fact, he’d come of age early in the civil rights era, and had to overcome the barriers of race and prejudice to pursue his passion for speed. But in most other ways, the impression that a generation of French bikers had was accurate: As a great motorcycle drag racer in the early 1960s, Nira embodied the lifestyle that inspired Denis and Laurent.
Once a racer, always a racer. The thought of bringing his original bike together with the French replica on the salt could only mean one thing to Nira: Let’s race! Our film, Monstre Du Lac Salé, closes the circle by bringing Laurent and Denis and the French bike to Bonneville, to race against Nira and the original ‘monster’ during the famous ‘Speed Week’ competition.
Denis will come to know the real man and motorcycle that he turned into comic-book heroes. Nira’s motorcycle―the original monster―has not run since Nira’s last land speed record attempt in 1967. Before it can race again, it will be rebuilt. Nira and Laurent will do that together. In the process, Laurent will learn speed secrets that Nira has never, ever divulged.
Both motorcycles will make official timed runs on the salt, as their owners and builders transcend the barriers of language and nationality. Denis and Laurent will finally revel in the hotrod carnival that is Bonneville Speed Week.
For the Frenchmen, traveling to Bonneville for the first time is the realization of a life long ambition and infatuation. For Nira it is a return to a way of life that he once helped pioneer. This is what legends are made of…
“A Story of Life.... Imitating Art....Imitating Life”
– Mark Gardiner