Black Rock Desert the basin, is a rugged land serrated by hundreds of mountain ranges, dried by wind and sun, with spectacular skies and scenic landscapes. The average annual precipitation "(years 1971-2000)" at Gerlach, Nevada (extreme south-west of the desert) is . The region is notable for its paleogeologic features, as an area of 19th-century Emigrant Trails to California, as a venue for rocketry, and as an alternative to the Bonneville Salt Flats in northwestern Utah, for setting land speed records (Mach 1.02 in 1997). It is also the location for the annual Burning Man event. The Black Rock Desert is part of
Land speed racing a record attempt in order to monopolize the salt flats for the day and block one of his competitors from making a record attempt. The current women's absolute record is held by Kitty O'Neil, in the jet-powered "SMI Motivator", set at the Alvord Desert in 1976. O'Neil reached . There is no "wheel-driven" category as such. The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile validates records in a variety of classes, of which the "wheel-driven" classes are in Category A (Special cars) and Category B (Production cars). The accepted record is fastest average speed recorded over any one-mile or one-kilometer distance, averaged over