Bonneville Speedway is an area of the Bonneville Salt Flats northeast of Wendover, Utah, that is marked out for motor sports. It is particularly noted as the venue for numerous land speed records. The Bonneville Salt Flats Race Track is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Herbert James "Burt" Munro was a motorcycle racer from New Zealand, famous for setting an under-1,000 cc world record, at Bonneville, on the 26th of August 1967. This record still stands; Munro was 68 and was riding a 47-year-old machine when he set his last record.
The World's Fastest Indian is a 2005 New Zealand biographical sports drama film based on the Invercargill, New Zealand speed bike racer Burt Munro and his highly modified 1920 Indian Scout motorcycle. Munro set numerous land speed records for motorcycles with engines less than 1,000 cc at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah in the late 1950s and into the 1960s. The film stars Anthony Hopkins, and was produced, written, and directed by Roger Donaldson.
Wilhelm Herz was a German professional motorcycle racer and land speed racer. After his motorcycle racing career, he became the manager for the Hockenheimring circuit.
Chris Carr is an American motorcycle dirt-track racer and seven-time winner of the A.M.A. Grand National Championship. He has also competed as a motorcycle road racer at the national level and was a motorcycle land speed world record holder.
The motorcycle land-speed record is the fastest speed achieved by a motorcycle on land. It is standardized as the speed over a course of fixed length, averaged over two runs in opposite directions. AMA National Land Speed Records requires 2 passes the same calendar day in opposite directions over a timed mile/kilo while FIM Land Speed World Records require two passes in opposite directions to be over a timed mile/kilo completed within 2 hours. These are special or modified motorcycles, distinct from the fastest production motorcycles. The first official Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM) record was set in 1920, when Gene Walker rode an Indian on Daytona Beach at 104.12 mph (167.56 km/h). Since late 2010, the Ack Attack team has held the motorcycle land speed record at 376.36 mph (605.69 km/h).
The Vincent Black Lightning was a Vincent-HRD motorcycle first built in September 1948 at the Vincent works in Great North Road, Stevenage, Hertfordshire, UK, and produced from 1948 to 1952. The bike was a purpose-built factory modified Black Shadow that was then named and produced as the Black Lightning. At the time the Black Lightning was the fastest production motorcycle in the world.
The Triumph Tiger 110 is a British sports motorcycle that Triumph first made at their Coventry factory between 1953 and 1961. The T110 was developed from the Triumph Thunderbird and first appeared in 1954.
The Motus MST was a sport touring motorcycle produced from 2014 to 2018 by Motus Motorcycles of Birmingham, Alabama. Motus was the newest motorcycle manufacturer in the United States. Motus' partner in developing the MST was race car manufacturer Pratt & Miller, who were credited with product engineering, development, testing and validation for the MST.
Valerie Thompson is an American motorcycle drag and land speed racer. She is a 7-time motorcycle land-speed record holder and charter member of the Mojave Magnum "200 MPH Club."
The TOP 1 Ack Attack is a specially constructed land-speed record streamliner motorcycle that, as of March 2013, has held the record for world's fastest motorcycle since recording a two-way average speed of 605.697 km/h (376.363 mph) on September 25, 2010 in the Cook Motorsports Top Speed Shootout at Bonneville Speedway, Utah. The Ack Attack's fastest one-way speed was officially recorded at 634.217 km/h (394.084 mph). This was the third time in four years the Ack Attack had broken the motorcycle land-speed record.
Chip Yates is an American inventor and electrical vehicle pioneer best known for risky record-setting feats in electric vehicles of his own design. He designed and built the record-breaking SWIGZ electric motorcycle, which in 2011 he rode over 200 mph to 8 official world land speed records, 4 AMA National Championship Records, the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb record, and the Guinness Book of World Records title of “World’s Fastest Electric Motorcycle”. Dubbed "the world’s most powerful electric superbike", the motorcycle is now on display at the Petersen Automotive Museum's exhibit 'Electric Revolution', curated by Paul d'Orleans.
The Triumph Infor Rocket Streamliner is a streamliner motorcycle built to challenge the motorcycle land speed record. It is powered by twin destroked and turbocharged 1,485 cc (90.6 cu in) inline-3 engines sourced from the Triumph Rocket III, generating a claimed output greater than 1,000 horsepower (750 kW). The streamliner shell is a monocoque constructed from carbon fiber/kevlar.
The Lambky Liner is a motorcycle land-speed record streamliner designed by Navy veteran and Vincent motorcycle restorer Max Lambky from Kansas, United States. It reached a top recorded speed of 250 mph (400 km/h) at the 2007 International Motorcycle Speed Trials, and an estimated 275 mph (443 km/h) in second gear before a supercharger spindle broke and spoiled a run in 2008.
Gyronaut X-1 was a streamliner motorcycle that set the motorcycle land-speed record of 245.667 mph (395.363 km/h) in 1966, ridden by Detroit Triumph dealer Bob Leppan. It was powered by two 650 cc Triumph TR6 Trophy motorcycle engines.
Lightning Motorcycle Corp. is an American manufacturer of electric motorcycles. CEO and Founder Richard Hatfield started the company in 2006 in San Carlos, California.
A streamlined motorcycle is a motorcycle with a fairing that goes beyond a 'full' or 'dustbin' fairing, to form an aerodynamic shell to minimize drag. This helps attaining higher top speeds, as in the motorcycle land-speed record, or increased energy efficiency, as in the Craig Vetter Fuel Economy Challenge. Often they are feet forwards motorcycles or have the rider in a prone position, rather than upright, to reduce the frontal area exposed to headwind.
Land speed racing is a form of motorsport.
Bonneville Motorcycle Speed Trials (BMST) is a motorcycle land speed racing event, held annually at Bonneville Speedway, US. The event is sanctioned by American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) and Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). AMA-certified US National land speed records, and FIM-certified Land speed world records are created in this event. The event features motorcycles ranging from 50-cc to 3000-cc, as well as electric classes.
The Lark Streamliner is an electric streamliner motorcycle built to challenge the standing land speed record for two-wheeled vehicles. The builder, Shea Nyquist, is an American aerospace engineer educated at San Jose State University. Nyquist salvaged many of the parts, including the 22 kWh LiFePO4 battery pack and the 200 kW electric motor. It was reported in 2019 that the vehicle reached 80 miles per hour (130 km/h) at 10% throttle. The machine weighs 1,700 pounds (770 kg) without fairings. The fairings are made from secondhand carbon fiber by Nyquist in his barn.
