NSU Motorenwerke AG, or NSU, was a German manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles and pedal cycles, founded in 1873. Acquired by Volkswagen Group in 1969, VW merged NSU with Auto Union, creating Audi NSU Auto Union AG, ultimately Audi. The name NSU originated as an abbreviation of "Neckarsulm", the city where NSU was located.
An overhead camshaft (OHC) engine is a type of piston engine in which the camshaft is located in the cylinder head above the combustion chamber. This contrasts with earlier overhead valve engines (OHV), where the camshaft is located below the combustion chamber in the engine block.
The Suzuki GSX1300R Hayabusa is a sports motorcycle made by Suzuki since 1999. It immediately won acclaim as the world's fastest production motorcycle, with a top speed of 303 to 312 km/h.
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.
Dave Campos is a top-fuel drag motorcycle racer and held the motorcycle land speed record from 1990 until 2006.
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 achieved by Martynas Kišonas. 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).
Edward Turner was an English motorcycle designer. He was born in Camberwell in the London Borough of Southwark, on the day King Edward VII was proclaimed King. In 1915, Turner had his first ride on a motorcycle, a Light Tourist New Imperial.
A motorcycle fairing is a shell placed over the frame of a motorcycle, especially racing motorcycles and sport bikes, to deflect wind and reduce air drag. The secondary functions are the protection of the rider from airborne hazards and wind-induced hypothermia and of the engine components in the case of an accident. A motorcycle windshield will usually be integrated into the design of the fairing.
The Triumph Bonneville T120 is a motorcycle originally made by Triumph Engineering from 1959 to 1975. It was the first model of the Bonneville series, which was continued by Triumph Motorcycles Ltd. The T120 was discontinued in favour of the larger 750 cc T140 in the early 1970s.
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.
BUB Seven Streamliner is an American-built streamliner motorcycle that held the motorcycle land-speed record from 2006 to 2008 and again from 2009 to 2010. BUB Seven and two other streamliners traded the title of "world's fastest motorcycle" during official speed runs at Bonneville Speedway in the summer of 2006. The other two competitors were Ack Attack and the EZ-Hook streamliner. In 2017, Valerie Thompson rode BUB Seven for more record attempts at Bonneville.
The NSU Delphin III streamliner motorcycle set the motorcycle land speed record in 1956. Wilhelm Herz rode the machine to 211.4 miles per hour (340.2 km/h) at Bonneville Speedway in Utah, to break 200 mph (320 km/h) for the first time. Its fairing, designed in a wind tunnel at University of Stuttgart, gave it a drag coefficient of 0.19. The same engine powered Herz to a 1951 world speed record, with a less efficient frame/fairing, the Delphin I. The engine used an unusual rotary supercharger related to NSU's eventual development of the Wankel engine. In the supercharger, both a trochoidal inner rotor and epitrochoidal outer rotor spun around a stationary shaft.
Forced induction in motorcycles is the application of forced induction to a motorcycle engine. Special automotive engineering and human factors considerations exist for the application of forced induction with motorcycles, compared to other forms of motorized transportation.
Don Vesco was an American businessman and motorcycle racer who held multiple motorcycle land-speed and wheel-driven land speed records. In his lifetime, he set 18 motorcycle and 6 automobile speed records.
Lightning Bolt is an American-built streamliner motorcycle that held the motorcycle land-speed record from 1978, when Don Vesco rode it to 318.598 miles per hour (512.734 km/h), until 1990. It was also the fastest vehicle participating in the 1978 Bonneville Speed Week with a one-way 333.117-mile-per-hour (536.100 km/h) run. It was powered by twin turbocharged inline-4 engines sourced from a Kawasaki Kz1000, with a combined displacement of 2,032 cc. The near-stock engines were linked at both ends of their cranks by two Gilmer belts and utilized the rear engine's gearbox.
Silver Bird was a motorcycle land-speed record setting streamliner motorcycle. It was powered by two motors delivering 240 horsepower (180 kW). It was the first motorcycle to set a speed record over 300 miles per hour (480 km/h), when ridden by Don Vesco at the Bonneville Speedway in 1975.
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.
Motorcycle braking systems have varied throughout time, as motorcycles evolved from bicycles with an engine attached, to the 220 mph (350 km/h) prototype motorcycles seen racing in MotoGP. Most systems work by converting kinetic energy into thermal energy (heat) by friction. On motorcycles, approximately 70% of the braking effort is performed by the front brake. This however can vary for individual motorcycles; longer-wheelbase types having more weight biased rearward, such as cruisers and tourers, can have a`greater effort applied by the rear brake. In contrast, sports bikes with a shorter wheelbase and more vertical fork geometry can tolerate higher front braking loads. For these reasons, motorcycles tend to have a vastly more powerful front brake compared to the rear.
NSU Rennfox G.P. 125 O.H.C. TWIN (1954)
NSU Rennmax G.P. 250 O.H.C. TWIN (1954)
Silver Bird streamliner
