World records for fastest motorcycle ride around Australia The official route for the record around Australia is via Highway 1, visiting every capital city (except Hobart) starting at any point travelling clockwise or anti-clockwise. This official route was deemed necessary due to the great discrepancy in the distances covered by the riders. The first motorcycle ride around Australia was originally a US$20,000 bet made in 1972 between two Americans, Entrepreneur Frank Wheeler (AKA Big Frank) and record producer Julian Grant. Big Frank began the records riding on a 125 cc Hodaka motorcycle with his recorded time of 21 days and 0 hours in July 1972.
Following is a list of the records made over the years until the current record in 1987.
Oz : around Australia on a Triumph by Geoff Hill describes the route in detail. [26]
The Honda ST series, also known as the Pan-European in Europe, is a duo of Sport Touring motorcycles comprising the ST1100 and the later ST1300.
The term "Universal Japanese Motorcycle", or UJM, was coined in the mid-1970s by Cycle Magazine to describe a proliferation of similar Japanese standard motorcycles that became commonplace following Honda's 1969 introduction of its successful CB750. The CB750 became a rough template for subsequent designs from all three of the other major Japanese motorcycle manufacturers. In 2011, the New York Times said lightning struck for Honda "with the 1969 CB 750, whose use of an inline 4-cylinder engine came to define the Universal Japanese Motorcycle."
A sport bike, sports motorcycle, or sports bike is a motorcycle designed and optimized for speed, acceleration, braking, and cornering on asphalt concrete race tracks and roads. They are mainly designed for performance at the expense of comfort, fuel economy, safety, noise reduction and storage in comparison with other motorcycles.
The Honda Super Cub is a Honda underbone motorcycle with a four-stroke single-cylinder engine ranging in displacement from 49 to 124 cc.
A motorcycle engine is an engine that powers a motorcycle. Motorcycle engines are typically two-stroke or four-stroke internal combustion engines, but other engine types, such as Wankels and electric motors, have been used.
The Honda CBR1100XX Super Blackbird is a Honda motorcycle, part of the CBR series made from 1996 to 2007. The bike was developed to challenge the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-11 as the world's fastest production motorcycle, and Honda succeeded with a top speed of 177 mph (285 km/h). Two years later the title passed to the Suzuki Hayabusa, which reached 193 mph (311 km/h). The Blackbird is named after the Lockheed SR-71, also a speed record holder.
The Honda CBR600RR is a 599 cc (36.6 cu in) sport bike made by Honda since 2003, part of the CBR series. The CBR600RR was marketed as Honda's top-of-the-line middleweight sport bike, succeeding the 2002 Supersport World Champion 2001–2006 CBR600F4i, which was then repositioned as the tamer, more street-oriented sport bike behind the technically more advanced and uncompromising race-replica CBR600RR. It carried the Supersport World Championship winning streak into 2003, and on through 2008, and won in 2010 and 2014.
Erv Kanemoto is an American former Grand Prix motorcycle mechanic and motorcycle race team owner. He was one of the most successful motorcycle racing tuners and race team crew chiefs of the 1970s through the early 2000s, working with motorcycle racers who won two national championships and six world championships. He is best known for his association with motorcycle racers Gary Nixon and Freddie Spencer.
The Kawasaki Z1 is a four-cylinder, air-cooled, double-overhead camshaft, carbureted, chain-drive motorcycle introduced in 1972 by Kawasaki. Following the introduction of Honda's CB750 in 1968, the Z1 helped popularize the in-line, across-the-frame four-cylinder, a format that became known as the Universal Japanese Motorcycle or UJM.
Mick Grant is an English former professional motorcycle road racer and TT rider. A works-supported rider for Norton, Kawasaki, Honda and Suzuki, he is a seven-time winner of the Isle of Man TT motorcycle race on various makes, including 'Slippery Sam', a three-cylinder Triumph Trident. The son of a coal miner, the soft-spoken, down-to-earth Yorkshireman from Wakefield, was a sharp contrast to the brash, playboy image presented by Londoner Barry Sheene during the 1970s.
Gregory John "Gregg" Hansford was an Australian professional motorcycle and touring car racer. He competed in the FIM Grand Prix motorcycle racing world championships from 1978 to 1981 and in Australian touring car championships from 1982 to 1994. Hansford was a two-time vice-champion in the 250cc road racing world championships. With 10 Grand Prix victories to his credit, he is ranked fourth for the most Grand Prix wins by an Australian behind Mick Doohan, Casey Stoner (38) and Wayne Gardner (18).
The ZZ-R1200 or ZX-12C, is a sport touring motorcycle made by Kawasaki from (2002-2005). Identified by its model number ZX1200-C1, it is the successor to the ZX-11(1990-2001). Considered a sport tourer, it had a twin-spar aluminum frame and a liquid-cooled, DOHC, four-stroke 1164cc inline-four engine. It has twin fans, fuel pumps, and headlights. Additionally, hard touring bags can be added as an option. With factory rear wheel horsepower of 145HP ; it is widely regarded to be the most powerful production motorcycle ever built with carbureted induction. It was even more powerful than the fuel injected Honda CBR1100XX. It has been said it was more powerful than any other production motorcycle carbureted or not at 9,800 rpm where it made peak power except the Suzuki Hayabusa or ZX-12R.With a quarter mile time of 10.12 seconds at 136.9 mph.
Gary Jones is an American former professional motocross and desert racer. He competed in the AMA Motocross Championships from 1971 to 1976. Jones is notable for winning the inaugural AMA 250cc motocross national championship in 1972. Jones then successfully defended his national championship in 1973 and 1974, winning three consecutive 250cc motocross national championships while competing on three different brands of motorcycles, a feat which has never been repeated in AMA motocross history. He was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2000.
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.
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.
Doug Domokos, nicknamed, "The Wheelie King," was an American stunt motorcyclist and former World Record holder for the World's Longest Wheelie.
The Transatlantic Trophy was an annual series of motorcycle races between the United Kingdom and America held from 1971 to 1988 and again in 1991. They were mostly held over the Easter weekend at Brands Hatch, Mallory Park and Oulton Park, although some races were held at Donington Park and Snetterton. Three different specifications of motorcycles were used in the series at various times: AMA/F750, Superbike and GP.
Don Castro is an American former professional motorcycle racer who is an inductee of the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame. During his career he was a works rider for Triumph and Yamaha' and a privateer on Triumph, Montesa, Yamaha and Kawasaki machines.