Human-powered transport is the transport of person(s) and/or goods (freight) using human muscle power. Unlike animal-powered transport, human-powered transport has existed since time immemorial in the form of walking, running and swimming, as well as small vehicles such as litters, rickshaws, wheelchairs and wheelbarrows. Modern technology has allowed mechanical advantage devices and machines to enhance human-power.
The land speed record (LSR) or absolute land speed record is the highest speed achieved by a person using a vehicle on land. By a 1964 agreement between the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM), respective governing bodies for racing in automobiles and motorcycles, both bodies recognise as the absolute LSR whatever is the highest speed record achieved across any of their various categories. While the three-wheeled Spirit of America set an FIM-validated LSR in 1963, all subsequent LSRs are by vehicles in FIA Category C in either class JE or class RT.
The Bonneville Salt Flats are a densely packed salt pan in Tooele County in northwestern Utah, United States. A remnant of the Pleistocene Lake Bonneville, it is the largest of many salt flats west of the Great Salt Lake. It is public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management and is known for land speed records at the Bonneville Speedway. Access to the Flats is open to the public.
Michael Lee "Mickey" Thompson was an American auto racing builder and promoter.
Walter Charles Arfons was the half brother of Art Arfons, his former partner in drag racing, and his competitor in jet-powered land speed record racing. Along with Art, he was a pioneer in the use of aircraft jet engines for these types of competition.
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.
John Howard is an Olympic cyclist from the United States, who set a land speed record of 152.2 miles per hour (245 km/h) while motor-pacing on a pedal bicycle on July 20, 1985 on Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats. This record was beaten in 1995 by Fred Rompelberg.
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.
Bicycle performance is measurable performance such as energy efficiency that affect how effective a bicycle is. Bicycles are extraordinarily efficient machines; in terms of the amount of energy a person must expend to travel a given distance, cycling is calculated to be the most efficient self-powered means of transportation.
The JCB Dieselmax is a streamliner car designed for the purpose of breaking the land speed record for a diesel-engined vehicle.
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).
David Abbott "Ab" Jenkins was the 24th mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah between 1940 and 1944. He was a professional race car driver. Jenkins' interest in motorsports began with racing motorcycles on dirt tracks and across country. He then became interested in land speed records at the Bonneville Salt Flats. He was instrumental in establishing Bonneville as a location for such events, and in attracting overseas drivers such as George Eyston and Sir Malcolm Campbell to compete there.
Speed of the Wind was a record-breaking car of the 1930s, built for and driven by Captain George Eyston.
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.
Motor-paced racing and motor-paced cycling refer to cycling behind a pacer in a car or more usually on a motorcycle. The cyclist follows as close as they can to benefit from the slipstream of their pacer. The first paced races were behind other cyclists, sometimes as many as five riders on the same tandem. Bordeaux-Paris and record attempts have been ridden behind cars. More usually races or training are behind motorcycles.
Shea Holbrook is an American professional racing driver, entrepreneur and spokeswoman. Currently, she is in retirement starting a family.
The hour record is the record for the longest distance cycled in one hour on a bicycle from a stationary start. Cyclists attempt this record alone on the track without other competitors present. It is considered perhaps the most prestigious record in all of cycling. Over history, various cyclists ranging from unknown amateurs to well-known professionals have held the record, adding to its prestige and allure. There are several records, one of which is the record for streamlined human powered vehicles, also known as recumbent bicycles.
Land speed racing is a form of motorsport.
Denise Mueller-Korenek is an American cyclist. As of September 2018, she holds the world record for paced bicycle land speed and is considered "the fastest cyclist on earth". She set the record on September 16, 2018, at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, by traveling an average of 183.932 mph (296.009 km/h) on a custom-built carbon KHS bicycle behind a custom-built vehicle to minimize air resistance. The previous record, 167 miles per hour (269 km/h), was set in 1995 by Dutchman Fred Rompelberg. Two years earlier she set the women's bicycle land speed record, pedaling 147.7 mph (237.7 km/h). She is the first and only woman in history to hold the world record, which was first established in 1899.
