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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. These are special or modified motorcycles, distinct from the fastest production motorcycles.

The record was first set unofficially by Glenn Curtiss in 1903. The first officially sanctioned Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM) record was not set until 1920. The first FIM-sanctioned record to exceed Curtiss' unofficial record did not occur until 1930, although there was controversy when the Osborn Engineering Company claimed to be the first to exceed Curtiss - on the basis of evidence from a publicity photo - submitted some days after the Zenith Motorcycles company claimed that it had been the first to exceed Curtiss. "It was quite a while before the controversy died down."

Jet-engine trike

The fastest record certified by the FIM is that set in 1964 by the jet-propelled tricycle Spirit of America. It set three absolute land speed records, the last at 526.277 miles per hour (846.961 km/h). While such records are usually validated by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, the FIA only certifies vehicles with at least four wheels, while the FIM certifies two- and three-wheelers. Breedlove never intended Spirit of America to be classified as a motorcycle, despite its tricycle layout, and only approached the FIM after being rejected for record status by the FIA. Spirit of America's FIM-ratified record prompted the FIA to create a new category "thrust-powered" vehicles to its world record listings. Further, most people think of the tricycle Spirit of America, now part of the permanent collection of Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry, as a "car" and not a motorcycle.

List of records

See also

• Land speed record
• List of vehicle speed records
• Wheel-driven land speed record
• Outline of motorcycles and motorcycling

Notes

1. Harvey (2005) p. 253
2. ^ Tragatsch (1984) p. 304
3. Bonneville Salt Flats by "LandSpeed" Louise Ann Noeth, MBI Publishing
4. House (2003) p. 31-32
5. House (2003) p. 41
6. de Cet (2002) p. 116
7. ^ Setright (1979) p. 238
8. ^ Walker (1999) p. 16
9. ^ Walker (2001) p. 188. "Then in 1936, BMW technicians decided to decrease the engine's displacement from 736 to 493. This might have seemed a backwards move, but there was a sound basis for this technical change. The engine was a 493 cc double-overhead-cam with a bore and stroke of 66 x 72 mm, a Zoller supercharger mounted on the front of the crankshaft This supercharging technology had been under development since 1929, when a production R63 model had been fitted with a positive displacement blower..."
10. ^ Setright (1979) p. 238 lists this as 735 cc, not 736 cc.
11. Tragatsch, caption p. 304, credits this run as 256.06 with a supercharged 746 cc, while contradicting this on the same page in a table listing the displacement for the '32-'35 BMWs as 735 cc, and as 495 cc in 1936, rather than 493 cc.
12. Setright (1979) p. 238 has this as 495 cc.
13. ^ Hennekam (2005) p. 57
14. ^ Tragatsch (1984), p.305.
15. ^ World Record attempts: Historic land speed record broken in Bonneville, FIM, 2006, retrieved 2008-10-19
16. Motorcycle.com Staff (2008)
17. Harley (2009)
18. New FIM World Record - Bonneville Raceway, Utah (USA), FIM 2010

References

• de Cet, Mirco (2002), The illustrated directory of motorcycles, MotorBooks/MBI Publishing Company, ISBN 9780760314173
• Harley, Bryan (25 September 2009), "BUB Racing's Chris Carr Breaks Speed Record", Motorcycle USA
• Harvey, Steve (2005), It Started with a Steamboat: An American Saga, Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse, ISBN 978-1420849431
• Hennekam, Charles (December 2005), "World Records Bonneville", The FIM Magazine (PDF), FIM, p. 57, retrieved 2008-10-19
• House, Kirk W. (2003), Hell-rider to king of the air: Glenn Curtiss's life of innovation, SAE, ISBN 9780768008029
• Motorcycle.com Staff (29 September 2008), New motorcycle land speed record set;Top 1 Ack Attack team reaches 360 mph
• Setright, L.J.K. (1979), The Guinness book of motorcycling facts and feats, Guinness Superlatives, ISBN 9780851122007
• Corporation, Bonnier (December 1931), "Streamline motorcycle to get 170-mile speed", Popular Science, p. 60
• Tragatsch, Erwin (1984), The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Motorcycles (2nd ed.), Feltham, Middlesex, England: Newnes Books/Temple Press, ISBN 0-600-38477-2
• Walker, Mick (1999), Mick Walker's German Racing Motorcycles, Redline Books, ISBN 9780953131129
• Walker, Mick (2001), The Art of the Motorcycle, Guggenheim Museum, ISBN 9780810969124

External links

• The UK Land Speed Racing Association

• Motorcycle land speed record
• Motorcycle sport lists