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Cycle News Issue 37 September 18

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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VOL. 55 ISSUE 37 SEPTEMBER 18, 2018 P117 mersed in expanding his business into aviation, he considered him- self a motorcycle racer at heart. With the most powerful engine he'd ever built, he came up with the idea of promoting his business and putting his name in the record books by stuffing his airship en- gine into a custom-built elongated motorcycle frame and using that monster machine to make a land- speed record attempt. And that's just what he did in 1907. The frame measured nearly eight feet in length. The overall weight of the machine was a surprisingly lean 275 pounds. Because of the size of the engine, the seat was mounted rearward. This in turn necessitated extra- long handlebars, which made steering awkward. It used an auto- mobile rear wheel and a motor- cycle front wheel. The tires were specially made by B.F. Goodrich. The Curtiss V-8 engine was air- cooled, producing approximately 40 horsepower at 1800 rpm. The motorcycle used shaft drive because a conventional chain- and-belt transmission could not handle the power of the massive V-8. The motor was mounted with the crankshaft running lengthwise and was connected to the drive shaft with a double universal joint. A large bevel gear on this shaft meshed with a similar one on the rear wheel. The engine had two carbure- tors, each one supplying a bank of four cylinders on each side. The transmission was direct drive, with no clutch. The idea of beach speed trials was the brainchild of a group of Ormond Beach hotel and busi- ness owners. The speed trials were for both cars and motor- cycles and were held every winter from 1903 to 1910. Even with a wide variety of speed record machines assembling at Ormond Beach, Curtiss' V-8 amazed on- lookers as the most awesome and perhaps absurd. The engine was so powerful it was feared that it would tear itself from the frame under full throttle. As a precaution it was heavily gusseted. Curtiss built up speed for two miles on the beach before running through the one-mile timed section. The course totaled five miles, with an additional two miles to slow down the machines after the timed section (which is good because Curtiss' motor- cycle only had a hinged paddle that would rub against the rear tire as a brake!). You could only imagine the faces of the timers as Curtiss tripped the clocks with a time that figured out to an average of 136.27 mph—nearly 50 miles per hour faster than the previous motorcycle record. Newspaper reports quoted Curtiss as saying, perhaps with wry sense of humor: "It satisfied my speed craving." Curtiss was dubbed the "Fast- est Man on Earth." Curtiss never rode the bike again. For years it was on display at his aviation company before eventually ending up with the Smithsonian. Unfortunately, the drive shaft broke on the record-setting run and a return run could not be completed, so the speed was not officially recognized; yet a mo- torcycle would not go faster until 1930, ironically the same year that Glenn Curtiss died. The famous Curtiss V-8 is at the Smithsonian today with an exact replica on display at the Glenn Curtiss Museum in Hammond- sport, New York. CN Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News Archive issues: www.CycleNews.com/Archives The Curtiss V-8 is on display at the Smithsonian.

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