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During the twenty-four hours between noon, September 4 and noon, September 5,1985, a team ofeight Cycle
World staffers and two Suzuki GSX-R'sestablished twelve newFIMworld speed records.Included wasthe
outright twenty-four hour distance/speed record of 3,079.2 miles at an average of 128.3 miles per hour,
In the process, the eight riders and their nine-man support team set a number of non-FIM world records
as well. Their feats in categories such as Gatorade consumption and
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number-of-dancing-pigs-dodged-at-140-mph-in-the-middleof-the-night will probably go unmatched for decades to come.
Here's a brief look at how it started and what it was like
outthere. ~---~
'n;XAS .
'Et7&E OF
Tl-IE.~
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"We decided to ~~ ~ ." location other than Daytona for our
record run and finally settled on'
Uniroyal Tire Company's high-speed
test track at its Laredo Proving
Grounds in Laredo, Texas:'
"It'd be great fun, we .
thought. ~ 'd get a
couple offast bikes,
assemble a team of
riders from the Cycle
World staf , f ind a
f
big, banked track
somewhere and go
set a new 24-hour
world speed record.
~_
It seemed like a per- .~
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fectly uxmderful idea,
~~tJ,
'Two month's laterwe were
actually doing it. But we wouldn't
have used the word 'uxmderful'
to describe if'
'T he track is a perfect circle
exactlyfive miles in length and
four lanes (52 feet) wide and
it had been the recipient ofa
$2.2 million resurfacing just
weeks before ourrecord attempt.
The track also has parabolic
banking that, in a car, allows a
driver to circulate at about 140
mph in the upperlane with his
hands off the steering wheel:'
T~e. t...A.lit.Et70 ~
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