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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P118 FEATURE I RECORD ATTEMPT AT BONNEVILLE MOTORCYCLE SPEED TRIALS the aerodynamics of the fairing, which caused some chronic instability when the speeds pushed north of 190 mph. Richard and his crew had modified the fairing for me to get behind it at speed, but at 6-foot-1, I'm on the taller side with broad shoulders, and once we'd cut the screen back and widened the side of the fairing, it set off something in the black art of high-speed aero. A wobble would begin around 188 mph. Then by the time I was at 195 mph, the WTF was shim- mying its way down the timed mile. It wasn't a tank-slapper, but the fairing was flexing at this speed and causing a concerning wobble that, if I didn't bring it back under control, could spell disaster. Like, serious disaster. Strangely, though, the wobble wasn't scary. I've had tank- slappers that would scare Mick Doohan, but this was almost been ratified by the officials. We were starting from mile zero, giving us the full three miles to get up to speed. Most sportbike riders know the feel- ing of going fast, but I bet most don't know what it's like to hold a potentially 600-horsepower motorcycle wide open for four whole miles before beginning to back off. At 200 mph, you're covering a quarter mile every 4.5 seconds. Those red markers on the side of the track begin to blur in your peripheral vision as you try to keep the black bullet pointed in a straight line. Remember when I said strange things happen while going fast? Well, that's down to The 204-mph marker would be blown apart, no worries. This indeed would be easy. But strange things happen when you start going really fast. Richard had fitted a new aero fairing to the WTF that had previously gone 297.970 mph at the Salar de Uyuni salt flats in Bolivia in the hands of the leg- endary Ralph Hudson, but just because that fairing shape had achieved that speed didn't mean it would do it for me. With the 184-mph run in the books, I felt more than confident we would crack at least 200 mph on our next run and thus have a shot at the record. To get a record, you need to carry your de- sired speed over a timed mile on the 90-foot-wide salt track. You have between two to three miles to get up to your velocity, hold it there, bring yourself to a stop, and do it again in the reverse direction after your attempt has Two answers to the same speed problem. The Lightning Motorcycles WTF electric racer (right) next to the turbo Harley-Davidson of Hiro Koiso, who set a new AMA land-speed record in the 3000 APS-PBF class of 233.742 mph.