Cycle News

rom 1 eDlo ow by Geoffrey Wood The past few years have witnessed a great deal of interest in setting a new World Land Speed Record for contenders hoping for the flTst 300 MPH run in the history of rnotorcycling. The quest for speed is nothing new, of COUl'lle, since man has been fascinated with the subject since he first put some mechanical power to wheels. The first claims to the "world's fastest" title came right after the tum of the century, yet it was not until 1920 that the FIM got around to setting up some rules for the speed bikes, as well as keeping official records with accurate timing. We Americans were even Iarer on the organizational scene, with the AMA not getting with it until late in 1928. When the AMA came in to power they threw out all the previous records - thus destroying the proudest eara that we have ever known. The first mention in the history books of speed on two wheels was in 1903 when an unknown rider on a British Exclsior clocked the astounding speed of 60 MPH in Dublin, Ireland. This mark was exceeded one year later when Glenn Curtis was clocked at 59.2 seconds over one mile at Daytona Beach, Florida. Curtis then made some adjustments to his machine and ran for a ren mile record - averaging a sizzling 43.4 seconds per mile for the distance. Several years Ia rer the aviation pioneer was again in the news when he clocked an unbelievable 136.364 MPH at Daytona. The bike featured a prototype V-8 airplane engine of an unknown but huge engine displacement. Due to the confusion of several rival motorcycle organizations then, this record ended up not being recorded in anybody's record book. . The next mention of speed occured in 1908 when a rider by the name of Liese ran 68 MPH on a 7Y.. horsepower NSU twin. One year later Otto Lingenfelder was clocked at 77.06 MPH on his German NSU at Los Angeles, on what was, perhaps, the first foreign motorcycle imported into the United States. In 1910 the speed took quite a jump when Charlie Collier rode his big 976cc l',1atchless V-twin to a 94.92 MPH mark, 1)ut American Jake DeRosier was known to have beaten this speed with several unofficial clockings. Collier finally beat DeRosier's best when he clocked 91.37 MPH in 1911. The speed scene finally became 8 official in 1920 when the FIM set up classes and regulations. The first entry was, rather surprisingly, an American. Eugene Walker clocked 103 MPH on his 61" Indian the first time the "century" mark had been achieved by a motorcycles. Many new designs have been tried, with all of the true motorcycle. Walker later clocked 114.71 MPH, but the FlM refused to accept this one because the timing was done by stop watches. The next record came in 1923 when Claude Temple did 108.48 MPH on his JA.P. 61" powered O.E.C. - a model that featured a very early use of the overhead camshaft engine design. The record was pushed up to 119.74 MPH in 1924 by Bert LeVack on his J.A.P. powered Brough Superior, which used an ORV engine with the new hemispherical combustion chamber. Temple gained the title back in 1926, however, when be clocked121.41 MPH. Meanwhile, in America, motorcycle design had actually outpaced the Europeans. Our bikes were then using the liemispherical combustion chamber, a three speed gearbox with all chain drive, and when tuned to run on fuel they turned in devastating performances. Proof of this was Johnny Seymour's 132.001 mark in 1926 on his 61" Indian plus the 115.64 mark on the 500cc model. These speeds were well above_anything the Europeans could do, but then the AMA quietly deleted these records when they came into power in 1928. This speed was not exceeded in America until 1938 when Joe Petrali did 136.183 on his 61" Harley, which had the benefit of a full streamlined sbelL These early American bikes were remarkable, and it is a shame that our organization was not up to their performance so that these records were more permanently preserved. After this the American industry faded into a long period of design stagnation. In Europe, meanwhile, O.M. Baldwin used a Zenith-J.A.P. to clock 124.62 MPH, with the 1000cc engine pumping out 70 HP on straight alcohol fuel. Bert LeVack pushed this up to 129.05, but then the British received a shock when Germany stole their title away. Ernst Henne was the man, and in 1929 he used a supercharged 750cc BMW to clock 134.5 MPH. The opposed twin punched out 60 HP at 6000 rpm, and it used a rigid frame with a shaft drive and disc rear wheel. Supercharging was instantly the only way to go, with J .S. Wrigh t using his 84 HP O.E,C.·J .A.P. to push the record up to 137.92. Henne came right back to clock 137.66. Wright then fitted disc wheels and a bit of streamlining around the steering head and engine, and on the road near Cork, Ireland, he clocked a staggering 150.736 MPH. This was an historic occasion, since it was the first 150 MPH clocking and the first use of any form of streamlining. Wright then built an Excelsior-J.A.P. ~,. .• . Early contllnder was this Brough Superior "Pendine", a limited production model with a 1000cc JAP engine and 70 BHP. BMW's of the latll 1920's had a blown OHV engine. Streamlining was of questionable value. Italy's only record holder was this 1937 Gilera Rodine that_t170 MPH. The four cylinder machine was typical of streamliners of its day.

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