VOL. 55 ISSUE 15 APRIL 17, 2018 P117
being wheeled into the trailer behind him,
Manning sat down to talk about the complex
world of designing for speed. The normally
animated 72-year old sighed as he gazed at
the shimmering white expanse of Lake Gaird-
ner, and began to talk about what he calls
"the black side."
"There's this black and white world of
design," Manning said. "The enthusiasm and
the optimistic side of you says, 'We're going
to do it like this, and it's going to work. Aero-
dynamics, horsepower, handling, the rider,
everything will work.' But then it's hard for a
person who has that line of thought to show
himself the black side. That's what I call it, the
black side—the other side. The black side is
one that is arbitrary, you want to plan for the
very worst; you're very happy if you survive it,
and that's the flipside.
"Everybody around here right now is very
sad, and sorry and condolences. Yeah. It's a
lot of money, a lot of work, a lot of help, a lot
of everything. It's not down the drain because
it worked. She walked away from it and that's
everything."
Team 7 Racing made the trek from the
United States to the remote location of Lake
Gairdner seeking to set a new FIM World
Record for all-time two-wheel speed. (The
current record sits at 376.363 mph, held
by Rocky Robinson and Mike Akatiff's ACK
Attack streamliner.) Manning has held the
record four times, and lost it four times. "I
want it back. Real bad," Manning had said at
the opening day of the event. At that point,
the team's spirits were at an all-time high. The
day before, at the DLRA (Dry Lake Racers
Association) Speed Week, which was held
at the same location directly preceding the
FIM-sanctioned World Speed Trials Australia,
Valerie Thompson set a speed of 328.467
mph, a personal best for Thompson.
