The motorcycle land-speed record is the fastest speed achieved by a motorcycle on land. It is standardized as the speed over a course of fixed length, averaged over two runs in opposite directions. AMA National Land Speed Records requires two passes the same calendar day in opposite directions over a timed mile/kilometre while FIM Land Speed World Records require two passes in opposite directions to be over a timed mile/kilometre completed within two hours.[1] These are special or modified motorcycles, distinct from the fastest production motorcycles. The first official FIM record was set in 1920, when Gene Walker rode an Indian on Daytona Beach at 104.12mph. Since late 2010, the Ack Attack team has held the motorcycle land speed record at 376.36mph.
The first generally recognized motorcycle speed records were set unofficially by Glenn Curtiss, using aircraft engines of his own manufacture, first in 1903, when he achieved 64mph at Yonkers, New York using a V-twin, and then on January 24, 1907, on Ormond Beach, Florida, when he achieved 136.27mph using a V8 housed in a spindly tube chassis with direct shaft drive to the rear wheel.[2] An attempted return run was foiled when his drive shaft came loose at speed, yet he was able to wrestle the machine to a stop without injury. Curtiss's V8 motorcycle is currently in the Transportation collection of the Smithsonian Institution.
Curtiss's 1907 record was the fastest any person had ever travelled under power: the rail record stood at 131mph (electric powered); the motor car record was 127.66mph (steam powered); while in the air, where weight considerations made the internal combustion engine dominant, the air speed record was still held by the Wright Brothers at a mere 37.85mph.The first officially sanctioned Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM) record was set in 1920, when Gene Walker rode an Indian on Daytona Beach at 104.12mph. The first FIM-sanctioned record to exceed Curtiss's 1907 speed did not occur until 1930, at Arpajon in France, when an OEC special with a 1,000cc supercharged JAP V-twin engine averaged 137mph over the required two-way runs. The 1930s saw an international battle between the BMWs ridden by Ernst Henne and various JAP-powered British motorcycles, with the penultimate pre-World War II record being taken in 1937 by Italy's Gilera, shortly before BMW set a final pre-war record of 173.68mph that stood for 14 years.
After World War II, the German NSU factory battled Britain's Vincent HRD and Triumph for top speed honors during the 1950s, with British-engined machines dominating the 1960s. New Zealand's Burt Munro (of the film The World's Fastest Indian), set a speed record at Bonneville in 1967 of 183mph for a motorcycle with an engine under 1000cc.
A Japanese-engined streamliner motorcycle first took the record in 1970, and alternated with Harley-Davidson-engined machines as record-holders until 1990, when Dave Campos's streamliner powered by twin Harley-Davidson engines averaged 322.15mph. That record stood for 16 years before being surpassed in 2006 by the Ack Attack team's twin Suzuki engined machine at an average of 342.8mph. The BUB team, using a custom-built V4 engine, then alternated as record holders with Ack Attack over the next four years. As of November 2022, the Ack Attack team has held the motorcycle land speed record at 376.36mph since late 2010.
The fastest record certified by the FIM is that set in 1964 by the jet-propelled tricycle, Spirit of America. It set three absolute land speed records, the last at . While such records are usually validated by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, the FIA only certifies vehicles with at least four wheels, while the FIM certifies two- and three-wheelers. Breedlove never intended Spirit of America to be classified as a motorcycle, despite its tricycle layout, and only approached the FIM after being rejected for record status by the FIA. Spirit of Americas FIM-ratified record prompted the FIA to add the new category of thrust-powered vehicles to its world record listings. Furthermore, most people think of the tricycle Spirit of America, now part of the permanent collection of Chicago's Griffin Museum of Science and Industry, as a car and not a motorcycle.[3]
Link to Bonneville Motorcycle Speed Trials AMA National and FIM World Records
| Date | Location | Rider | Make | Engine displacement cc (cu in) | Speed | Comments | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| mph | km/h | |||||||
| 1903 | Yonkers, New York, US | Glenn Curtiss | Curtiss V-2 | 1000cc | 64 | 103 | over the mile, first (unofficial) World Speed Record, Hercules V-twin[4] | |
| 1905 | Blackpool, UK - Average Speed over 1,000m on 27 July 1905. | Henri Cissac | Peugeot 1,489cc V twin | 1,489cc | 87 | 140 | Blackpool Speed Trials | |
| 24 January 1907 | Ormond Beach, Florida, US | Glenn Curtiss | Curtiss V-8 | 4000cc | 136.27 | 219.31 | Unofficial record stood over 20 years[5] [6] | |
| 14 April 1920 | Daytona Beach, Florida, US | Gene Walker | Indian | 994cc | 103.56 | 166.66 | [7] [8] | |
| 6 November 1923 | Brooklands, UK | Claude Temple | Anzani | 108.48 | 174.58 | |||
| 8 June 1924 | Arpajon, France | Tommy Turner | AJS Special-AJ Stevens | 799cc | 110.66 | 178.08 | ||
| 6 July 1924 | Arpajon, France | Bert le Vack | Brough Superior-JAP] | 867cc | 118.99 | 191.50 | ||
| 5 September 1926 | Arpajon, France | Claude F. Temple | OEC-Temple | 996cc | 121.44 | 195.44 | ||
| 25 August 1928 | Arpajon, France | Owen M. Baldwin | Zenith-JAP | 996cc | 124.27 | 199.99 | ||
| 25 August 1929 | Arpajon, France | Bert Le Vack | Brough-Superior | 995cc | 129.00 | 207.6 | ||
| 19 September 1929 | Ingolstadt, Germany | Ernst Jakob Henne | BMW WR 750 | 735cc | 134.67 | 216.75 | , The first successful use of a supercharger for a World Record. | |
| 31 August 1930 | Arpajon, France | Joseph S. Wright | OEC-Temple JAP | 994cc | 137.23 | 220.99 | First official record to exceed Curtiss' pioneering effort. | |
| 21 September 1930 | Ingolstadt, Germany | Ernst Jakob Henne | BMW WR 750 | 735cc | 137.74 | 221.67 | ||
| 6 November 1930 | Cork, Ireland | Joseph S. Wright | Zenith JAP | 995cc | 150.74 | 242.59 | ||
| 2 November 1932 | Tát, Hungary | Ernst Jakob Henne | BMW | 736cc[9] [10] | 151.86 | 244.40 | ||
| 30 October 1934 | Gyon, Hungary | Ernst Jakob Henne | BMW | 736cc | 153.00 | 246.23 | ||
| 27 September 1935 | A3 autobahn (Frankfurt-München route), Germany | Ernst Jakob Henne | BMW | 736cc | 159.10 | 256.04[11] [12] | First record over 250km/h | |
| 12 October 1936 | A3, Germany | Ernst Jakob Henne | BMW Type 255 | 493cc[13] | 169.08 | 272.11 | ||
| 19 April 1937 | Gyon, Hungary | Eric Fernihough | Brough Superior-JAP | 995cc | 169.72 | 273.14 | JAP supercharged[14] Fernihough was killed in a 1938 attempt | |
| 21 October 1937 | Autostrada A4 (Italy) (Brescia-Bergamo route) | Piero Taruffi | Gilera | 492cc | 170.37 | 274.18 | Supercharged four-cylinder. Taruffi famous as Grand Prix driver. | |
| 28 November 1937 | A3, Germany | Ernst Jakob Henne | BMW | 495cc | 173.68 | 279.50 | Last pre-World War II record | |
| 1951 | A9 autobahn (Ingolstadt-München route), Germany | Wilhelm Herz | NSU Delphin I streamliner | 499cc | 180.29 | 290.322 | First post-World War II record | |
| 1955 | Swannanoa, New Zealand | Russell Wright | Vincent-HRD | 998cc | 184.83 | 297.640 | ||
| 25 September 1955 | Bonneville, US | John Allen | Triumph | 649cc | 192.719 | 310.151 | [15] Unratified by FIM[16] | |
| 2 August 1956 | Bonneville, US | Wilhelm Herz | NSU Delphin III streamliner | 499cc | 189.5 | 304.97 | [17] | |
| 4 August 1956 | Bonneville, US | Wilhelm Herz | NSU Delphin III streamliner | 499cc | 210.64 | 338.992 | First record over 200 mph (320 km/h) | |
| 6 September 1956 | Bonneville, US | Johnny Allen | Triumph Tiger T110 | 649cc | 214.4 | 345.188 | [18] Unratified by FIM[19] | |
| 5 September 1962 | Bonneville, US | William A. Johnson | Triumph | 650cc | 224.57 | 361.41 | [20] | |
| 1966 | Bonneville, US | Robert Leppan | Triumph Special Gyronaut X-1 streamliner | 1298cc | 245.667 | 395.36 | Triumph Special twin-engined | |
| 1970 | Bonneville, US | Don Vesco | Yamaha "Big Red" streamliner | 700cc | 251.66 | 405.25 | Two-stroke twin-engined[21] First record over 2500NaN0 | |
| 1970 | Bonneville, US | Cal Rayborn | Harley-Davidson streamliner | 1480cc | 265.492 | 410.37 | single nitro-fueled Sportster engine nicknamed 'Godzilla' built by Warner Riley. | |
| 28 September 1975 | Bonneville, US | Don Vesco | Yamaha "Silver Bird" streamliner | 1480cc | 302.92 | 487.515 | First record over 3000NaN0 | |
| 28 August 1978 | Bonneville, US | Don Vesco | Lightning Bolt streamliner | 2030cc | 318.598 | 509.757 | Turbocharged twin Kawasaki Kz1000 engines. First record over 5000NaN0[22] | |
| 14 July 1990 | Bonneville, US | Dave Campos | Easyriders streamliner | 3000cc | 322.150 | 518.450 | Twin Harley-Davidson engines. Longest held official record, 16 years (see Curtiss' 20 year unofficial record)[23] | |
| 3 September 2006 | Bonneville, US | Rocky Robinson | Top Oil-Ack Attack streamliner | 2600cc | 342.797 | 551.678 | Twin Suzuki engines[24] | |
| 5 September 2006 | Bonneville, US | Chris Carr | BUB Seven Streamliner | 2997cc | 350.884 | 564.693 | BUB/Sierra Design V4 | |
| 26 September 2008 | Bonneville, US | Rocky Robinson | Top Oil-Ack Attack streamliner | 2600cc | 360.913 | 580.833 | Twin Suzuki engines | |
| 24 September 2009 | Bonneville, US | Chris Carr | BUB Seven Streamliner | 2997cc | 367.382 | 591.244 | BUB/Sierra Design V4 | |
| 25 September 2010 | Bonneville, US | Rocky Robinson | Top Oil-Ack Attack streamliner | 2600cc | 376.363 | 605.697 | Twin Suzuki engines First record over 6000NaN0 | |
a. At the time, it had been the accepted practice that the FIM would require the American Automobile Association to carry out official timing for any run in the USA. However shortly before the record attempt the A.A.A. had withdrawn from controlling motor sport, leaving no official body representing the FIM. Although every effort had been made to show the impartiality of the officials and the accuracy of the equipment, after several months the claimed record was not accepted by the FIA as the timing was "not carried out by an official certified by the FIM.".[25]
b. The issues with official FIM timing of runs in the US were still not resolved at this time. NSU had solved the problem for their runs in August by including accredited timekeepers and officials in the team that they bought over with them from Europe. The British Motor Corporation had also been attempting record runs that year, and the FIA arranged for a British timekeeper to go to America for these. The equipment he had used for timing the runs was tested and approved by the FIA. However he had to leave America before Allen could make his run, and so the same equipment was used by two Americans who had been given written authority to act as timekeepers on behalf of the FIM. At the FIM meeting in Paris in October, the FIM postponed approval of the record, alleging that the timekeeper was not recognised by the FIM and that no official FIM observer had been present. After further deliberation and investigation, the FIM announced in April 1957 that they were unable to ratify the record claimed as the equipment used had not been approved by them.[26] [25] [27]