There is something about Englishmen and going REALLY fast. They seem to be very good at it. Both the engineering involved in building land speed record cars and driving them.
The current land speed record is held by Andy Green, driving the ThrustSSC (that’s: SuperSonic Car) and yes, ThrustSSC did break the sound barrier on land on four wheels with an average speed over one mile in two passes of 1227.986 km/h. Any way you look at it, that’s insanely fast.
Not content with that, Richard Noble, who lead the ThrustSCC team, is now aiming for 1000 mph (1600 km/h) with his next project Bloodhound SSC.
But now Triumph, with the help of Isle of Man legend Guy Martin, are aiming to push the motorcycle land speed record from 376.363 mph to 400 mph with the Triumph Infor Rocket. So once again English engineering and pilot are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible.
I read the Triumph Infor Rocket in Wired Magazine online. You can see the article here.
Specs for this insane motorcycle:
- 25.5 feet long
- Two 1.4 liter engines
- 1000 horsepower
- Parachute for braking
That is one very, very serious bike – and it’s a Triumph! I have a special soft spot for this land speed record attempt, as I ride a Triumph myself – a 2004 Daytona 955i. It would be great to see Triumph take back a title that they haven’t held since the Triumph powered Gyronaut X-1 set a land speed record of 395.363 km/h in 1966 – that’s 50 years ago.
Here’s hoping that the Rocket and Guy Martin can do it.