Motoring: Triumph land speed record; BAC Mono; Bad Car Names

ONE of the most famous names in British motorcycling is preparing to put its stamp on history by launching a new attempt to capture the two-wheel world land speed record for Britain.

Triumph Motorcycles returns to the legendary salt flats of Bonneville in the United States this month with the aim of beating the current record, which stands at 376.363 mph, using its purpose-built 1,000 bhp Triumph Infor Rocket Streamliner.

Riding the bike over the measured mile will be television personality, author, Isle of Man TT racer and multiple speed record holder Guy Martin.

Title partner for Triumph’s record attempt will be global cloud applications provider Infor with further support from clothing brand Belstaff.

The Triumph Infor Rocket features a carbon Kevlar monocoque construction with two turbocharged Triumph Rocket III engines producing a combined 1,000 bhp at 9,000 rpm. The motorcycle is 25.5 feet long, 2 feet wide and 3 feet tall. Powered by methanol fuel, the bike is competing in the Division C (streamlined motorcycle) category.

Hinckley-based Triumph has a history of breaking the land speed record, holding the title of ‘World’s Fastest Motorcycle’ between 1955 to 1970 (apart from a brief 33-day interlude).

The record-breaking Triumph Streamliners included: Devil’s Arrow, Texas Cee-gar, Dudek Streamliner and Gyronaut X1, the former achieving a top speed of 245.667 mph.

The current record was set by Rocky Robinson in 2010 riding the Top Oil-Ack Attack streamliner.

Martin said: “I can’t wait to take the Triumph Infor Rocket Streamliner onto the salt at Bonneville for the first time this summer. The Triumph engineers have built an amazing machine, giving us the very best chance to beat the two-wheeled land speed record.”

The iconic Bonneville name was conceived following Johnny Allen’s land-speed record runs at the Salt Flats in September 1956, when he reached the record breaking speed of 193.72 mph. The first T120 Bonneville model was unveiled at the Earls Court Bike Show and went on sale in 1959.

Building around 54,500 bikes per year, Triumph is the largest British motorcycle manufacturer and has over 750 dealers across the world.

Triumph currently employs around 2,000 people worldwide and has subsidiary operations in America, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Japan, Sweden, Benelux, Brazil, India, Indonesia and Thailand as well as a network of independent distributors.

It also has manufacturing facilities in Thailand plus CKD facilities in Brazil and India.

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LIVERPOOL-based BAC has become the first manufacturer in the world to develop a car featuring panels made from graphene, a material up to 200-times stronger than steel but at a fraction of the weight.

BAC has partnered with Loughborough-based Haydale Composite Solutions to create rear wheel arches made out of the material.

The finished car, the Mono, is the world’s only road legal single-seater supercar.

Graphene is made of sheets of carbon just one atom thick, and is significantly lighter than standard carbon fibre. It is also stronger than carbon fibre, meaning that it can bring weight reductions of around 20% while being 200 times stronger than steel.

The benefits to the motorsport sector are obvious but the material also offers cost, performance and fuel economy advantages when applied to the wider in the manufacturing process.

BAC chose to test the use of graphene on the rear wheel arches of the car due to the size and complexity of the part. This enabled it to thoroughly test the manufacturing process and how the material fitted in with the car.

BAC development director and co-founder, Neill Briggs said: “BAC is uniquely placed in the automotive industry to be able to take innovative steps, and latest work with graphene is further proof of this.

“This development work is further proof of our ability to work with the very latest materials and innovators. At BAC we don’t wait for new technology to come to us, we actively seek it out and work with the very best in the industry to stay at the forefront of the automotive and motorsport industries.

“Making significant weight savings and improving body strength will allow us to offer improved performance to our customers.”

Ebby Shahidi, director of aerospace and defence, Haydale Composite Solutions, said the tests had shown some major increases in impact and thermal performance coupled with improved surface finish.

“It’s pleasing to see these attributes being demonstrated on such a high performance vehicle as the Mono,” he said.

“We look forward to collaborating further with BAC and delivering even higher performance materials and components to increase the performance of this exciting vehicle.”

BAC recently showed the graphene-enhanced Mono at the Science in the City festival in Manchester.

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WHAT’S in a name? Well, quite a bit if you’re a motor manufacturer – after all, would the Ford Mustang be as appealing to buyers if it had been dubbed the ‘Carthorse’ instead?

However, the big firms don’t always get it so right.

Automotive assessor hpi has revealed some of the less well received names from down the years after a poll amongst its team of Black Book editors.

Tim Bearder, Black Book editor, said: “Naming a car is really important for manufacturers in order to give it as much appeal as possible; it’s a key part of the vehicle marketing process.

“Whilst there is no hard and fast evidence that names have any real effect on sales or residual values it should be something that is taken into consideration. The team here has come across some weird and wonderfully named vehicles over the years ranging from obscure concept cars to mini vans and mainstream family cars.”

The Top 10 list is:

1) Ford Probe
2) Panda Mamy
3) Renault Wind
4) Nissan Micra Wave
5) Reva G-Wiz
6) Robin Hood Lightweight
7) Ibiza E
8) Toyota Deliboy
9) Volugrafo Bimbo
10) Mitsubishi Lettuce

“Cars can have inspiring and aspirational names such as the Aston Martin Vanquish and the Ford Mustang,” added Mr Bearder.

“They sound desirable and particularly with high value vehicles and supercars can greatly enhance their appeal.

“It’s equally important to get it right for city cars, people carriers and mid-range family cars and saloons. The name should complement the look, feel and intended use for the vehicle.

“However, certain names do seem to tickle the funny bone and it’s sometimes difficult to imagine how these names came to be. In many cases it could just be a case of being lost in translation.”

Bring back the Wartburg I say!