Triumph goes for speed record glory
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.
