Triumph Confirms September Date For Land Speed Record Attempt At Bonneville
Following a successful practice session at the Bonneville Salt Flats, achieving a speed of 274.2 mph to become the world’s fastest ever Triumph, Triumph Motorcycles has confirmed the attempt to set a new outright motorcycle Land Speed World Record will take place mid-September, 2016, weather permitting.
Piloted by TT star Guy Martin the Triumph Infor Rocket Streamliner will return to the famous Bonneville salt flats and attempt to beat the current 376.8mph record speed on an 11 mile-long course. Despite having a good course surface for testing the team felt that the salt wasn’t yet fully capable of supporting a top-speed streamliner run. In consultation with FIM course manager Mike Cook the team are targeting the September dates as the best possible opportunity for the optimal course conditions required for the record attempt.
The practice week, which ended with the 274.2mph run on Tuesday 9th August, demonstrated that both the Triumph Infor Rocket Streamliner and rider Guy Martin are ready for the task ahead. Martin’s first week in the streamliner saw him master the controls of the 1,000bhp streamliner very quickly – achieving all of the goals set by Crew Chief and Triumph Infor Rocket Streamliner designer Matt Markstaller and his team.
When asked about returning in September Markstaller commented: “We achieved a great deal during our test week at Bonneville and feel we are in a great position to move ahead with our record attempt. Guy settled into the streamliner very quickly and impressed us with the speed in which he mastered both the motorcycle and riding on the salt.
“While conditions were some of the best I have seen over the last few years, we feel there is still some room for improvement. When chasing a record such as this on two wheels the conditions have to be the very best they can be, to give us the greatest chance of achieving the speeds we require to set a new record. We feel that waiting a few further weeks will provide us with even better conditions and put us in the ideal position to make our record attempt.”
