Hooper nudges 200 mph

“The World’s fastest Velocette” has gone even faster at the 2016 Speed Week at Lake Gairdner, South Australia. With Stuart Hooper on board, the Velo recorded a best one-way speed of 193.061 mph to beat his own record by almost 10 mph. Stuart says, “The Big Velo has come through another speed week with flying colours. After an initial sighting run of 177 mph which appeared OK until we discovered a nearly empty fuel tank. Almost 10 litres of fuel used is a bit much even for its insatiable thirst. “On the next run this fuel consumption became problematical with fluctuating cylinder head temps and eventually drowning the engine which at least allowed us to identify a very unusual fuel flow problem related to our specific installation. “For the third run we upped the supercharger drive ratio and the engine ran like a clock resulting in a 188 mph average, however the Velo was not happy with major stability issues requiring me to roll of the throttle three times through the timed miles to keep her on the track. This run however put the Velo firmly in the record books as the Worlds Fastest Single Cylinder Motorcycle. A bit of head scratching over the errant handling led to a few minor suspension changes and we were off again, this was a dream run using only half throttle and 5000rpm she passed 150 mph in a mile and then it was tuck in and twist the throttle to the stop, this time she ran straight as an arrow and the revs just kept building to 6,800 at the end of the measured miles, in fact I kept the throttle wide for another untimed mile just for the hell of it and saw another 100 rpm or about 2 to 3 mph on the old Chronometric tachometer. Five miles absolutely flat out – 193.061 mph. The next day looked like we might crack the magic 200 mark and the officials kindly offered us an extra timed mile, but alas it was not to be. Upon close inspection the oil was discolored and coming from the breather and the crank and cush drive was suffering badly so the nitro was left unopened, a nitro engine failure at 200mph is not high on my bucket list!