Even faster Velo!
The World’s Fastest Velocette has gone even faster, recording 183.370 mph (295.112 km/h) at the 2014 Lake Gairdner Speed Trials.
Stuart Hooper reports, “It was not all plain sailing this year as dyno time was cut short by a last minute main bearing failure necessitating a new scratch-built crankshaft. This lack of final tuning led to the first couple of runs being hampered by some massive nitro backfires almost stopping the back wheel around 150 mph. Luckily the engine is built like a tank and somehow withstood this brutal punishment. After 3 days of work searching for the correct set up and a salt surface that was very soft and rutted like a sandy motocross track and an engine that was starting to show metal in the oil, a rear chain that was threatening to self destruct from the sledgehammer blows of the big supercharged single firing once every wheel revolution, the organisers opened a new track which gave us our one and only chance for a record run. The gearing was raised and the supercharger drive altered, fuel changed back to straight methanol and with a last minute start line ignition timing alteration and fingers crossed we were off. “With very little warm up the almost 100mph first gear launched us down the track with a light hand on the throttle because on an earlier run, almost uncontrollable wheelspin had started a tank slapper and almost ended the weeks fun... I short shifted into second and again into third at less than 150mph and did not use full throttle until well tucked in behind the screen and the bike started to dodge and weave across the ruts caused by some of the Hyabusas and big cars that had run before me. The revs started to creep up past 6,500 as the engine temps approached melting point and the Velo started to waltz a little on the soft surface as the final mile marker flashed by and I reluctantly closed the throttle on another year on the glorious white expanse of the Australian salt flats. The question now is... Just how fast can a Velo go ?”