British duo go for broke on legendary Bonneville salt flats
Speed fiends go on adventure to grab classic records for Triumph
Two Brits have brought two Land Speed Records back to Blighty after blasting their shed-built Triumphs to glory at Bonneville Salt Flats. Miki Sprosen and Phil Betty from Cornwall decided to have a crack at straightline racing four years ago and soon hatched a plan to head to the mecca of top speed record.
Miki, who’s an event manager, told MCN: “We’ve both been racing vintage stuff for years, but there comes a point when you want to do something different. After we had a go at straightline racing at Pendine Sands we became hooked and then decided to go for it.
“It took a lot of planning and saving as we needed £10k each just to get our bikes and ourselves out there. Putting the bikes together is another story altogether!”
Phil, who’s an engineer, was already racing his 1957 Triumph T21 350 twin and simply made some adjustments to turn it into a speed-seeking missile while Miki brought his 1971 650 Bonneville T120 via an internet auction site. “There’s not that much you are allowed to modify in the production classes, but I did fit high compression pistons and different cams.
“I’m not an expert mechanic by any means but over the years I have learnt how to take an engine apart, rebuild it and make it go fast, mostly without blowing up. But it was tough at Bonneville due to the altitude, grip and high temperatures.
“We were told by Bonneville experts that as rookies we’d struggle… and we did! But by day three we had got everything working well and we both broke the records very early in the morning when it was cooler.”
Phil added: “As with all racing, you spend hundreds of hours in the shed building and re-building the bikes, then testing them and there’s all the logistics to get you there and back to consider. All this for a few minutes on the track. But those few minutes are what inspire you to do it all again next time. We were both ready, and hungry, for the Bonneville adventure – and prepared to go out and get those records back for Triumph.”
Phil took two seconds off of the existing AMA record for his class, making over 98mph on the 1957 Triumph T21, a bike originally built with speeds suitable only for a gentle commute to and from the workplace. Miki followed quickly behind, initially taking two seconds off of the 650 pushrod production recorda and then returning each day to continue to break his own record, taking the final speed to over 106mph.
The riders, who call themselves Team Wildcard, are now planning an assault on FIM Land Speed World Records in 2020 on more modern Hinckley Triumphs. Miki said: “We think we can do it in the UK at Elvington and have started talking to all the right people, but we haven’t even decided which bikes we’d use yet.”
‘We were both ready to go and get those records back’ RECORD BREAKER MIKI SPROSEN