Team Velocette at Bonneville 2011...progress to date....
Team Velocette.... is a group led by Stuart Hooper from Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, ably supported by his wife Marsha and close friends Keith and Colleen Canning.
See their website...
http://www.worldsfastestvelocette.com/
Their aim after purchasing a Velocette Viper Clubman several years back was to modify it to add to the Velocette records the major one that still stands today after being set in March 1961...100mph for 24 hours.
In this case their record was to be the worlds fastest Velocette.
This was always considered to be held by Bert Munroe of New Zealand, with his 1930's MSS special attaining 132.35mph in 1971.
Bert of course is now long dead.
Stuart altered his engine to over 700cc, built a special streamlining and a longer swinging arm and has visited Lake Gairdner in South Australia on several occasions, the last earlier this year was washed out due to severe rain conditions in Northern Queensland draining into the salt lakes in Central Australia.
Stuart's current highest with the bike is 139.001mph.
See my earlier blog....
http://velobanjogent.blogspot.com/search/label/Worlds%20Fastest%20Velocette
Bonneville was always a goal for the team....it is the mecca for record breakers, even though the available strip has shortened over the years due to salt mining.
He visited Bonneville in 2010 as a reconnaissance and the decision was made to travel from Australia to Bonneville to take in two landracing meeting in late August early September.
A special crate was made for the bike with a total of two engines and gearboxes included and this was airfreighted to Salt Lake City.
They are currently at the first meeting and on the limited information I have their highest speed to Tuesday 30th was 147.485mph, although the best I could find on some printed sheets on a blog was 146.351mph
http://www.landracing.com/forum/index.php/topic,9954.0.html
See Stuarts updated blog for an explanation....
http://www.worldsfastestvelocette.com/2011-update.php
The altitude of Bonneville is around 4200' above sea level so the UV is a problem. Usually the temperatures are in the 40 deg. Celsius plus range.
This meant an "educated guess" for the initial carburation setting from the sea level settings in Australia.
The number of runs in a day a Bonneville are limited due to the number of entries, so getting the best set-up can be frustrating.
When you set a record the bike goes into an impound area until the following run. Then the average speed of both these runs are taken and this forms your speed.
So a run in the cool of the early morning can be quick and the following run is often at a higher temperature later in the day often affecting the speed.
I went to Bonneville in 2004 and came away with a different outlook on the effort the people who run bikes and cars.
Glib statements that " a good 500 in a fairing could easily so that" etc don't hold up to scrutiny.
If it was easy others would have done it.
That said I was amazed in 2004 when a cigar shaped 125cc Aprilia engined streamliner did over 140mph...
Paul d'Orleans, The Vintagent, gives a valid explanation on his first blog on this years Bonneville, titled "Song of the Salt"...
See....
http://thevintagent.blogspot.com/2011/09/song-of-salt.html
He says...
"....The salt is also a terrible place to go fast. Yes it is generally packed firm on a good year, although on a bad year even the scraped-smooth racing lines will have soft spots hungry for your speed. Packed salt gives poor traction, being greasy and slick, with loose bits scattered over the top, and applying power is a delicate business. Plenty of powerful machines simply cannot put all their horsepower through the wheels, and calculating wheel-spin into rpm/speed readings is a fine art. Typically estimated at 10% of your wheel rotation, what this means is you're doing a white burnout all the way down the line. A too-rapid course correction, say after a gust of wind, could well have you spinning off course, or far worse. Braking is a bad idea too, for the same reason; what you are riding on is best thought of as salted ice. Flat yes, fairly smooth (but pretty bumpy in the pilot's seat), slippery and treacherous for the very people who cannot keep away; acolytes of the cult of Speed..."
Following are some pics from Brisbane early August as they finalised the packing etc.
Good Luck Team Velocette...we all hope for the magic 150mph for you...!
Seems the weather on Wed. 31st after 1pm was not conducive to running on the salt.
No news if the Velocette got a run in.....
The reports put it at 24mph plus from the SSW with predicted winds of 40mph and they don't run at wind speeds over 12mph or some figure like that....
Hope for Thursday 1st...
Two pics from my trip to Bonneville Salt Flats in 2004 which assist in giving a sense of the scene.
See...
http://velobanjogent.blogspot.com/search/label/Bonneville%20Record%20Breaking
posted by Unknown @ 5:00 PM
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