/ 2 May 2002

Briton to try and smash land-speed record in SA

A BRITISH engineer is planning to ride a streamlined rocket powered motorcycle faster than 650km/h in the Northern Cape in June 2003 in an attempt to set a new World Land Speed Record for two-wheeled machines.

Ray Wakefield, a Port Elizabeth engineer representing Team Maximum Impulse in South Africa, said if all went to plan, the eight-metre long streamliner, powered by three hybrid rocket motors, would carry its designer Richard Brown to a speed well in excess of the current record of 322,101 m.p.h. (515,7km/h). This was set on the famous Bonneville Salt Flats in 1990 by American Dave Campos.

”Brown’s machine weighs approximately the same as a grand prix car (570kg), but with all three rockets in operation it will produce seven to eight times the power,” Wakefield said.

Formal consent to stage the attempt has been obtained from the Northern Cape government, and the areas which are under consideration are to be assessed by the team in June to determine whether the machine’s solid aluminium wheels will be able to run safely on the surface.

Wakefield said the bike would need between eight and nine kilometres of flat level land to reach the necessary speed and brake again to a standstill.

The Northern Cape with its many pans would be perfect for the attempt.

British speed legend Sir Malcolm Campbell driving the Blue Bird attempted to break the record landspeed record at Verneuk Pan, south of Upington, in 1929. The speed he had to beat was 231,56mph, set by the fellow Britain, Henry Segrave.

Campbell failed the attempt, but was successful at Daytona Beach in the US in February 1931 when he travelled at 246,08mph.

Brown has already exceeded the current two wheel record speed twice at Bonneville in the United States, but because this was not done successively in opposite directions, the record accolade could not be awarded by motorcycling’s international body, the FIM (Fédération Internationale Motocycliste).

Wakefield said that the salt flats at Bonneville were not 100% safe for the bike, and that the team could not exploit the full potential of the machine there.

”The team were broke when they went back to the United Kingdom after the record attempt,” he said.

”But their hopes of breaking the record were aroused again when they heard that suitable land might be available in South Africa.”

The machine Brown used in his attempt is currently on exhibition at the National Motorcycle Museum near Coventry in the United Kingdom.

The first stage of the project, which Wakefield is currently involved in at a workshop near Port Elizabeth, is to produce a test machine that is a replica of the actual record contender.

This will be powered by a conventional motorcycle engine and will be used to assess whether the surfaces of the Northern Cape pans are compatible with the bike’s wheels.

Wakefield said he and his partner were currently having to pay for the construction of the test vehicle out of their own pockets. ”The team are devoid of cash and we need to attract sponsorship of about R25 000 to get through this first phase.”

He said if all went according to plan, the team would attempt the record in June 2003, as weather wise, this would be the best time to attempt it. – Sapa