New speed records at Bonneville mark 50 year celebration

Friday, September 11, 2009

Four world speed records at the 2009 BUB Bonneville speed trials add to the 50th anniversary celebrations of Triumph's most iconic model, the Bonneville.

To pay tribute to the original Bonneville which was introduced in 1959 and named after the event that gives the bike its name: the Bonneville speed trials, British motorcycle journalist Alan Cathcart took two highly-tuned examples of the latest Bonneville to the event held on the Utah Salt Flats in the U.S.A. from August 30 to September 3.

First up was a street-legal Thruxton Bonneville prepared by Matt Capri, owner of South Bay Triumph in California, aboard which Cathcart broke the 150mph barrier to set a new two-way FIM world record for the flying mile at 152.678mph, and another for the flying kilometre at 152.770mph, with a best one-way speed of 153.150mph. These speeds set new marks for the FIM’s 1000cc Normally-Aspirated Twin-Cylinder Unstreamlined category.

Then changing bikes to the turbocharged South Bay Triumph Bonneville constructed by Matt Capri, Cathcart went on to achieve two more new FIM world records for the 1000cc Forced Induction Twin-Cylinder Unstreamlined class with a two-way speed for the flying mile of 165.405 mph, and for the flying kilometre of 165.672 mph, with a best one-way speed of 171.624 mph. The mile speed qualifies as a new AMA record, too, with all records set by the air/oil-cooled parallel-twin British bikes subject to ratification by the relevant authorities.

On speaking about his record breaking week, Cathcart said: “We’ve been coming to Bonneville since 2007 in preparation for this, the Bonneville model’s 50th birthday year. Breaking the 150mph barrier with the standard bike was always our main objective, and when the FIM established the new twin-cylinder category for speed records, it was great that we could claim official world records by doing so. Matt Capri is a genius when it comes to tuning bikes for the salt, at 4,400 feet in altitude, and to set two more world marks with the turbo, which he’s developed almost as an afterthought and has spent very little time on, is just the icing on the cake. For sure this is a 180 mph-plus motorcycle with more development in its present naked guise, and with a fairing it’ll go much faster. Maybe we’ll be back next year to try to join the 200mph club with it!”

The South Bay Triumphs were shod with Pirelli rain tyres supplied by the Italian tyre manufacturer’s road racing division. “The Pirellis gave us great traction, especially in the first two days, which many teams sat out due to slippery conditions after rain the week before,” said Cathcart. “This allowed us to get in several setup runs and after the salt dried out in the Speed Week sunshine, we had great grip and good stability from the Pirellis, even with the violent pickup of the turbo through the gears when it comes on full boost. That was a key contributor to our record-breaking speeds.”