Renowned British motorcycle journalist Alan Cathcart marked the 50th anniversary of the iconic Triumph Bonneville by setting four officially-recognized FIM world land speed records at the 2009 edition of the event that gives the bike its name: the Bonneville speed trials.
The original Bonneville, introduced in 1959, was named after the record breaking streamlined Triumph that set numerous records at the Utah venue during the 1950s. To pay tribute, the internationally syndicated Cathcart took two highly-tuned examples of the latest Bonneville back to its spiritual birthplace at this year's edition, held between August 30 and September 3.
Riding a street-legal Thruxton Bonneville prepared by Matt Capri, owner of South Bay Triumph in California, 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.
In addition, Cathcart established two more new FIM world records for the 1000cc Forced Induction Twin-Cylinder Unstreamlined class, riding a turbocharged South Bay Triumph Bonneville with a two-way speed for the flying mile of 165.405mph, 165.672mph for the flying kilometre and 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.
Speaking about his record breaking week, Cathcart commented: "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."
