Castrol Rocket attempts new motorcycle land speed record

Imagine a place so barren that even the simplest life forms can’t exist. A place so flat it seems that you can see the curvature of the earth’s surface. Yet, every year, thousands of people come to this place in search of something special. Speed! This is not just any old place. These are the Bonneville Salt Flats, found in an out and nowhere part of Utah – for decades the Mecca of speed for those who with gasoline (and sometimes diesel too) in their veins. It is on this 30,000 acre salt pan that all manner of cars, motorcycles, trucks, dragsters, streamliners and what have you not have been pushing the envelope for the maximum velocity that can be achieved while keeping your wheels firmly on the ground.

And when you look at the two-wheeled machines which have been decimating the limits of speed out on the Bonneville flats for the better part of the earlier century, one name strikes rather strong – Triumph. The small British outfit was the first one to hit Bonneville with a streamlined motorcycle way back in 1955 and post that, up to 1970, except for a brief 33-day period, it was Triumph which held all the outright land speed records for motorcycles – and all of these were set in the crucible of the Bonneville Salt Flats. No wonder then that the company’s most iconic model also carries the same name.

But that was then and this is now. And now, Triumph is back once again to take a shot at the salts. Three Americans, Matt Markstaller, Bob Carpenter, and Jason DiSalvo have pulled together a team of people to restore Triumph Motorcycles’ legacy in landspeed racing. These three men have set out to design, build and ride the world’s most advanced streamliner, the Castrol Rocket. 

The last time a Triumph motorcycle (or two-wheeled streamliner to be exact) set the world record for speed, the year was 1970, the machine was the Gyronaut X-1 and the record was 245.667mph (395.363km/h). Beating the current world record for two-wheeled vehicles is no joke mind you. Set by the Top 1 Oil Ack Attack streamliner owned by Mike Akatiff and driven by Rocky Robinson, the record currently stands at a ridiculous 376.363 mph – that’s 605.698 km/h! Mental!

But the Castrol Rocket’s team wants to take it up a notch. Their aim – an unbelievable 400mph (643.738 km/h). And to get to these speeds, the nutters behind the venture turned to the Triumph Rocket III; in fact not one but two of these. The team took two massive 2,294cc three-cylinder engines (the largest capacity on any production bike) from the Rocket III and bolted them together. Surprisingly, the cubic capacity of each of these was dropped down to 1,485cc to result in a combined capacity of 2,970cc. The boys at Carpenter Racing then went to work installing two Garret GT2876R liquid cooled ball bearing turbochargers and making a host of other internal changes to really crank out the power.

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So how much horsepower are we talking about? Considering that a single Rocket III motor makes 140bhp and 200 Nm of torque, you’d think twice as much would be a fair guess. But you’d be wrong! This methanol guzzling Frankenstein of an engine cranks out an utterly mind-numbing 1,000+ horses and over 677Nm of torque. Think Bugatti Veyron on two wheels! Surprisingly enough, lubrication for this monstrous motor is thanks to Castrol Power RS 10W-40 Full Synthetic motor oil – something that you and I can simply buy off the shelves for our own motorcycles.

This 7.77 metre long Carbon Kevlar monocoque streamlined motorcycle built by Hot Rod Conspiracy measures a mere 0.61 metres in width and 0.91 metres in height (that’s shorter than the original Ford GT40). To run up to the speeds required to set the record, the Castrol Rocket runs Goodyear Land Speed Special tyres and to bring it down safely from those mental speeds it packs a specially made carbon/carbon rear disc brake as well as a set of high and low speed ribbon type parachutes.

This mental machine completed a full set of shakedown runs at the recently held Bonneville Speed Week in preparation for the run-up to an assault on the current speed record with former Moto2 racer Jason DiSalvo at the helm. Whether it succeeds in busting the record, whether it succeeds in its lofty goal of hitting 400mph, is something that remains to be seen. At the moment though, there are several others that are vying for the same kind of goal. But given the spirit and history of the Castrol Rocket, we’re quite sure they’ll emerge ‘Triumph’ant!