Engineering:Lightning Bolt (motorcycle)
| Manufacturer | Don Vesco |
|---|---|
| Predecessor | Silver Bird (streamliner) |
| Class | Streamliner |
| Engine | 2×inline-4, twin turbo, 2,032 cc total displacement |
| Top speed | c. 333 miles per hour (536 km/h)[1] |
Lightning Bolt is an American-built streamliner motorcycle that held the motorcycle land-speed record from 1978, when Don Vesco rode it to 318.598 miles per hour (512.734 km/h),[2][3] until 1990.[4][5] It was also the fastest vehicle participating in the 1978 Bonneville Speed Week with a one-way 333.117-mile-per-hour (536.100 km/h) run.[6] It was powered by twin turbocharged inline-4 engines sourced from a Kawasaki Kz1000,[1] with a combined displacement of 2,032 cc.[7] The near-stock engines were linked at both ends of their cranks by two Gilmer belts and utilized the rear engine's gearbox.[8]
Lightning Bolt was apparently succeeded by another streamliner based on two turbocharged six-cylinder Kawasaki motors (probably from the early-1980s Kawasaki Z1300) that did not set records.[9] Vesco turned his attention to automobile land speed racing in the 1990s with a six-wheel car called "Skytracker" that Vesco described as a "cross between a car and a motorcycle",[10] then his final vehicle, the land speed record-setting #111 Turbinator.
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Robinson 2007.
- ↑ American Motorcyclist Association 1999.
- ↑ American Motorcyclist Association 1978, p. 38.
- ↑ FIM 2014.
- ↑ Morris 2005, p. 45.
- ↑ Noeth 2005, p. 1.
- ↑ Gunston, Taylor & Ewart 1984, p. 92.
- ↑ Burns 1993, p. 42.
- ↑ American Motorcyclist 1982.
- ↑ Noeth 2005, p. 3.
References
- Robinson, Rocky (2007), Flat Out: The Race for the Motorcycle Land Speed Record, Motorbooks, ISBN 9781610609296, https://books.google.com/books?id=kLmSoy1vB6cC&pg=PA126
- Morris, Mark (2005), Motorbikes, Raintree, ISBN 9781410905581, https://books.google.com/books?id=I9qCA5hLVbUC&pg=PA45
- Motorcycle Hall of Fame: Don Vesco, American Motorcyclist Association, 1999, http://www.motorcyclemuseum.org/halloffame/detail.aspx?RacerID=288
- Noeth, Louise Ann (2005), Who the #$!% is Don Vesco?, http://www.teamvesco.com/images/Don_Vesco_proof.pdf
- Burns, John (April 1993), "Z Power! – Twenty Years Ago Kawasaki Dropped a Bomb Called the Z-1", Cycle World, https://books.google.com/books?id=eTH-0DNDblEC&pg=RA3-PA45
- Gunston, Bill; Taylor, David; Ewart, Andy (1984), The Guinness book of speed facts & feats, Guinness Superlatives, https://books.google.com/books?ei=AjYTVP_4FtGwogTt1YH4Bg
- "318.598 for Vesco!", American Motorcyclist (American Motorcyclist Association), November 1978, https://books.google.com/books?id=UPgDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA38
- "Record runs a family affair with Don and Rick Vesco", American Motorcyclist (American Motorcyclist Association): 86, April 1982, https://books.google.com/books?id=QPsDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA86
See also
- Motorcycle land-speed record
External links
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