Bonneville Speedway is an area of the Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah, which is famous all over the planet for being the location where most land speed records have been set. It is the home of the Speed Week, an event that every year attracts pure-speed maniacs from every corner of the world, but there is one specific reason that will make its last edition one to remember: among all the cars and bikes that were there hitting speeds of over 200 mph (320 km/h) in an attempt to beat some sort of record, one vehicle did actually manage to set a new speed world record. The only thing is: it was nowhere near that kind of speed.

Setting the new world’s land speed record for mass-produced all-electric motorcycles was the diminutive moped e-Solex, produced by long-running French manufacturer Solex, which recorder an outstanding top speed of about 32 km/h (more precisely, 19.893 mph). If you are wondering how this little thing got a certified speed world record, the answer is the most obvious there can be: the previous record was 0 km/h. In other words, the e-Solex is the first motorcycle ever that made an attempt to the record, and by doing so it has secured its place in motorcycle history.

We cannot help but congratulate the brave and cunning team (Gilles Pujol, Franck Figuls, Yann Bruneau and Jean Caillou) that carried out the whole operation. Besides, we think they are in for another new record: the most short-lived world’s speed record ever.

via | Le Repaire des Motards

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The Bonneville salt flats are the scene of many a strange, speed beating creation and in this case we get a new project for a motorcycle land speed record from Laurent “Zen” Dutruel. On building a new Harley fit for Bonneville, the project is called Hagakure and involves a workshop-built bike based on racing concepts from a century ago, in a special version Bonneville racer that has no suspension and virtually no brakes.

So you’d have to be mad, right? The bike in the video is certainly beautiful, but some of its components look awfully flimsy to be doing more than 200 km/hr on (for those of us worried about our own mortality, that is). There’s not a lot of info available, but the bike apparently has no springs and no clutch (and the previously mentioned minimal brake set-up), and it could be the perfect machine for Zen Motorcycles’ third speed record attempt. In which case, it would also be one of the most beautiful bikes to take on the salt flat as far as we’re concerned.

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This fantastic photo comes to us from Gary, who spent a labour-intensive couple of years restoring this lovely 1984 Honda Magna. What’s more, rather than just riding around the neighbourhood feeling pleased with himself, Gary took it to Bonneville to really test her out. He says:

In 2005 I got this 1984 Honda V30 Magna in non-running condition for $400 (US) including a trailer to haul it on. I restored it myself and this past October, took it to the SCTA World Finals at the Bonneville Salt Flats International Speedway near Wendover, UT, to see how well I did on the work.

Without re-jetting the caburetors to compensate for the high altitude (5,100 ft.), or any engine modifications for performance, the 25 year old 500 cc back yard classic went through the three mile timing trap at 104.536 MPH.

Nice work, thanks for the photo Gary! Send your funny, bizarre or surprising pics to us and we’ll post them, with your name. We’d love to share what you guys find in the world of motorcycling! Send to: pics@twowheelsblog.com.

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