Motorcycle collector and Supershow
producer Bar Hodgson plans to prove he’s still got it at 70 years old
… on the Bonneville Salt Flats.
Hodgson intends to pilot a Team Arrow
Racing streamliner during Bonneville Speed Week in August, chasing a
50-year-old speed record. In 1956, William Herz rode a supercharged
NSU streamlined motorcycle to a record 339 km/h, a feat unmatched to
this day.
The Windsor, Ontario-based Bob Williams Arrow team, which
holds the record for 650 cc motorcycles (also at 339 km/h), tried to
beat Herz’s speed in 2006, and managed a one-way run of 360, but blew
a tire on the required return run.
Bar thinks he can bring the record home
in the Williams machine. You can see the bike and meet its hopeful
rider at the Motorcycle Supershow, running Jan. 4 – 8 at the
Toronto International Centre. For more info, click on
www.supershowevents.com.
Check your history books;Bar has been there and done that TWICE before.
Yeah, but that won’t stop him! I’ll bet he’ll do it. Bigger and better than the factory guys too. With more people watching. With a lot more flair, less B-S.
Bar has no chance to break the record. He will get everything set up. Have the infrastructure all planned and in place. Probably do a few tuning runs to sort the bike – I wouldn’t be surprised if the un-official practice runs are above the record too.
Then just as he is warming up for the Official Run – The manufacturers will withdraw support, pull Bar out of the bike, and enter one of of their own.
Bar has been there and done that once before.