For decades, if you wanted to set a land speed record, you did it at the Bonneville salt flats. Now, that might be about to change.
Cyril Huze is reporting on his blog that Ruedi Steck, a longtime salt flats racer, is organizing the first European Motorcycle Land Speed Record Trial. This will give European racers an FIM-approved alternative to flying themselves and their bikes to the U.S.; that’s getting more expensive and difficult all the time.
The trials will run at southern Italy’s Nardo Race Track on Easter weekend in 2013 (March 29-April 1). Nardo has been a high-speed test facility for car manufacturers for years, but now that motorcycle racers are going to run their bikes there, we can likely expect some records to be broken. The track is a 12-km long, 4 km-diameter banked circle; the riders will be running on pavement, not salt, and that should boost top speeds. Plus, they won’t have to worry about their bikes rusting after their runs.
Organizers are only accepting 50 racers for the 2013 event.
