There are motorcycle records for all tastes and for all colours. Obviously we are talking about records that are registered and made official, but not those of the fastest lap and category on the circuit, but those made by people from all over the world trying to show their qualities and appear in the famous Guinness Book of Records.
Although you can buy it for a modest price (€24.65 at Casa del Libro) and look up all the records that exist and are still in force yourself, because from the time we started writing the article until we finished, some may have been broken, we are going to tell you about a few of the most curious motorcycle records.
The most striking motorcycle records
The first thing that comes to mind is probably speed records. There are loads of them, because it turns out you can set them based on the type of bike or even the engine size. So there are loads of them, but the absolute record achieved by a bike has been held by Rocky Robinson since 2010. With his bike made of carbon and steel and powered by a turbocharged Suzuki Hayabusa engine capable of reaching, they say, 900 hp, he managed to reach 605 kilometers per hour.
It is also a record for a “prototype” motorcycle, but in this case electric, the one achieved by Max Biaggi (who also holds the unofficial record for being the one who most pissed off Valentino Rossi) by reaching 455 km/h with the Voxan Wattman. Now coming down to earth, with production but modified motorcycles, we see the incredible 420 km/h of Richard Assen with his Hayabusa. And if you thought that was all, there is also a speed record for a couple, which we saw recently from Allen Millyard and Henry Cole who reached 295 km/h.
Moving from pure speed to talent or stubbornness, we find how a motorcycle managed to travel 4,138.8 kilometres without refuelling, or how an electric Vespa travelled 1,370 kilometres in 24 hours. Also in 24 hours and closer to home we have the record of Iván Cervantes who was able to travel 4,000 kilometres on a Triumph in Nardò.
Although there are much crazier records, such as the one held by Pandit Dhayagude, who was run over by a motorcycle 376 times… It’s not bad either to cover 751 kilometres on a minibike in 24 hours, or to do a burnout of 3.5 kilometres. Not far behind in terms of bizarreness is holding a Yamaha R1 at full power, and that was achieved by an Italian.
Of course, there are also wheelie records, including those for the longest, those done at the fastest speed, those done without hands, and everything else you can think of. And if you thought that was a strange way to drive, there are records for doing a handstand, with your eyes closed, with a change of driver…
As we said, there are records for everyone. And if you think it’s too late and you’re old, Leslie Harris competed in an endurance race at the age of 97 to become the oldest driver.
