Motorcycle was clocked at 157mph, court told (w/photo)

dailytelegraph.co.uk/ ^

[chance33_98]

Motorcycle was clocked at 157mph, court told

By Stewart Payne (Filed: 18/06/2003)

A motorcyclist was recorded travelling at 157mph as he flashed past a police camera, followed by a friend doing 148mph, a court was told yesterday.

It is believed to be the highest speed recorded on a British road and both riders were warned to expect a stiff penalty after pleading guilty to dangerous driving.

Neil Bolger pleads guilty after being caught in a police speed trap in Buckinghamshire doing 148mph

The men, both 29, were said not to be racing each other. Andrew Osborne, from Leamington Spa, Warwicks, who was clocked at 157mph, and Neil Bolger, from Gaydon, Warwicks, must wait until next month to find out their sentence, but were given interim driving disqualifications.

Magistrates in Aylesbury, Bucks, heard that the men were spotted on the A421 near Buckingham speeding through an underpass on a dual carriageway noted as an accident blackspot. The road had a 70mph limit.

Theresa Murphy, prosecuting, said they overtook a lorry on a sweeping bend before being caught by the speed trap.

Darren Rogers, defending Osborne, a master technician, argued that the case should be dealt with by magistrates and not referred to the Crown Court.

Nicholas Devine, defending Bolger, a lorry driver, said that although he was travelling at excessive speed there were no aggravating features. "There is no evidence of alcohol or drugs," he said.

The case was adjourned for four weeks for reports.

[Mulder]

There's no reason I can see for speed to be regulated as tightly as it is.

I was almost in three wrecks on Friday alone, and none of them had anything to do with excessive speed. One wasn't paying attention and tried to merge into my lane. Another decided to make an illegal u-turn from the left-hand lane on a state highway with an 18-wheeler 100' back. And another failed to yield the right of way.

I doubt any of them would have gotten citations (or even warnings) if a state trooper was behind them.

On the other hand, if you're doing 10 over the limit, the armed meter maids will happily pull you over and write you up.

It's got to be the revenue stream & complete lack of fiscal dicipline that motivates this.

Yep. To the state, it's all about revenue. To the armed meter maids, it's all about an ego trip.

[Old Professer]

I believe they are called English measurements.

[JoeSixPack1]

rode = road

[cyborg]

What about Buells?

[Melas]

Could be any bike these days. All modern super bikes have electronically limited speeds of 300kph, or 186mph. So, now the emphasis is on acceleration, not top speed.

[Melas]

For a skilled and seasoned motorcycle rider, and today's modern technology in bikes, and under the right conditions (no traffic, open stretch of empty highway), 157 mph can be accomplished quite safely. It's all relative.

Disagree there Bob. There is no such thing as "No traffic" on public roads, just no apparent (to the rider) traffic. It's the one you didn't expect that gets you. These kinds of speeds necessitate a closed course, where a rider doesn't have to assume there is no traffic around the next bend.

[Pompah]

The concern is with the front tire.
My thoughts too. Can you imagine the "Pounds per square inch" holding that somebitch on the road.? Wow.!!

[autoresponder]

No bike, but my sleeper "stock" 180HP (asbestos & aluminum wrapped stock cast iron exhaust manifold + a straight/no muffler 2 1/2" exhaust pipe out the rear)'65 Corvair Corsa (w/only a non stock front Z-28 Camaro spoiler and 7"x15" rear 'Vette wheels w/G-6015s [6"x14" Z-28 front w/F-7014s]) pulled down to the "P" (MPH) on my stock 140mph speedo without close to redlining once "somewhere in the US".

(13" stock Corvair wheels; I ran 15" rears; instant top end, esp. with higher boost from my TRW)

Early NHRA & later SCCA a key...

BUT FOUR (4) WHEELS, NOT TWO (2)!

- I had heard a Corsa turbo stocker had turned 173mph at Bonneville and early (less HP) Corvair "stock" turbos were breaking over 104mph at NHRA 1/4 drags.

This I received as a personal challenge.

...Then there was the week in '59 when I showed how to shoehorn a 283ci Chevy SB into John Schultz's blown 6 cyl. engine AC Bristol after using a yardstick on my 283ci 270hp Impala...

(Sorry Shelby, you saw it at Opa Locka airfield where your were racing a Birdcage Maserati...)

[Melas]

Also a Harley, capable of about 105 but it would probably blow up at that speed after about 10 minutes.

Trash talk, and untrue at that. An 883 will do about 115, and it's the little guy in the Harley family. Hell, the Buell Blast (the baby Harley) will do 95, and it's a one lunged 500cc thumper.

To rub it in even more, since the advent of the Evolution engine (and successively the twin cams and Revolution engine), reliability issues are nil.

[Melas]

Also a Harley, capable of about 105 but it would probably blow up at that speed after about 10 minutes.

Trash talk, and untrue at that. An 883 will do about 115, and it's the little guy in the Harley family. Hell, the Buell Blast (the baby Harley) will do 95, and it's a one lunged 500cc thumper.

To rub it in even more, since the advent of the Evolution engine (and successively the twin cams and Revolution engine), reliability issues are nil.

[Capitalist Eric]

130+ in a 280-Z.

My best "official" speed was 167 MPH in a 55 MPH zone... Clocked by California Highway Patrol...

It was a 1969 Buick Skylark- with drum brakes, no cage. But it did have a pumped-up Big-Block Chevy and a Muncie 4-speed. It's amazing I didn't smoke a bearing, and become one with telephone pole...

Of course, the kind officers seemed impressed with the car, but not with the fact that I'd pushed it that far....

((((Sigh)))) Stupid youth.... :-P

[wardaddy]

My old Suzuki GSR-1 with kunis and and a handformed yoshi etc would get in the high 150s

My later triple bored GPZ with all the trimmings possible would push 170 or so...she did 10.6 ETs all day long.

But...at speeds of over 130 or so I avoided curves like the one this gent is approaching at 148 in the vidcap.

Things actually seem sort of slow motion in a wierd way at those speeds if you're curled behind the faring and hugging the clip-ons over yer tank with yer feet planted in some rear sets...you can even talk to someone right next to you unless your pipes are uncapped.

I had nitrous on the GPZ too. These guys today have much lighter and nimble bikes and the tires are Star trek compared to my circa stone age 1979-1983 Dunlops or Michelins....I think Z-rated had just come out back then....now they have soft rubber compound stuff that will hold traction till your crankcase sides scrap.

I was in a Porsche RUF 928 S-4 on the Autobahn once with the preggers ex between Munich and Stuttgart and clipped about 180 or so out of her....when I hit a drifting wide turn....I felt like she was gonna go airborne...my ex woke up and tore my head off....I slowed down to respectable 130 or so...lol

I was only 29 or so.

Oh well....my 9 year old Land Rover will do about 95 downhill at low altitude with high humidity...she's all about torque.

I really was "Kenny Roberts" once...my first scooter was an H2 with all the go fast shite you could do to it. That was a real bike....nothing feels like a GP style 2 stroker on the power band...and the sound...wow....sort like multiple outboards on an import boat.

[Squantos]

But but but England has "Imperial" Miles per hour don't they ?:o) Thus he was only doing 35 mph.

[spunkets]

" Can you imagine the "Pounds per square inch" holding that somebitch on the road.? Wow.!!

Ballpark is ~500-1000psi for hard and fast turns. It's the shear forces that cause the tire to slip though, and when the load approaches ~1000psi, the grip fails for most tires.

[photogirl]

The most I've done is 115mph on my Ninja 250 (downhill) and 169mph two-up on my ex's Honda 929. He races and stunts, I was just holding on,(although I did get to kneedrag two-up at Road America last summer.)

[Mr. Mojo]

157 mph is moving. The fastest I've ever driven was 130 mph (on I-5 in Southern Oregon), and things got a bit hairy at that speed.

[lentulusgracchus]

It's got to be the revenue stream & complete lack of fiscal dicipline that motivates this.

Insurance companies. They've been behind every "safety" campaign since the 1950's. "Speed kills", "Friends don't let friends....","55: A Law We Can Live With", etc., all those slogans came out of their shops.

And they get the legislatures to lean on the state safety officials to write up their favorite offense. It used to be, long ago, that "excessive speed" was to be checked as a contributory cause on every highway accident report. Nowadays it's alcohol, as insurance companies (IMHO) drive to reduce BAC limits in order to ring up social drinkers for penalty premiums.

It's all about the money, honey. The moms and dads in MADD haven't figured that out yet.

These companies' contempt for humanity is absolutely immense -- just look how they treat their own workers, paying them nothing, driving them like serfs, monitoring them like prisoners of the Gulag, and then laying them off in droves.

And now they're our doctors. Oh, goody. Can you spell "Soylent Green"?

[BraveMan]

Let it go, Melas.

You gotta let the crotch rocket boy racer wannabees have their fun talking trash to the Harley riders. After all, they're the ones who have no recourse but to go down the road humping a football . . .

The ONLY time those bikes are enjoyable to ride is when travelling +20MPH over the speed limit. All the other times they're reduced to wrestling with a nervous, twitchy, two-wheeled PITA ready to bite them at a moment's notice.

Show some empathy for our plastic enshrouded Hooligans. It's like being born in India; if you're not aware of anything better, life is good!

[wardaddy]

169 two-up is getting it hon....

I'm 200-220 depending on the season.....I bet a lighter race rocket fellow could pull another 10mph out of my old bikes.

Your ex's bike must have been hot.

Caveat:....if anyone owns a bike...at some point they will hit the pavement or a car will hit them....they simply do not see bikes well and misjudge a bike's speed grossly.

A little fender bender can kill a biker or a major 120mph slide out or over the bars land sail can simply leave a bruised and shaken rider and a destroyed bike....it depends of the level of impact resistance. I saw a guy slam head on another parked bike one night at 130 or so and he was propelled over the bike like a cannon shot and when we found him his Shoie full coverage was turned all the way around but he had not a scratch...in the grass. Another guy hit a garbage truck at about 70...he left this planet instantly.

I'm too old to ride hard and I will never ever be a Hog poseur...it ain't me. I love the real deal old tattooed ex con outlaw bikers but yuppies on 30K Hogs and their cute little leathers just doesn't do it for me.

Nothing personal Hoggies!

[SoDak]

I disagree Melas, I know stretches of road where I can see more than 5 miles ahead and you can count on one hand the number of vehicles coming through in a day.