Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Velocette 24 hour record

In June 1960 a stock Venom with prototype Vee-Line Avon fairing was pulled off the production line as the bike that would attempt a new 24 hr record. After months of preparation, blueprinting and 1400 miles of highspeed testing, the team set off to Montlhery race track in France for the March 18th attempt. Eight riders participated, and after 24 hrs, they had set a new record for 500s and by default, 750s and 1000s of 3,864.2 km, an average speed of 161.009 kph. The bike was virtually stock ( well-prepared stock!) and the engine produced 39.5 hp for a top speed of 186 kph.
As far as I know that 500cc 24 hr record may still stand. The 750 class record lasted only a week when it was beaten by a team on a BMW R69.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Yes, the record still stands after 54 years, 100.05 miles an hour for a day.
Velocette - truly invincible!