Bonneville
Bonneville
Leo Payne Turns From Drag Strip to Salt to Claim a 182-mph Record
BEFORE THE BLARE of racing engines shattered the silence of the Bonneville Salt Flats, chances were that the 1968 speed week would see an unfaired, unstreamlined motorcycle shatter the 200 mph barrier for the first time. In fact, no one even went close to achieving the feat, and famed drag racer Leo Payne’s 182.790 mph stands as the nearest any “naked” machine got to the 200 mark.
Earlier in the year, Payne’s Sportsterengined Harley-Davidson, bored and stroked to approximately 74 cu. in., had set a string of drag strip times in the low 9-sec. bracket, with terminal speeds that exceeded 160 mph. On this basis, he estimated that 200 mph was very definitely within reach.
On the record runs, however, the fuel burning monster, named “Turnip Eater,” was plagued by a slight misfire, thought to be caused by a faulty magneto. Payne actually made only three runs in the fuel class—one as a qualifying trip, and the other two as the record runs through the measured mile.
This was Payne’s first year on the salt, and his inexperience at the game showed during his preliminary trip on the course, when he ran the same H-D in the gas class. He mistakenly shut off early at around the quarter-mile post, and coasted through the remaining three-quarter-mile, posting a one-way average of around 100 mph. The next day he did the job properly, and sent the big V-Twin howling through the traps at a two-way average of more than 155 mph. Thus, the quiet man from Iowa gained two records—a brilliant introduction to Bonneville.
Fastest bike of the week was the 650-cc Triumph-engined, fuel-burning streamliner of the Richards family and Benny Holtan. This machine has run successfully at Bonneville for five years, and, for 1968, the bike featured only two changes from the previous year— smaller, 1.25-in. bore Amal GP carburetors were used in an attempt to improve mid-range torque, and a leading link front suspension arrangement was installed. The team suffered difficulties all week, however. On Tuesday, a handling problem tried to throw rider Rich Richards off course. The cause was a misaligned rear wheel.
The next day, the engine was found to be running too rich. When the mixture finally was leaned out, Richards managed a 195 mph run, which stood as the fastest motorcycle speed of the 1968 speed week. But, on that run, the Triumph, devouring an 87 percent blend of nitro, burned a piston. On the following day, a Thursday, the team tried again, but the Triumph burned another piston, this time because the mixture was too lean. Having run out of pistons, there was no alternative but to load up and start thinking of this year.
The Richards’ Triumph is interesting because of the huge 5.50 by 15-in. Goodyear tire fitted to the specially made rear wheel. This cover was originally designed for a supercharged Chrysler-powered car, and is pronounced safe for speeds of up to 400 mph.
Another bike which could have broken the 200 mph barrier was the double-engined Triumph of Don McEvoy. This bike previously has run at more than 190 mph, in unstreamlined form. But, the “twin-twin” ate pistons at the rate of at least one a day, mainly due to a clogged fuel line, a fault which was not discovered until four pistons had been ruined. The best that rider Buddy Martinez could coax from the singlegear Triumph was something over 180 mph.
While other people were plagued with mechanical problems, the Vesco brothers, from San Diego, enjoyed their most successful Bonneville week ever—and the team has been running at the salt for 15 years now! Don and his younger brother, Rick, took three Bridgestones to Utah, and journeyed home with six new records—two for each bike. Rockford Motors, U.S. importer for Bridgestone, provided the brothers with factory backing.
On his 350-cc road racer with road race type fairing, Don set 141.424 mph. Without the fairing, the 350 averaged 125.698 mph, although it had qualified in this class at 134 mph. A set of damaged piston rings, caused when Don over-revved the engine, was the reason for the drop in speed. Don set two more records, each at almost 100 mph, on a 200-cc Bridgestone. This bike is basically a 175-cc street scrambler, fitted with pistons from Bridgestone’s singlecylinder 100-cc engines, and Mikuni carburetors from the factory’s 350 roadsters.
It was on one of the 100 Singles that Rick Vesco established one of the most impressive records of the week. Rick fitted the engine with a reed valve, attached a McCulloch carburetor, and drastically reworked the porting and the piston, until the unit produced 13.5 bhp at 11,000 rpm at the crankshaft. A conventional disc-valve setup produced a similar figure, but tests showed that it would hold this peak for only about three minutes. The reed valve-equipped engine, however, would maintain a 13.5 bhp reading for up to six minutes. Rick used this version at Bonneville.
BONNEVILLE RECORDS
Class Speed (mph)
DON VESCO, San Diego, Calif., 1968 Bri..................PS—C—350 ........ 141.424
DON VESCO, San Diego, Calif., 1968 Bri..................C—C—350 ......... 125.698
DON VESCO, San Diego, Calif., 1968 Bri..................C—A—200 ......... 98.455
DON VESCO, San Diego, Calif., 1968 Bri..................PS—A—200 ......... 95.824
RICK VESCO, Lakeside, Calif., 1968 Bri..................S—AG—100 ....... 113.249
RICK VESCO, Lakeside, Calif., 1968 Bri...................A—C—100 ......... 83.561
LEO PAYNE, Cedar Rapids, la., 1957 H-D.................C—A—3000 ....... 182.790
LEO PAYNE, Cedar Rapids, la., 1957 H-D .................C—AG—3000 ...... 155.883
DON SLINGER, So. Gate, Calif., n.a. R-E .................PS—A—700 ........ 141.879
A.J. DRINKER, Claremont, Calif., 1966 Tri.................A—C—650 ........ 129.966
PHIL WATTERBERG, Albuquerque, N.M., 1955 Vin-Nor......A—AG—1200 ...... 124.528
JOHN SERRA, San Bernardino, Calif., 1968 Yam.............A—AG—175 ........ 92.512
ELLIS LEHMBERG, Lehi, Utah, 1963 Bui..................C—C—200..........72.313
After dressing the bike in a fiberglass shell that he built himself, Rick buzzed through the mile at an average of 1 13.249 mph. Brother Don said, “We didn’t expect it to go as fast as that. First we geared it for 100 mph, but we continually had to gear up because the engine kept peaking in top gear.”
Without the benefit of the streamlined shell, the bike’s speed dropped to just over 83 mph. But this, too, established a new record.
Don Slinger, of South Gate, Calif., has taken over the late Jimmy Enz’ Royal Enfields—a single-engined 700-cc machine, and a double-engined bike that consists of two of the big 700 Twins bolted in tandem fashion. On the latter machine, Slinger reached 185 mph on one run before the bike threw him into a speed wobble. After this frightening experience, Don decided not to remount the bike, but, instead, offered $20 to more than one person, in attempts to find a rider for the Enfield. Not surprisingly, no one took up the offer! On the single-engined bike, however, Slinger set 141.879 mph in the partially streamlined class. All he did to gain entry to this class was to reverse the headlamp shell!
Triumph rider A. J. Drinker at first thought he might leave the flats emptyhanded. His 650 continually weaved dangerously. Part of his problem was the lack of a rear tire suitable for high speed on the salt. He tried a Dunlop road racing tire with the tread cut off, and a Dunlop K70. But, still the bike was unstable. Finally, the Richards’ crewman, Benny Holtan, suggested that Drinker should shift his weight rearward onto the rear fender. The trick worked, Drinker picked up 18 mph, and collected a new class record at almost 130 mph.
One Triumph man who didn’t make the records sheet was Thio Ozen, from Los Angeles. Ozen was aiming at the 147 mph mark set by the unstreamlined Joe Dudek-tuned Triumph “gasser” in class C-C-650. But, as one Bonneville sage remarked, “That’s the toughest Bonneville record of all to break. It would be easier to go 400 mph in a car than to better that one.” The best that Ozen managed was around 134 mph.
And, of course, Bert Munro was there. The 68-year-old speed veteran (he first appeared at Bonneville in 1962) had journeyed from his New Zealand home to the Utah town of Wendover in time for the original speed week, which was canceled because of wet weather. Rather than return home without running his 1920-based V-Twin Indian, Bert stayed on at Bonneville for several weeks, working for Mickey Thompson while the automobile driver thrashed Ford Mustangs across the salt.
Bert also spent the time making some new dies for pistons for his 950-cc engine. The work was in vain, however, for, during the re-run event, he was unable to gain new records. The last anyone heard of Bert, he was still living in Wendover. Maybe he’s waiting impatiently for the 1969 Bonneville speed week!
