Faster unfaired

This little story from Cruiser+Trike 5 will give you a chance to show just how much you know about motorcycle history...

Harley-Davidson built this EL record bike to promote the power and performance of the recently introduced 1936 overhead valve, 61 cubic inch knucklehead engine. The bike was equipped with twin carburettor and a fuel mixture of alcohol and benzoyl boosted output to 65 horsepower at 5700rpm. The little fairing is actually a half petrol tank.

According to the factory, this bike may well have been the first time streamlining was used in the United States for motorcycle speed record purposes.

Ironically, it didn’t work. When H-D’s factory race team member Joe Petrali set about practice runs at Bonneville Salt Flats, he experienced serious high-speed wobbles several times. The engineers at the site suspected that the streamlined bodywork was the cause. They removed it and taped a conventional seat onto the frame instead.

And lo: that did work. On the 13th of March 1937, Petrali broke the record of 123mph, which had stood since 1926, with two-way timed runs averaging 134.83mph. He bettered that the next day with averaged runs of 136.85mph. Runs were timed electrically by John LaTour, the same man who timed Sir Malcolm Campbell’s record attempts. The record was authenticated by E.C. Smith for the American Motorcycle Association.

Now here’s the trick: one of the assertions in the story above is incorrect. Which is it? Can you work it out - without looking it up? The answer is below. Don’t peek, now!
























Answer: The record runs were made at Daytona Beach, not Bonneville.

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming