According to a report in the latest issue of British mag Streetfighters, a recent top speed event at Elvington (which seems to be an unused airport) saw Frank ‘The Flying Dutchman’ Gillebaard set a new world speed record for a street motorcycle. Gillebaard’s turbocharged Suzuki Hayabusa, running on street tires in streetable (although not necessarily street-legal!) trim, powered its way to 265.4mph.
According to the same article, the current world record for top speed on a streetbike was set by John Noonan at the famed Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, and stood at 252.66mph. This means that Gillebaard not only broke the record, but topped it by almost 13mph – all on a much shorter track!
It seems that the UK’s motorcycle top speed events, despite being handicapped by a relative lack of open space (at least compared to Bonneville), are able to produce some impressive numbers. Further evidence can be found by traveling down the ranking – second-placed Jack Frost (also aboard a turbocharged Hayabusa) ran 257.3mph, and third-placed Andy Head passed through the traps at 240.8mph on his turbocharged Kawasaki ZX-12.
