Tag: 1935

Auto Engine Drives Motorcycle at High Speed

Assembled especially for establishing a world’s record of more than 300 miles per hour, an over-size motorcycle powered with an automobile engine has been making speed tests on the pacific coast. The motorcycle weighing 1,500 pounds is powered with a six-cylinder Plymouth automobile engine with fan and generator removed. With special timing and carburetor jets, the engine makes 4,100 revolutions per minute. The wheelbase is eighty-five inches and the overall-all length is 115 inches, a standard motorcycle frame being lengthened and reinforced with steel tubing. Two large sprockets connected by a three-quarter inch chain facilitate steering, the handlebars having been moved back several inches from their original position. Two steel plates, one on each side of the rear wheel, serve as brakes by actual contact with the ground or track. They can be raised or lowered by a lever.