Great Britain’s Neil Campbell had hit a speed of 174.3 miles per hour (280.6 kilometres an hour) to become the fastest man on a bike – with his ride at Elvington Airfield in North Yorkshire also breaking his own motor-paced European record.
Fred Rompelberg from the Netherlands held the motor-paced world record for almost a quarter of a century from 1995, when he rode 166.9 miles per hour (268.8 kilometres per hour) at Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.
Last year, at the same venue, Denise Mueller-Korenek of the United States broke that record, hitting 184 miles per hour (296 kilometres per hour).
Campbell, who works as an architect in Essex, has said he would like to target that record, although he accepts that he would have to travel to Utah to try and break it, with the runway at Elvington not long enough to accommodate such an attempt.
In successfully beating Rompelberg’s speed this weekend, he was towed behind a Porsche Cayenne before being released, and once he had been through the timed section deployed a parachute to help him come to a stop.




















8 thoughts on “Neil Campbell hits 174mph to become fastest man on a bike”
Wow! and Wow again, I could
Wow! and Wow again, I could have done with that car on my less than moderate ten mile time trial yesterday, it was windy!
280kph on a bike ?? Raw
280kph on a bike ?? Raw courage – and behind a board he couldnt see through too.
Have done 110kph which felt plenty quick – what must 2.5 times the speed be like !
Didn’t Guy Pearce try and do
Didn’t Guy Pearce try and do this a couple of years ago? Pembrey Sands, drafting behind a truck, IIRC?
brooksby wrote:
Guy Pearce…the actor.
Guy Martin…..
The _Kaner wrote:
Didn’t Guy Pearce try and do this a couple of years ago? Pembrey Sands, drafting behind a truck, IIRC?
— The _Kaner Guy Pearce…the actor. Guy Martin…..— brooksby
Whichever… The one with the curly hair, strong accent, and a mug of strong tea superglued to his hand.
The dialogue in Momento would
The dialogue in Momento would have gone a lot quicker.
That’s really impressive. I
That’s really impressive. I Hope he tried for the cycling speed record next.
Is Upper Hayford long enough
Is Upper Hayford long enough – about 3.5kn, where elvington is 2.8.
I guess its the acceleration that is the challenge – “taxiing” in at one end as fast as possible before really hitting the legs on the straight – how long is the minimum measurement distance – 200m or more?