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Rocket-bike bid for land speed record

JOHANNESBURG - The Castrol Rocket - a collaboration between Castrol and motorcycle outfit Triumph - is preparing an attempt to break the land speed record for motorcycles in September 2014.

The attempt coincides with the finishing touches being made to the world's first 100-miles-per-hour car - 1610km/h. The purpose-built Bloodhound SSC, it is hoped, will provide a record-smashing of epic proportino in South Africa in 2015.

BREAKING THE SOUND BARRIER

The Bloodhound Supersonic Car is designed to go faster than the speed of sound while remaining under full control of its driver. Hakskeen Pan in the Northern Cape will be the scene of the feat.

Meanwhile, the Castrol Rocket motorcycle challenge is a spectacular attempt for the team to restore its legacy of record-breaking which stretches back for decades. Not are the sights set on breaking the current world record but also breaking the elusive 400mph barrier (644km/h).

Triumph, based in Coventry in central England, held the record from 1955 to 1970 when the brand shelved its record-breaking activities. Suzuki now holds the world record of 376.363mph - 606km/h).

ONLY TWO CHANCES

The venue for this record attempt will be the Bonneville salt flats in Utah nin the US. It is there that the Castrol Rocket project team, including aerodynamics expert Matt Markstaller, engine manufacturer Bob Carpenter and rider Jason DiSalvo, will have two opportunities to set the world record.

Shaped like a plane without wings, the Castrol Rocket's carbon Kevlar body is 7.77m long , 61cm wide and 91cm high. The swing arm is made of aluminium. Öhlins shock-absorbers combine with Goodyear's specially developed "Land Speed Special" tyres to ensure the bike handles perfectly on the salt.

The fuel will be methanol and the engine oil a synthetic Castrol Power1 4T 10W40. Carbon brake discs and two parachutes will be used to brake the machine.

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