The Cork Connection to Speed on Two Wheels | Season 6 – Episode 13 | Rosemary Smith

Video Description from YouTube:

👋 Hey followers! In this video, we are featuring the connections that County Cork has to going very, very fast on a motorcycle on two wheels and even one. From the heroic Irish land-speed record of 294.56 km/h (183.03 mph), set by Mel Nolan in 1981 and unbroken to this day, to the extraordinary Guinness World Record for the fastest kilometre wheelie, a blistering 350.59 km/h (217.85 mph) achieved by Ted Brady in 2017.

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FIRST IRISH SPEED RECORD
In July 1903, American-born British politician, soldier and early motor-racing driver Maurice Arnold de Forest (Bischoffsheim) set both the first official Irish land speed record and a new World Land Speed Record. He recorded 138.2 km/h (85.9 mph) over a *flying kilometer in Phoenix Park, Dublin and won The Autocar Challenge Cup while driving a French-built 70 hp Mors (Société d’Électricité et d’Automobiles Mors).

*A “flying kilometre” is a speed trial, not a race against other cars, where a vehicle has a distance to accelerate before entering a measured 1-kilometre (0.62-mile) zone at maximum velocity

Record Holder: Maurice Arnold de Forest (Bischoffsheim)
Speed: 138.2″km/h” (85.9 “mph”
Location: Phoenix Park Dublin
Date: July 1903
Vehicle: 70 hp Mors (Société d’Électricité et d’Automobiles Mors)

JOSEPH WRIGHT
In November 1930, Joseph Wright rode a Zenith motorcycle at 242.5 km/h (150.7 mph) along the Carrigrohane Straight just outside Cork city. The Straight runs for 4.43 km (2.75 miles from the western edge of the city to Carrigrohane and is one of the few roads in Europe suitable for record attempts, lying within one degree of flatness over 3.54 kms (2.2 miles).

Record Holder: Joseph Wright
Speed: 242.5 km/h (150.7 mph)
Location: Carrigrohane Straight, Cork
Date: November 6th 1930
Vehicle: Zenith-JAP 85hp supercharged 994cc engine

MORE RECORDS
In June 1978, Dublin man Danny Keany, managing director of Danfay (Yamaha) Distributors, raised the bar again. Riding a 750 cc four-cylinder two-stroke Yamaha, he set a national land speed record of 260.11 km/h (161.628 mph).

That same day Rosemary Smith added her name to the record books. Driving a Jaguar XJ6 with a seven-litre Chevrolet engine, she established an Irish land speed record for a car at 251.22 km/h (156.101 mph).

CURRENT IRISH LAND SPEED RECORD
Mel Nolan, known as the “Flying Corkman,” set the Irish land speed record that still stands today. On 18 July 1981, on the Carrigrohane Straight, he achieved 294.56 km/h (183 mph) over the flying kilometre on his home-built, nitrous-oxide turbocharged Honda motorcycle. He later added a 1000 cc Flying Mile record of 289.46 km/h (179.86 mph) and reached a top speed of 307.510 km/h (191.07 mph).

Current Record Holder: Mel Nolan
Speed: 307.510 km/h (191.07 mph)
Location: Carrigrohane Straight Co. Cork
Date: July 18th 1981
Vehicles: self-built nitrous-oxide turbocharged Honda 750cc & 1000cc motorcycles

WORLD WHEELIE RECORD
Not content with simply going fast on two wheels, Cork biker Ted Brady went very fast on just one. In 2017 he became the official Guinness World Record holder for the fastest kilometre wheelie, recording an astonishing 350.59 km/h (217.85 mph) on the back wheel for a full kilometre.

Brady’s Suzuki Hayabusa was heavily reworked by Holeshot Racing in Co. Down and after extensive tuning the turbocharged bike was producing about 540 bhp.

Record Holder: Ted Brady
Speed: 350.59 km/h (217.85 mph).
Location: Elvington Airfield England
Date: August 19th 2017
Vehicle: 540 bhp Suzuki Hayabusa turbo

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Sources of Information, Video & Photo Credits:
British Jews in the First World War website
Brough Superior website
CR’s Video Vaults
Hockenheim Museum Archive
Laois Nationalist
Newstalk
Ride Apart Magazine
Stolen Glory: Zenith, OEC and the 1930 World Speed Record – The Vintagent
The Cork Evening Echo
Wiki
Wild Atlantic Way

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