Motorcycle racing took shape the minute the second motorcycle was made. Then came the madness of setting speed records. Being the fastest man or building the fastest machine on the planet gave a new sense of high and want. It is intoxication indeed. Setting records for the whole world to know became a fascination and people spent all time and money into this pursuit of speed.

The oldest British manufacturer of motorcycles, Triumph, is no less. Following a successful practice session at the Bonneville Salt Flats previously, they achieved a speed of 275 mph to become the world’s fastest ever Triumph in a monstrous build and now they have confirmed the attempt to set a new outright motorcycle Land Speed World Record in 2017 at the same venue the coming weekend.

The first generally recognised motorcycle speed records were set unofficially in 1903 by Glenn Curtiss, using aircraft engines of his own manufacture. But until 1920, there were no official records set which were sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). The first FIM-sanctioned record to exceed Curtiss' 1903 speed happened only in in 1930 with a supercharged 1000cc v-twin JAP engine which did a 136 mph run stunt.

Today, the record Triumph is attempting to beat is one that has stood strong for 7 long years. It is the first record ever to cross the 350 mph mark, and the record stands at 375.35 mph. Set by a guy named Rocky Robinson, he rode on a 2600cc twin Suzuki engine built by Top Oil-Ack Attack streamliner. It was set in September 2010 at the Bonneville Speedway, a flat salt land venue for all kinds of land speed records.

The iconic Bonneville name was conceived following Johnny Allen’s land-speed record runs at the Salt Flats in September 1955, when he reached the record-breaking speed of 193.72 mph.

The guy who will ride the Triumph is the Isle of Man TT legend, Guy Martin. No stranger to speed, Guy is relishing the prospect of bringing the FIM world land speed record back to Triumph (The brit had held the speed record for 10 years from 1956-1966). The beast he will be riding down the salt lake is a machine that is being built for six years now. As a matter of fact, Triumph has already conducted test runs on the flat salt lake in 2016 and have been successful in achieving the title for the fastest Triumph ever at 274.19 mph and the person to run this was Guy Martin himself.

Beating the world record was supposed to happen in September 2016, but unfortunately, the conditions on the salt lake hampered the team from pursuing it. Multiple falls and crashes forced the team to go back to the shed. Nonetheless, the team has again kicked up dust and are working on full guns to come back to the Bonneville Speedway and set the record for the fastest motorcycle on the planet.

Coming to talk about the bike, it is not your regular run of the mill machine. Calling it a bike is an understatement. It took more than 20,000 man hours and 4 years to develop and build this thing. Christened as ‘The Triumph Rocket III Streamliner’, it is a motorcycle powered by two purposes built Triumph Rocket III engines, producing a staggering 1000 bhp at 9000 rpm. That is Bugatti Veyron territory but on two wheels and also weighs much less.

Powered by methanol fuel, the bike is competing in the Division C (streamlined motorcycle) category. The Triumph Infor Rocket features a carbon Kevlar monocoque construction and top of the spec suspension units to handle itself well over speeds no man has ever been on two-wheels. It is built using a series of known aerodynamic shapes developed originally by NASA and using computational fluid dynamics modelling (a virtual wind tunnel), the team were able to continually adapt the design to achieve the most efficient shape possible.

The team of specialist engineers have successfully designed and fabricated components such as the swing arm, steering system, cooling method, braking unit with, not one, but two parachutes and the transmission; all from scratch. It is said that the design was changed and tweaked 24 times before the team began construction of the actual streamliner.

Literally, there will be just one in a million person who could probably do it and Guy Martin couldn't have been a better pick. Guy Martin commented on the bike saying: "The Triumph engineers have built an amazing machine, giving us the very best chance to beat the two-wheeled land speed record in August".

2017 is going to be an interesting year for speed and motorcycle.Both Triumph and the current record-holder, Top Oil-Ack Attack streamliner, will try and break the record on the Bonneville Speedway. Only time will tell us if there will be a new speed champion or the reign will continue.

Meanwhile, have a go at the gallery and be in awe of the machine which is going to break a 7-year record.