For the last week or so I have been watching as the LSR attack in Bolivia gathered momentum. Ralph Hudson from California, Al Lamb from Texas and Rocky Robinson whose team is searching for the outright LSR for motorcycles have gathered on the salt flats at Salar de Uyuni, Bloivia, to have another shot at setting records.
As usual, it has been a bit of a drama; the containers were two days late and, for reasons that haven’t yet been explained, Al Lamb’s container is still held up in customs and may not be released at all. But Ralphie was first out on the salt yesterday and, in his first hit-out, broke his old record. The salt is quite wet, unlike the baked concrete-like surface it was last year but it’s still fast because, on his first run, Ralphie did 290 mph and, on the return run he did 292, giving him an average of 291 mph, (465.6 km/h) a new world record and cementing his position as the fastest motorcyclist on a “sit on” motorcycle in the world. According to Ralph, there is plenty more to come and he has gone to Bolivia to try and be the first to do 300 so it is well within reach.
It is impossible not to admire what this genial genius is doing, and there is more to come. I’ll keep you posted. 🙂
I was fortunate to do another extended interview with Ralph at the Island Classic this year and he gave a wonderful account of Bolivia 2017. I’m providing a link to the interview here but, be warned, it is over an hour long so set aside a chunk of time to hear the story from the horse’s mouth so to speak.
Bolivia 2017: Ralph Hudson
In other news, Sachsenring is on this weekend and, following on from Dani Pedrosa’s announcement of his retirement, attention has switched to who will head up the Petronas Yamaha outfit. The big shock is that strong rumours are suggesting that it will be the Frenchman, Fabio Quatararo, still running in Moto2 and by no means near the top of the tree there either. Yeah, I know, left field choice for mine, too.
Catch you tomorrow.