A team of Oregon State University students hope to break the Bonneville Salt Flats 50cc motorcycle land speed record during the Southern California Timing Association Bonneville Speed Week.
The team left for Bonneville on July 30, with the competition running from August 3-9.
The Land Speed Racing Team started in Fall 2023 as a Capstone project, consisting of five undergraduate engineers led by John Greeven, professor for the College of Engineering at OSU.
Connor Heath, former mechanical engineering student at OSU, and two other team members focused on the “fairing” — a cover on the bike designed to reduce drag and improve aerodynamics.
“We’ve made some modifications to the bike, put a new fairing on it, and we have numerous ways we think we can get a little bit higher speed,” Heath said. “So, pretty confident that we’re going to be able to give the record a good run.”
At an SCTA event on May 19 at El Mirage Lake, the team set a new record of 141.246 kph (87.766 mph), surpassing the previous 70mph record in the 50cc category.
The team uses an Aprilia bike, a manufacturer from Italy. After breaking the El Mirage record, the brand took notice of the OSU team. An article about the team and the story of how they broke the record was published in the Aprilia manufacturer’s magazine, “Wide.” The story can be read  here.
“We were viewing that event not only as a competition and a chance to set a record, but also as a dry run, as a practice run for Bonneville,” Greeven said. “And so that was really encouraging.”
Every racing course has its own record, with factors like temperature and elevation influencing the performance of combustion engines.
“The good news is that the speed we reached at the previous competition is well in excess of the long-standing 21-year-old record at Bonneville,” Greeven said.
The racing bike began as a regular motorcycle with a small engine, similar to a moped engine. These engines typically go around 30mph.
“The fact that we’re going three times that speed is a testament to the work that’s been done,” Greeven said.