One day in July - World Speed Records Broken

Russell Wright and Robert "Bob" Burns on the 20th Anniversary of their achievement. 1975

Located just 50km Northwest of Christchurch is the district of Swannanoa . Tram road is a dead straight 16km long public road which was used for many years for speed record attempts . 

In 1955 history would be made again . There would be another attempt , but this would be no ordinary attempt on the world solo record and sidecar record. This attempt would be on the same motorcycle a Vincent Black Lightning .

The story actually starts a year or two before the attempt . Russell Wright became friends with Burt Munro . Burt held the New Zealand solo speed record of 139mph. Russell decided in 1952 to order a brand new Vincent Black Lightning motorcycle from a local shop with the plan to tackle Munro's record. Russell placed the order and went back to building houses.

Around a year later after handing over £600 (approx $32,000 in modern money) the bike arrived. The bike was the same bike Vincent had shown at the Earls court show in London. It was stock and ran 13:1 pistons to burn 80/10/10 premixed  fuel of the day 80% Methanol , 10%  Petrol and 10% Benzole .

After preparing the bike using only the owners handbook , Russell made two runs and took the record to 140mph . As it happen on the same day Bob Burns was running his converted Vincent Rapide as a sidecar machine , running homemade full streamlining that he had modelled of the world record holding German NSU machine . Wright and Burns struck up a friendship and partnership to attempt to take two world records.

From the beginning, it was all about the world records . The solo record stood at 180mph and sidecar at 154 mph .  Burns saw a way of fitting the sidecar streamlining to the lightning which would mean they could attempt the records on one machine  .  The two riders agreed on a deal , they would use Wright's machine , Burns would supply the streamling and any prizemoney would be split down the middle . As Burns was a precision engineer , he would prepare the machine . Big port racing cylinder  heads and special Amal TT carburettors were fitted . The first outing for the machine was in December 1954 . Bob broke the FIM world record for sidecars and took it to 157mph.

An early attempt at the solo record in February 1955 failed when a mistake in gearing robbed the machine of the speed needed . The next attempt was sheduled for July 2nd.

The Vincent and Russell Wright in the USA 

Things started well enough , after a close call with a bird Wright set off the first run of two . A white mark was painted on the bike's rev counter to mark the 180mph world record mark. The first run went fine with the bike well over the mark.  Russell was happy the bike was smooth , it handled well with the streamling , it was no trouble keeping to the centre of the road.

The second run would prove to be more exciting , accelerating up through the gearbox the big Vincent was performing perfectly , that was until just past the speed trap. On the Canterbury plains there are many tall hedges to aid wind shelter from the gusty winds that are experience there. It was passing the end of one hedgerow a sudden gust of wind  hit the rider and machine and all but took the rider and machine off the road at 185mph . Pure luck or skill Wright regained control and came to a stop .

All be it with a shaken rider , a new world record was set at 185.15mph , Wright then declared he would never use Tram road again.

Bob and Team in the USA . Note third wheel.

When it came to the sidecar record  , Burns fitted a third wheel and equalled his 154mph record on the first run. Not overly happy Bob realised the bike lost revs when he merely raising his head above the fairing rim to look up the road . The bike would drift down the camber on the road and Bob had to look down the road to correct it . On the second run he decided to keep his head down . The bike built speed to an indicated 177 mph , but the rider had to look up for the markers and in the process lost 12 mph and at the same time  the rider and bike had drifted down the camber and was very close to the shingle covered verge . A close call again , however another world record of 162 mph . 

The pair received a trophy for the record and £1000 for the effort and as agreed split it between them . A promotional trip to the UK and USA followed. In 1956 the pair gave up record attempts.

The Memorial Stone on Tram Road

It is interesting to note that while the bike was owned by Russell Wright , he never had any inclination to ride on the road , Bob Burns on the other hand owned road bikes all his life and was still riding well in to his seventies.

In 1975 a memorial was unveiled to the pair on Tram Road . 

Both riders attended the unveiling. Bob Burns died in 1993 aged 83 and Russell Wright died 2013 aged 83.

Words: Ian Dawson

Pics: Various Sources