Saturday, April 9, 2016

Noel Pope & the Egg-Cycle, 1950



Shown above, practising backing into a garage.

According to the British National Archives:

Noel B. Pope had a successful career as a motor-cycle racer at Brooklands during the 1930's. He raced Broughs and is remembered for holding the ultimate track record for solo and sidecar laps on a supercharged Brough Superior, 106.6mph with a sidecar in 1937 and 124.51mph on a solo machine in 1939. He also raced in the Isle of Man T.T. Races with some success in the 1930s on Velocette and Norton motorcycles in both the Junior and the Senior races. The son of an artist, he was himself talented as a sculptor and painter, and his deeds are recorded in his autobiography 'Full Chat.' In 1949 he made an attempt on the two-wheeled land speed record on the Bonneville Salt Lake Flats, Utah, but failed when he suffered a major accident, crashing at 150mph. He owned a motorcycle manufacturing company in Kingston Hill called Commerfords. He died in 1971, aged 61.

The new Brough Superior Motorcycles company took up the challenge at the Salt Flats again in 2011 with their SS100 Retro.  The company considered that a test run, and went back in 2013, claiming the FIM record for a kilometer and for a mile.  According to their website, they're planning another run at it this year.

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