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Landspeed record

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Watch out Mission Motors, electric motorcycle manufacturer Lightning Motorcycles is gunning for you. This week at the SCTA World Finals at the Bonneville Salt Flats, the Lightning’s pre-production prototype set a speed of 166.388 mph. While only completing a single pass down the salt flats, and not a return journey to make an official speed entry, 166 mph is still an impressive mark, and has provided the company with crucial information as they get ready to go commercial in 2010. Photos and more after the jump.

Norton Racing let it all hang out that last few days of Bub Week’s motorcycle speed trials at Bonneville this past week, and we know this for two reasons: One, check out the lad on the far left of the above photo, he’s not sucking in that gut, that’s just pure British sexiness at its finest. Secondly, the Norton Racing team is coming back from the salt flats with a recorded speed of 173 mph.

In contrast to Confederate Motorcycles’s forth year on the Bonneville Salt Flats, Norton Racing is also present at Bub Week with their rotary-powered NRV588, trying their luck for the first time out on the salt. With no FIM sanctioned class to race in, Norton isn’t going for a land speed record per se, but instead hopes that their efforts this year will provide the adequate momentum to have a sanctioned LSR class for rotary motorcycles in 2010.

Confederate Motorcycles is back on the Salt Flats of Bonneville, looking to for another land speed record in the A-PF 2000cc push-rod and unfaired class.

In 2008, Confederate broke the previous 141 mph record with their B120 Wraith motorcycle, clocking 166.459 on the dried salt. This year, Confederate hopes to smash their own record with their new P120 Fighter.

Imagine it’s 1948. World War II has finally subsided, the economy is beginning to turn around, and once again motorsports can become a hobby and past-time for men oversized children.

That same year, Vincent came out with the 1948 Vincent-HRD Black Shadow Special, or as it’s better known: the “Black Lightning”. Advertised as “The World’s Fastest Standard Motorcycle”, it would take an intrepid Indian Motorcycle dealer to prove that claim. Racing at Bonneville with this very 998cc prototype, Rollie Free aimed to raise the motorcycle land speed record, and succeeded in memorable fashion.