Which Motorcycle Holds The Land Speed Record And What Is Its Top Speed?

Motorcycle enthusiasts have a lot of reasons for getting in the game, such as a rich history of biker tradition, the freedom of the open road, or even a touch of danger. However, most of them have one key thing in common — they've got a need for speed. So, many bikers may be wondering who the fastest rider ever recorded is and exactly what kind of motorcycle they were riding when they set the record.

The motorcycle land speed record has been the same for more than two decades, but it's a title that's constantly being challenged. However, it's not an accolade that can be earned on any empty stretch of highway with any old bike. Groups of people that could rival a NASCAR engineering team work hard to chase this dream, but only one man holds the ultimate title. The bike is non-traditional, but the achievement is perhaps way more interesting than one might imagine. 

Since 2010, the land speed record for a motorcycle officially clocked in at 376.363 miles per hour. That decimal is important because, at these speeds, the record is won and lost in the margins. The record was set by Rocky Robinson, who achieved the accolade in September 2010 on his Top Oil Ack Attack motorcycle over a roughly 0.6-mile stretch of land in the Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah, USA, according to Guinness World Records.

Robinson's record was achieved by taking the average of two speed runs across the same stretch of salt flats in Utah. He topped out at an incredibly fast 394 miles per hour for a single run. In a blog post he shared shortly after returning home from Utah, Robinson noted that his team's equipment clocked him at a speed that "exceeded 400 mph before deceleration." However, he clarified that those speeds are unofficial and 376.363 miles per hour is the official land speed record, per the Fédération Internationale de Motocylisme (FIM).

As mentioned, Rocky Robinson achieved this record riding Top Oil's Ack Attack. It is a 20-foot-long, 2.5-foot high streamliner moved to record-breaking speeds by the strength of Suzuki Hayabusa inline four-cylinder engines with a 30 psi turbocharger boost. The max engine speed reportedly tops out at 12,000 rpm, with a net horsepower of between 700-900. This massive machine still runs lean at 1,650 pounds. While it doesn't look like a traditional motorcycle one might see on the road, it is indeed a motorcycle, and it's currently the fastest in the world. However, its designer, Mike Akatiff, thinks it can be even faster.

Speaking with Motorcycle.com in 2017, Akatiff revealed he isn't resting on the Ack Attack's laurels. He's determined to get an officially recorded speed of 400 miles per hour, echoing that the Ack Attack has allegedly hit that speed before in an unofficial capacity. He originally designed the bike in 2001 and spent the next five years perfecting it. While 2010 is Robinson's best, he previously broke the record held for 16 years in 2006 with a two-way average speed of 342.797 miles per hour, which was approximately 20 miles per hour faster than the previous record. Over the next four years, Robinson and Akatiff continued to beat their own records three more times before finally locking in their current best in 2010.

The question now is if anyone else will be able to top it, or if Robinson and Akatiff will simply beat themselves once again.