Fastest Confirmed Speed on a Laverda

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Vince

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There was a test of 2 Laverdas in one of the Pom bike mags Classic Bike or Performance bike where they just cracked 150mph or 241kph confirmed at Bunting, that testing place they all used back then, not some widely wobbling highly inaccurate bike speedo. I guess the V6 is the big daddy for the fastest Laverda ever. Dont, remember the number but it is really big. The next club ride coming up is in a really remote place with some big open fast roads with zero traffic or Kangaroos where I saw an alleged 180kph on my Phone GPS mounted on the dash for a scary quick glance a few years back. We have a Land Speed meet once a year on a Salt Lake in South Oz. That's my fantasy one day.
 
I seem to recall the V6 was timed at 186 mph on the Mistral Straight at the Bol ( Wiki says 175 , but I`m sure it was 186 ) ......... Timed by whom and using what I``m not sure , although the Honda RCB`s were clocked at 168 mph , presumably by the same equipment ..........

The Bruntingthorpe 150 mph plus was probably the Clark brothers ........ I think the triple in question shat itself on completion of the run ( may be wrong .... used to have the mag article but I threw it away ) ) .......

Dave Minton reckoned he saw the equivalent of 150 mph on the additional ( corrected ? ) speedo fitted to one of the early factory 3C`s , but that was Dave Minton ..........
 
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sfcpiet said:
The V6 was timed at 284(287?)kmh at the Bol, faster than any of the competition.

piet
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!76 - 178 mph it was then ....... I`m going by memory ( always a dangerous thing ) ...... That`s why I sometimes preface with " I seem to recall " , and finish with " I may be wrong " , as a let out clause ........ The V6 was almost 20 mph faster than the Hondas , which would put them at 158 / 159 mph ( but I may be wrong .... ) .........

I`m still sure I saw 186 mph quoted in Bike magazine , but as the Team Bike visits to the Bol seemed to be one great piss - up from start to finish , then maybe they exaggerated / got it wrong as well ........

There was an account during one visit when Team Bike found themselves in disagreement with a French ( private ) Kawasaki team , which ended in a bout of fisticuffs ....... Ad rep Tom Stewart managed to avoid trouble by disguising himself as a bush .........
 
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I seem to recall, see I do it too. Anyway, the 180 that apparently blew up passing the timing beams was from memory not a blow-up but overfilled with oil and it blew oil out of its breather. Happy to hear more about those 2 bikes and the Clark Brothers. I am a bit surprised that with 158 views nobody has recorded a maxed out speed run in the last 40 years on an Autobarn, ever. The get-out-of-jail card is the word Aledged. Everybody Bullshits about speed Officer.
 
Vince said:
There was a test of 2 Laverdas in one of the Pom bike mags Classic Bike or Performance bike where they just cracked 150mph or 241kph confirmed at Bunting, that testing place they all used back then, not some widely wobbling highly inaccurate bike speedo. I guess the V6 is the big daddy for the fastest Laverda ever. Dont, remember the number but it is really big. The next club ride coming up is in a really remote place with some big open fast roads with zero traffic or Kangaroos where I saw an alleged 180kph on my Phone GPS mounted on the dash for a scary quick glance a few years back. We have a Land Speed meet once a year on a Salt Lake in South Oz. That's my fantasy one day.
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I remember that article, I probably have it buried in my stacks of magazines. A 180 and a 120, can’t even recall if it was an SFC1000, and yes, 150mph was officially apexed by the 120 bike.
 
Personal best on the Mirage was an approximate indicated 130 mph ....... ( the needle was fluctuating a few mph either side ) ....... This whilst undertaking a large Bentley or Merc which was hogging the outside lane on the M4 , and would`nt move over .....( " I`ll bloody show the selfish git " ..... Those were the days .... ) ....... The steadier rev counter reading would have given a more accurate indication , but I can`t remember looking at that ........

This took little effort ..... ( I had Jota bars fitted , which got you down out of the breeze ) , and there would have been a fair bit more to come ....... but I never got round to a really flat out , chin on the tank go , which was a pity , as the bike was really stable at ton plus speeds .......

BTW ...... I reckon any dancing around of the 180 degree speedo needle isn`t due to any failings on behalf of Nippon Denso Co. Ltd , but more likely a visible manifestation of Luciano Zen`s attempt to eliminate the rocking couple ......... I know the needles are damped , but ........
 
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I’ve run my Mk2 180 Jota to a GPS indicated 127 mph, but my bike does not have high compression, and run the ‘Frankfurt’ cams from Wolfgang.might have had a bit more,,,,,,, I don’t need to go any faster on that thing, around where I live that would mean confiscation and possible loss of the bike.
 
Steve G. said:
I remember that article, I probably have it buried in my stacks of magazines. A 180 and a 120, can’t even recall if it was an SFC1000, and yes, 150mph was officially apexed by the 120 bike.
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I seem to remember ( here we go again ... ) .... the 180 was a fairly standard looking 3CL , whilst the other ( the highly tuned one ) was a 120 Jota with a braced swing arm , and a Cico style fairing .......
 
Steve G. said:
I’ve run my Mk2 180 Jota to a GPS indicated 127 mph, but my bike does not have high compression, and run the ‘Frankfurt’ cams from Wolfgang.might have had a bit more,,,,,,, I don’t need to go any faster on that thing, around where I live that would mean confiscation and possible loss of the bike.
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Please don`t tell me you live in the UK ........ 😟..........
 
High speeds are a hanging offence around here, and fair enough with random citizens about. It's pretty academic anyway as the fun to me involves corners. But Land Speeds are still a dream. I still vividly remember getting dressed for school in front of a 2 bar radiator and hearing the Radio news announce Donald Cambell had cracked 403.1MPH on Lake Eyre in 1964, I was 6 at the time.
 
In the October 2023 Classic Bike magazine on pages 32 too 39 there is an article on the Cropredy Liberator and on a side bar is " How Fast is a Jota, really?"
Roger Winterburn's son recalls the best he knows is a 1200T with a bit of porting did 154 mph at West Raynham, suggesting the engine was putting out 95 HP.
In 1990 Martin and Stuart Clark maxed their bikes out at Bruntingthorpe Proving Ground. Martin's 120 with a polished head, bored carbs, high compression pistons and Cico fairing did 152 mph.
The author goes on to say that he got a SFC 1000 to reach 143 mph. and a 1/4 mile in 12.4 sec @ 119 mph.
 
Steve G. said:
I’ve run my Mk2 180 Jota to a GPS indicated 127 mph, but my bike does not have high compression, and run the ‘Frankfurt’ cams from Wolfgang.might have had a bit more,,,,,,, I don’t need to go any faster on that thing, around where I live that would mean confiscation and possible loss of the bike.
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This is one reason for downsizing from a triple to a twin. Or even smaller in another brand. It’s more fun to go fast on a small bike than to go slow on a big one. I wonder if I would fit on to a VFR 400?
 
Alzero said:
This is one reason for downsizing from a triple to a twin. Or even smaller in another brand. It’s more fun to go fast on a small bike than to go slow on a big one. I wonder if I would fit on to a VFR 400?
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Nothing like a rigid rear end, parallelogram forks and gear lever on the tank for an impression of speed. With a bolted up frame of course.
Paul
 
When I lived in Perth and worked in Kal I would allegedly ride on full throttle somewhere between Suffering Cross and not so Coolgardie. The speedo needle would after a while settle well into the area of the flasher indicator. Ironically, my much younger 1050 Triumph Sprint is allegedly only a few kmh faster.
 
Alzero said:
This is one reason for downsizing from a triple to a twin. Or even smaller in another brand. It’s more fun to go fast on a small bike than to go slow on a big one. I wonder if I would fit on to a VFR 400?
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You should try a Husky 701 sm...74hp,140kg, smile broadly or your money back😂😂
 
Steve G. said:
I live in British Columbia, western Canada. Vehicle confiscation has become the norm here .
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Thank Christ for that ....... Sorry that`s the situation for you though .........

To try to find out more about the situation in the UK , I searched and found that the police can seize a vehicle if it is un taxed , un insured etc ........ The courts can order a vehicle to be seized if the charge is reckless or dangerous driving , rather than straightforward speeding , I suppose ........ So if you`re caught doing 170 mph down the B4127 , then you would be considered reckless and dangerous I guess , and risk having your vehicle seized .......

Anything over 30 mph above the posted limit is considered the most serious level of speeding , but would`nt necessarily result in a driving ban , for example , ( although it almost certainly would ) , and a case of straightforward speeding is unlikely to result in your vehicle being seized ( As far as I can understand it .... ) ...... Unless you were caught doing something completely stupid , and were then charged with reckless or dangerous .......

If a vehicle is seized , it is then sold on ...... Fines , court costs , and so on , are deducted from the proceeds , and the remaining balance ( if there is one ) , paid back to you ......

In an episode of 44 Teeth , the intrepid duo were stopped by the police in Switzerland for exceeding the speed limit ..... a camera stationed just after a tunnel a mile or so back up the road had caught one of them ( the other had got away with it as his number plate had been obscured by a car ) .......
The fine was an on the spot 4000 euros , and an instant driving ban ...... If he had been caught doing a couple of kph more , the bike would have been seized as well ....... Luckily they had a back up van to transport bike and rider to the Italian border .......

In a Bike magazine guide to Europe , they once said if your bike is loud , if you are doing , or even thinking about , doing anything illegal , or if you don`t vote Tory ........ then avoid Switzerland at all costs ...... ( Nice countryside though ... ) ........
 
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Alzero said:
This is one reason for downsizing from a triple to a twin. Or even smaller in another brand. It’s more fun to go fast on a small bike than to go slow on a big one. I wonder if I would fit on to a VFR 400?
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That’s why I also own a Norton Commando, with limited power output, decent handling, fun to push hard to its capability limits while not really exceeding laws to a large degree.
 
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