What is the land speed record for a tricycle?

Answer 1

Well, that depends on your perspective...

The fastest legitimate FIM (international governing body on motorcycle racing) speed record for a tricycle is held by Craig Breedlove at 526 mph. This was set at the Bonneville Salt Flats in 1964, in his jet powered Spirit of America. Although this was the absolute land speed record at the time, the public was mostly unaware of the fact that the "car" had only three wheels, and was thus officially considered a "motorcycle". The FIA (international governing body on cars) would not time his runs since it did not have at least four wheels.

With that being said...

In 1979, movie director Hal Needham, car builder Bill Fredricks, and driver Stan Barrett went to Edwards Air Force Base in Southern California with a rocket powered "car" called the Budweiser Rocket. Unlike Breedlove (whose absolute landspeed record had since been surpassed), the Budweiser team did not seek international timing or approval, nor did they follow many of the rules governing international records. They simply wanted to break the sound barrier on land -not necessarily obtain an official record. Once again, the car was three wheeled. A hybrid rocket engine coupled with a sidewinder missle (!) shot the trike down the main runway at Edwards. Instead of using standard timing equipment, the Air Force tracking station used their tracking radar to clock the speed of the car.

The alleged "supersonic" run was clocked at 739.6666 miles per hour (mach 1.01). However, no sonic boom was heard. Initially, the car was erroneously clocked at 38 mph. This was later determined to be a truck driving several miles away, but it has stained the credibility of the Air Force's timing capabilities and equipment. The run also faced criticism in that it was not timed by an international governing body. Worse still was the international rule that stated that a speed record must be the average of two separate runs in opposite directions. This would compensate for any tailwinds, headwinds, etc.

There was one piece of evidence to support the claim of the Budweiser team, however. During the sonic run, the back wheels of the car came off the ground. This suggested to many that a shock wave had formed around the wheels, which mean that the car was either travelling at or beyond the speed of sound. General Charles "Chuck" Yeager wrote a letter which pointed to this, and explained why [in his opinion] the trike did in fact exceed mach 1.

Even today, the debate over the Budweiser Rocket rages on in some land speed circles. Thrust SSC officialy set the first supersonic land speed record in 1997 under international rules.

So, depending on your opinion regarding international racing regulations, the land speed record for a tricycle is either 526 mph or 739 mph. You be the judge.

-Jeff R.