Fastest on two wheels

For Sacramento State mechanical engineering professor Joseph Harralson, setting the world record for a two-wheeled vehicle was a dream 18 years in the making. And with expertise, determination, and a little serendipity, he and the team of five others made the dream a reality.

On September 5, 2006, the motorcycle the team built from the ground up set the land speed record for two-wheeled vehicles. Clocked at 350.884 miles per hour, the motorcycle is considered the fastest in the world.

‘I was at an automotive engineering seminar in 1988, listening to Dennis Manning - owner of a motorcycle exhaust company named BUB - talk about the motorcycle he helped build that broke the speed record in the 1970s,’ said Harralson, ‘and I realised I wanted to break that record. We spoke after his presentation, and I invited him to speak to my class.’

When Manning came to visit, Harralson had some drawings of what the possible world-breaking engine would look like. ‘They were all hand-drawn - computers didn’t have the capabilities back then that they do today,’ said Harralson.