The changes made to the engine to bring it up to Black Lightning specification were significant. In the state of tune used with the Black Shadow this engine is capable of 55 bhp at 5,500 rpm, the Black Lighting version is capable of 70 bhp at 5,700 rpm – this may not sound like much now, but it was significantly more horsepower than was being produced by many cars at the time. This Vincent V-twin has a swept capacity of 998cc, it has an overhead-valve, push-rod design with distinctive pushrod tubes on the right-hand side of the engine. The Black Lightning was fitted with a highly-modified version of the air-cooled V-twin used in the Black Shadow, an engine that had originally been designed by Australian engineer Phil Irving. The Vincent Black Lightning was essentially a racing version of the (already very quick) Vincent Black Shadow. He made his final runs in his swimming shorts and shoes whilst laying face down on the bike – amazingly it worked, the lack of clothing flapping in the air meant he could now reach 150.313 mph and set the new US national motorcycle speed record.Ībove Image: Rollie Free’s successful US land speed record attempt at the Bonneville Salt Flats in 1948.
Hrd motorcycle skin#
The decision to race at the Bonneville salt flats at high-speed with no much exposed skin wasn’t taken lightly, Free was trying to break the 150 mph mark on a motorcycle for the first time in American history but he was still 2 mph too slow. In the year the Black Lightning became available to order it was already a global sensation thanks to an American land speed racer named Rollie Free, who had been the subject of one of the most famous photographs in motorcycle history wearing nothing but his swimming shorts and shoes. The Vincent Black Lightning was the fastest production motorcycle in the world when it was first offered to the public as a production model in 1948, only 31 were built and today they’re among the most collectible motorcycles on earth.