333 Km/h Rocket-Powered Bicycle Sets New Speed Record

Dave Knott writes François Gissy of France has claimed a new bicycle speed record. As you might guess, he was not pedalling – he was seated atop a hydrogen peroxide-powered rocket with three thrusters fastened to the frame of an elongated, but otherwise ordinary-looking bicycle. In a video posted on YouTube that announces the record, a Ferrari racing the bike is left far behind within seconds of leaving the starting line. The bike, designed by Gissy's friend, Arnold Neracher, reached its top speed of 333 km/h (207mph) in just 4.8 seconds and 250 metres. According to Guinness World Records, the fastest speed ever for a bicycle that wasn't rocket powered was 268.831 km/h by Fred Rompelberg of the Netherlands, riding behind a wind-shield fitted dragster in 1995 and assisted by the slipstream of the car. The current unassisted bicycle speed record is 133.8 km/h — a record that a team in Toronto is trying to break.

Comments

Re:bike?

[budgenator]

Yes indeed, Craig Breadlove's "Spirit of America" a tricycle set an average speed of over 400 mph (640 km/h), and still holds the World record for making the longest skid mark.
Fred Rompelberg from Maastricht, the Netherlands is the holder of the motor paced speed world record cycling with 268.831 km/h (166.9 mph) and was oldest professional cyclist in the world at the time.

36-year-old Austrian Markus Stöckl, director and owner of the MS Evil Racing Team, set a new world speed record for serial mountain bikes on gravel on a volcano in Nicaragua when he hit 164.95 kph. By doing so, he eclipsed the record which the Frenchman Eric Barone set nine years ago. Downhill moutainbiker Markus Stöckl sets new world speed record

Gissy's feat just seems lame.