Motorcyclist booked for 205mph on Honda RC51

Edwards was regularly clocked at over 300kmh during the 2002 racing season, and he did not have the advantage of a long straight road to achieve that speed - he had to get around the corner at the end of the straight.

Chicanes have been added to all the high speed circuits around the world in recent years because speeds have continued to climb with technological advances, and the speeds were simply getting ridiculous.

For a top speed run, you ideally need several kilometres of straight run-up and plenty of space after the speed traps to slow down.

Given a couple of kilometres run-up, plus Honda Racing Corporation engine internals, the right gearing, a coat of polish and a damned good tune-up, a Honda RC51 is capable of running 205mph.

All that said, there's still something that doesn't add up.

One possibility is that the pilot got it all horribly wrong and pressed the stopwatch at the wrong time. Apparently the pilot managed to clock both Tilley and his accompanying friend (booked for 111mph on an MV Agusta F4i) at the same time, using two stopwatches - while flying a plane. This suggests that error is one distinct possibility.

Now Tilley claims his bike is not capable of more than 145-150 mph. Yet the pilot timed Tilley over a quarter mile at 4.39 seconds, giving him the speed of 205.11 mph.

Had Tilley been doing say 145 mph (what he claims is top speed of his motorcycle), the stopwatch should have stopped at 6.2 seconds, so there's a discrepancy of nearly two seconds between the two times - 4.39 against 6.2 seconds.

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