Wink Eller's Bonneville speed record with an S&S 145 engine.
Posted by Justin Lorraine on Tue, Aug 31, 2010 @ 02:30 PM
Bonneville Update – Wink Eller's Land Speed Sidecar Goes 178.639 mph!
On Sunday August 8th, Wink Eller set a new land speed record of 178.639 mph with his S&S powered sidecar rig in the SC-PF-3000 class (sidecar pushrod fuel 3000cc). The bike was powered by an S&S TCSA 145" engine, which was assembled and modified by Wink himself. Although the class allows the use of fuel (nitro methane) this engine was running on alcohol.
The first run was clocked at 175.328 and the return run was 181.950 for the two way average of 178.639 mph. That run set the record! On a later run, the fastest clocked speed was 186.999 mph as Wink exited the forth mile running into a headwind, so there is more to be had. Unfortunately, a bearing failure in the clutch basket did enough damage that Wink couldn't continue to race. But there will be other meets! As Wink put it "I cant wait to run the bike at El-Mirage with the big grunt of the S&S 145."
Wink told us that the idea of building the sidecar for the salt, was to develop a vehicle that would allow disabled veterans to race at Bonneville. S&S is proud to provide the power for a great idea like this!