Viper-V10-powered motorcycle sets new two-up speed record

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England’s Allen Millyard is either a crazy man or a certified genius. Actually, he’s both. How else do you describe a man who’s made a V12-powered motorcycle out of two Kawasaki KZ1300 straight sixes; crafted a six-cylinder “RC374” Mike Hailwood tribute out of two Yamaha FZR250R fours; and fashioned a motorcycle — which he actually rides — out of two cylinders of a radial Pratt & Whitney aero engine?

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Okay, that’s the crazy part. The genius bit is that he does all of this using little more than a ruler, a plain old hacksaw, and a lathe that looks like it was built at the turn of the century—the nineteenth century!

Seriously, to watch one of Millyard’s videos as he saws precisely-manufactured crankshafts in half by hand, chops cylinder blocks in two using nothing but a plain old wooden ruler as his guide, and then puts them back together, is one the most amazing mechanical feats I’ve ever seen. That these seemingly-crude monstrosities then seem to run — and run well! — seems to defy everything we mechanics and engineers hold dear. From such simple tools and a single-car garage in Thatcham, Berkshire emanate some of the most amazing and exquisitely crafted motorcycles ever seen.

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And now one has set a motorcycle land-speed record. Built somewhere around 2010, Millyard’s ultimate motorcycle is an 8,000-cc Viper-V10-powered road-rocket. Yes, that’s a Viper V10 in a motorcycle. Besides being a daily driver — or one amongst his several daily drivers — for these last 13 years, the 630-kilogram — 1,386 pounds! — Viper bike just set a new land-speed record.

Having convinced veteran British TV presenter Henry Cole to ride with him at Elvington — Britain’s “Bonneville,” says Motorcycle News — the two, um, shall we say “elderly” gents reached a top speed 183.5 miles per hour (295.3 km/h), beating the current Guinness World Record for two blokes on a bike set by Erin Hunter and Andy Sills back in September 2011 on a BMW S1000RR.

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This is all with absolutely no streamlining — BMW’s S1000RR has one of motorcycling’s slipperiest fairings — and Millyard describing the bike’s handling like “having a top-box on the back of your bike, full of cement.” It also set a two-up record for hitting 178.614 mph (287.5 km/h) in the standing mile; and, just so you know, the bike has already hit 207.1 mph (333.3 km/h) ridden solo. In other words, a) Millyard really is crazy; and b) all that Viper V10 torque means adding a passenger didn’t really slow things down that much.

If you love internal combustion — even if you have no interest in two-wheel top-speed records, or even racing at all, for that matter — you really need to check out Millyard’s YouTube channel.