The World of Motorcycling- News detail

The Bolivia Speed Trials (BST) – part of the FIM Land Speed World Records (LSWR) discipline – will take place from 22-27 October, offering competitors in this unique and highly-specialised sport a second opportunity this year to race their way into the record books.

Returning to the calendar for the first time since 2023 and taking place just two months after the Bonneville Motorcycle Speed Trials in the USA, the BST will be staged on the Salar de Uyuni – at over ten-thousand square kilometres the world’s largest salt flat – in the southwest of the South American nation.Located in the Andes mountain range on Bolivia’s high-altitude Altiplano plateau, at three-thousand six-hundred metres above sea level the thinner air dramatically reduces aerodynamic drag and its reputation as the flattest place on Earth – so flat that NASA uses it to calculate satellite elevation – makes it an ideal location for an LSWR event.The course will be around thirty kilometres in length and thirty-three metres wide with a salt crust that is almost ten metres thick and the timing of the BST towards the end of the Bolivian winter should ensure good weather conditions with a minimal chance of rain.

First used for an FIM-sanctioned LSWR event in 2017, the BST returned in 2018 and again for its most recent edition when multiple FIM World Records were set and entrants included Rocky Robinson – holder of the FIM-accredited absolute Land Speed World Record of 376.363mph (605.697km/h) set in 2010 in the TOP 1 Oil Ack Attack Streamliner – who had travelled to Bolivia aiming to extend his record past the 400mph (643.738km/h) barrier.The TOP 1 Ack Attack Streamliner was designed and built by American Mike Akatiffwho, along with Jamie Williams and Jim Knapp, are underwriting the event with support from Top 1 Oil.“The Salar de Uyuni offers something found almost nowhere else in the world — the space and distance necessary for the fastest vehicles on earth to reach their full potential,” said Akatiff. “Our goal for the Bolivia Speed Trials is to create the conditions where competitors can safely pursue speeds exceeding 400mph and challenge existing FIM World Records.“This October, some of the world’s fastest motorcycles and land-speed vehicles will come to Bolivia with one objective – to make history. Breaking the 400mph barrier is an extraordinary achievement and the combination of the vast Salar de Uyuni, international competitors and FIM-sanctioned record attempts gives us an opportunity to see speeds and records that simply aren't possible at most venues.“We are very pleased to be working with the FIM, the Bolivian organisers and our sponsors – including TOP 1 Oil – to bring Land Speed World Record racing back to Bolivia. I believe this could become one of the most significant Land Speed events in many years.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE BST CLICK HERE