Back in 2008, Dan Holmes, an ex- Royal Enfield dealer along with his DRS cycle team based out of Indiana, USA, bagged three records with a road racing Royal Enfield Bullet. This time round though, the team used a partially streamlined 500cc, four-stroke, air-cooled, single-cylinder Royal Enfield Bullet with crankshaft and cams coming in from Hitchcocks Motorcycles, UK.
Dan landed on the salt flats hoping to break the 193kph barrier by running the RE Bonneville Bullet on both gas and with a nitrous oxide system (NOS), using a 22-toothed front sprocket. Unfortunately, due to weather conditions and a blown up engine, the team couldn't compete efficiently in both gas and nitrous oxide classes.
In his first attempt, Dan was able to achieve 169kph on gas. Whereas, in the second run that is the nitrous oxide class, the team pumped up the power output by 10bhp, clocking 194.5kph one way. Moving on, they bulked up 10 more horses, crossing the 193kph mark before the motor blew up due to high temperature and humidity.
So, with the second engine still in stock, they rushed back to their stall to replace the same, but were unfortunately held back as it started raining, due to which the event had to be cancelled.
Nevertheless, with successful achievement of his target, Dan Holmes is confident that he can manage to cross the 209kph mark, and will return to the flats to achieve the same.