For decades, Triumph has been known for building the world’s fastest motorcycles. All due to a group of hot rodders from Texas who decided that they didn’t want the record held by the Germans. From 1955 to 1970, a Triumph powered streamliner held the absolute motorcycle land speed world record.

That legend began in 1954 at Pete Dalio’s Triumph shop in Dallas (operating today as Big ‘D’ Cycles). It was a Saturday afternoon shortly after closing, legendary Triumph mechanic and tuner Jack Wilson recalls, when “Pete, myself and Stormy Mangham were sitting around talking about how Wilhelm Herz had raised the record to 180 mph on an NSU.” That brief conversation set in motion the events that would forever alter motorcycle history.

In 2006, the new generation of hot-rodders began a supreme battle for the World’s Fastest Motorcycle mantle. The first barrier was 350 mph.

The Top Oil-Ack Attack team of owner Mike Akatiff and rider Rocky Robinson used a twin Hayabusa-engined rocket to beat the 16-year-old record with a speed of 342.797 mph. That record would stand for just two days before the BUB Seven team would steal the show. On September 5, the BUB team of Denis Manning and Chris Carr would become the first team to break the 350 mph barrier with their methanol-burning 3000cc V-4 with a record time of 350.884 mph. These two teams have staged a Titanic battle over the past seven years, with the Ack Attack team currently holding the upper hand at 376.363 mph.

Triumph is back at Bonneville in 2013 with its latest streamliner effort. The Castrol Rocket was developed by Castrol, Hot Rod Conspiracy, Carpenter Racing and Triumph North America. The Castrol Rocket incorporates all of the ingenuity and racing prowess of the four Triumph-powered land speed record vehicles of the 1950s and 1960s (all with 650cc production-based engines), plus the best of today’s technology in engineering, aerodynamics, safety and power plant performance.

The most celebrated British motorcycle in history bears the name of the 40-square- mile expanse of salt near Wendover, Utah, where four resourceful Texans took on a team of German engineers and made motorcycle history. In 1959, Triumph launched the Bonneville 650cc motorcycle as “The Fastest Production Roadster” offering “The Highest Performance from a Standard Production Motorcycle.” The very essence of café racer cool, the Bonnie arrived at just the right time to lead a revolution in the motorcycle industry.

Today, the Bonneville is loved by riders of all ages who appreciate a bike with a timeless style and appeal unmatched by any other motorcycle.

And while the Bonneville was the fastest production bike when it was launched in 1959, today’s record-attempting Castrol Rocket pays homage to Triumph’s Rocket III which, at 2.3 liters, boasts the world’s largest production motorcycle engine. The Castrol Rocket features a pair of turbocharged Rocket III engines making in excess of 1000 horsepower. Triumph technology that’s proven itself from the Salt Flats to the production line and now, back to the Salt Flats.

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