By Brendan McAleer, Driving
Tom Mellors with his 200mph record-setting motorcycle.
At 170 miles an hour, the bike feels like it’s going to come apart at the seams, frame sundered, fairing shredded, its rider flung into oblivion. The pitted and rutted surface of the salt looks smooth only from a distance; at this speed, everything shakes violently, blurring vision.
There’s little traction to be found here on the boundless white plains. The needles of a gauge re-purposed from a twin-engined aircraft show that the rear wheel is spinning 15 per cent faster than the front. Still, already at 8,000 rpm, the rider eases on more throttle – the thin grey shape flicks across the landscape like a thrown knife.