200 Miles per Hour

It was not so long ago that 100 m.p.h. was considered a magic figure, attainable only by very special machinery; today any self-respecting car will top the magic hundred, and 200 m.p.h. is the figure to be respected in Great Britain. On the Bonneville Salt Flats or the test-tracks of America this figure is often attained, also at Daytona or Le Mans, but in Great Britain it is still a noteworthy speed, due to the lack of long, flat, straight stretches of land. For many years motorcyclists have dreamed of being the first to do 200 m.p.h. on two wheels in this country and, though a lot of people have talked about it, nothing was achieved. In America it has been done many times. For years Bob Berry, Noel Pope and George Brown talked about doing very high speeds on two wheels, Brown actually achieving 189 m.p.h., while recently Fred Cooper has been on about 200 m.p.h., but they have all been surpassed by quiet bespectacled Alf Hagon. Without any advanced publicity he rode his supercharged V-twin J.A.P. Hagon Special through the timing traps over one-tenth of a mile at 206.54 m.p.h. No record of any kind was involved, it was merely a timed run to satisfy Hagon that he could do 200 m.p.h. and to stop some of the talk that has been going on for too long. The timing equipment and timekeeper were of International standards, with a known accuracy of a possible 8 m.p.h. error, plus or minus at the extreme conditions, so Hagon could have done 214 m.p.h. or 198 m.p.h. The official figure is 206.54 m.p.h.—D. S. J.