‘Fastest woman on two wheels’ survives 300mph crash
She was taking part in the World Speed Trials on Lake Gairdner, Australia, when disaster struck
THIS is the moment that daredevil Valerie Thompson crashed at 299mph on Monday while attempting to set a 400mph speed record.
Thompson was at the helm of her 21-foot long, 3000cc, 500hp, turbocharged V4 motorcycle and aiming to beat the overall two-wheel record of 376 mph during the World Speed Trials on Lake Gairdner, Australia, when disaster struck.
According to a report from the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme she has passed the four-mile marker and reported being at 299mph when onlookers saw the tail end of her Team 7 Streamliner come up in the air.
Parachutes were immediately deployed, helping to stabilise the resulting crash, however her ‘Bub 7’ motorcycle was extensively damaged with wreckage spread along nearly a mile of the course.
Incredibly 50-year-old Thompson, who had day before broken her own 304mph women’s record with a complete 328 mph run, walked away from the wreck with just minor injuries, a survival attributed to the ‘unique design and engineering’ of her streamliner.
Thompson and team have now returned to their base in Arizona to review the data and in-bike video to try to determine what happened.
