HYDE BACK IN THE SADDLE

Well-known purveyor of Triumph classic performance products Norman Hyde has been reunited with his record-breaking sidecar outfit ten years after it was almost totally destroyed in the fire that devastated the National Motorcycle Museum.
 
Hyde captured the world sidecar land speed record in 1972 on his Roadrunner III at an average speed of 161.8 mph on the runway of RAF Fairford — a record that remained unbeaten for more than 35 years. A development engineer at Triumph’s Meriden factory at that time, he used his experience to uprate the Trident engine that powered his Roadrunner outfit, enlarging it to 850cc and adding a supercharger.
 
Roadrunner III joined the National Motorcycle Museum collection in the 1980s but it was one of 380 machines that were severely damaged when fire tore through the building in September 2003. The machine has since been painstakingly restored by John Woodward, whose late brother Don made the original bodywork by hand. Roadrunner III was unveiled again on Thursday 28 November. Many of Hyde’s contemporary racers, including John Cooper, Paul Smart, Percy Tait and Tony Jefferies, joined him for the ceremony.