Big Red (motorcycle)

Big Red was the machine with which American Don Vesco took the motorcycle land-speed record, 405.25 km/h, on September 17, 1970, at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.

At Bonneville Speed Week in 1969, Vesco took Big Red to a speed of 365 kph. The following year, with the five and a half meter long motorcycle built from an aircraft drop tank, he undertook several more attempts to break the 395.363 km/h record set by Robert Leppan in 1966. He succeeded in setting a new record of 405.25 km/h. A month later, the record was broken again: Cal Rayborn reached an averaged 427.25 km/h in two runs in opposite directions.

The bike is now an exhibit of the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum.