'SUPER KIM' IN THE SOUTH AMERICAN PRESS

By Martina Rua
Special lanacion.com

"Ignacio Acebedo Sigrand (31), never imagined that the curiosity which led him to type the name of his maternal grandfather on his computer, would plunge him into the greatest adventure of his life.

In May 2008, bored in bed from a knee operation, Ignacio reflected how little he knew of the life of his grandfather, Roberto Sigrand, whose history belonged to a family past silenced from a bad relationship with his grandfather one of his sons.  He wrote Sigrand's name into a search engine. To the surprise of Ignacio, the name appeared on several sites, but one especially caught his attention.
"I found a blog from an American collector of motorcycles [The Vintagent] and saw my grandfather Roberto mounted to a motorcycle. I felt the urgent need to move towards that history, with the help of my aunt and my mother, who knew this bike, the Zenith SUPER KIM.   My grandfather had reached 250 km per hour resulting in the 30 South American speed records",  enthused Acebedo. But the powerful machine was lost after the death of Sigrand in1974 when the factory where the bike was displayed was sold, and the trail was lost.

Acebedo began a regular exchange of emails with Paul d'Orleans, American collector and the blog owner, who suggested the information about the history of the SUPER KIM was very valuable. "I immediately rejected that idea because the motivations were never profitable, but sought to give birth to the family history and know the bike," he says. This surprised d'Orleans and gave him the confidence to reveal that he had sold in 2002 to one of the largest collections of motorcycles in Germany and acted as intermediary to generate a match.

During these months of research he discovered that Roberto Ignacio Sigrand was anything but an ordinary man, "Born at sea in 1908, he grew up in Argentina, Bolivia and Paris, fell in love with an athlete who he saw in a magazine and chased her to France and married her, faced down Perón, went into exile in Chile and made history in national and global motorcycling, " he says, pointing to an old photo album with clippings from the 30s and 40 in Argentina. Months of emails back and forth with photos, videos and documents, then Ignacio decided to take a trip to Austria. The new owner of 'Super Kim', a German billionaire (who asked to remain anonymous for security), agreed to restore it to running condition and display it, in exchange for having the incredible story behind the motorcycle. "I met with the bike and first met my grandfather. It was an indescribable feeling, very intense and moving, not only the sound of an engine after 75 years standing,  it was a relief, a powerful cry."

The intervention of technology in family history Acebedo was so basic and essential. "The Internet, blogs, information exchanges with Europe and North America were the key to this reunion, the technology was vital and today we are all very happy," Acebedo closes.

A family's past and a history as fascinating as the most amazing novels, could have been veiled for ever, but the SUPER KIM insisted on living to roar again, 75 years later. "



[Thanks to Jorge Pullin for sending the  link!   Check out the original, with video, here.

If you want to read more about the amazing saga of 'Super Kim' and the Sigrand family, follow these posts.

The story of 'Super Kim' will continue on the Vintagent.  Ignacio has sent a mountain of information, which I am in the process of sorting, and will be shared here.  Stay tuned!]

THE WORLD'S FASTEST VELOCETTE

By Dennis Quinlan:


Stuart Hooper hails from Buderim north of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. For the last three years he has spent time and money attempting to produce a Velocette that is the fastest in the world. He made the long road trip with friends as backup crew, some 2500km plus to Lake Gairdner in South Australia.

Lake Gairdner is a salt lake where the Dry Lake Racers Australia hold speed record attempts early March each year. Stuart's effort in 2008 was aborted due to rain washing out the meet with no racing occuring. In 2009 he reached a speed of 133.46mph. This year, 2010, late in the afternoon of Friday 12th March he increased this to 139.001mph, which eclipsed the 132.35mph that Bert Munroe achieved on his prewar MSS Velocette racer in New Zealand in 1971 and which was widely regarded as the fastest speed a Velocette had obtained under accurately timed conditions. Congratulations Stuart.....Keith Canning, President of the Velocette Owners Club of Australia and a member of Stuart crew filed this report to me tonight after he and Stuart returned to Queensland


"Australia has the Worlds Fastest Velocette after a very trying but in the end rewarding Speedweek.
Stuart Hooper achieved 139.001 mph on the last day, Friday, only half an hour before the track closed for 2010.
The record previously set by Burt Munro in 1971 at 132.35 mph in NZ.
For Stuart & the team the week certainly had its ups & downs to say the least.  We arrived on Friday to find a perfect hard dry salt track, only to have rain fall on Saturday & Sunday. This was certainly a set back.  Once this happened no vehicles were allowed to be moved on or to the salt & the only access to the bike & trailer already in the pits was to walk through water stretching 100 metres along the edge of the salt lake.  Water was blown around the pits by high winds as well.
There was no racing on Monday, but with conditions improving, we changed the drive sprocket in anticipation of the track opening.
On Tuesday afternoon we got a run on the test track where things went well.  It was the first run for the bike since last year as a complete unit.
After the drivers' briefing we went straight to the GPS track where we achieved 133 mph as our highest speed.  With everything going well we then lined up for a run on the main track.  This enabled us to get a run on Wednesday where Stuart ran a licensing pass in the 125 mph range which is required because the bike had changed classes.
Thursday was a big day with 3 runs.  The bike was literally tacking over like a sail boat & the back wheel moving out to compensate.  After this, Stuart decided to change to the small tail for the remaining runs.
Our next run was a failure owing to the fact we had the wrong spark plug (warm up) in for the run.  A high wind in the second run resulted with Stuart being blown to the side of the track only missing the marker cones & backing off to stay upright. He also thought the motor was getting tired, so after lining again till the end of racing to get a position for a run the following morning, we retired to our pits to thoroughly check the bike.
We stripped the Velo to a bare machine, inspecting everything we could without dismantling the engine.  Things like the plug, bore, oil, timing, valve clearances etc.  Everything proved OK.  We raised the float level, and then went to bed knowing we only had 1 chance at most of getting a result for 2010.


Friday saw us line up early as racing was to finish about noon. The day turned out to be perfect, no cross winds & very still. We were confident of the bike now, but still ran the small tail, as cross winds usually started up at mid morning.  These never eventuated but by this time we could not change the tail.  We did however mix some new fuel & added 10% nitro to the methanol for an extra boost. We changed to a larger main jet to ensure it ran rich & not damage the motor.
The last run went well. The bike ran straight as an arrow and was very stable.  It did run too rich however & missed & popped at the top end. It actually would have revved harder on straight methanol.  Stuart ran & was timed over 2 miles. He then had the long ride back to the pits, not knowing what we the crew, already knew. He arrived to a jubilant team made up of wife Marsha, Russell Houghton & myself as well as anyone else who was nearby.
Stuart would like to thank all for their support especially the crew, friends, well wishes, fellow club members & those who made the big effort to come out to the salt.
What’s next? Develop the engine more & go faster, for sure!
I can tell you that when the Velo starts up, out on the salt, fellow competitors, crews & spectators all stop & listen to that unmistakable bark of the big single. It’s music to the ears."