Motor-paced racing
[2] Because of the long distances covered when following a pacer, these cyclists were called stayers, a term used in long-distance horse racing.
A south London rider, J. W. Stocks, set British record of 32 miles 1,086 yards (52.492 km) in an hour behind a Dunlop quintuplet on 27 September 1897.
[4] Chase used a 4+1⁄2 bhp (4.6 PS) motorcycle to pace him to 37 miles 196 yards (59.725 km) in a private test at The Crystal Palace, south London, in July 1900 but riders in the USA and in Paris had already done better.
On the roads of the north, these noisy cars, high with wooden wheels with their tires nailed in place, raised huge clouds of dust.
"[7] The first races were limited more by the speed a motorcycle could achieve than the ability of the rider to follow, with 50 km/h (31 mph) being a good average, according to the historian H. M.
[10] His rear tire exploded at 100 km/h (62 mph) and he was thrown under another rider's pacing machine, which "crushed the prostrate man in a dreadful manner.
Leander was thrown five metres (16 ft) into the air after 80 km (50 mi), fell to the track, bounced into the seating and died 36 hours later.
[13] The historian Peter Nye wrote: The biggest machines were built by the pacers, using parts from other motorcycles, with engines as large as 2,400 cc (150 cu in).
[21] The pacer stands or sits upright to offer a maximum windbreak, and the handlebars are extended to facilitate the stance, in a standardized leather suit that allows for the same slipstream effect for any rider.
The combination allows for smooth acceleration and slowing, important when the rider taking pace is centimetres from the pacer's shielded back wheel.
The first Entraineur or Bordeaux–Paris models, with a petrol tank across the handlebars, were built by Roger Derny et Fils of the avenue de St Mandé, Paris, France in 1938.
The first registered distance record behind pacers was by Frederick Lindley Dodds[23] of Britain, who on a solid-tired bicycle rode close to 16 miles (26 km) in the grounds of Cambridge University in 1876[24] during a 20-mile scratch race.
A south London rider, J. W. Stocks, set an unbeaten British record of 32 miles 1,086 yards (52.492 km) in an hour behind pacers on 27 September 1897.
[24] The first record behind a pure motorcycle was 68 km (42 mi) by Tom Linton of Britain at the Parc des Princes track in northwest Paris in 1902.
On 12 October 1950, Karl-Heinz Kramer set the world record for absolute speed behind a motorcycle with 154.506 km/h (96.006 mph) on the Grenzlandring.
[27][28] Frenchman José Meiffret, set a record 204.73 km/h (127.21 mph) behind a Mercedes-Benz 300 SL on an Autobahn at Freiburg, Germany, on 16 July 1962.
[29] Fred Rompelberg, using a dragster with a large shield as pacer, achieved 268.831 km/h (167.044 mph) on the Bonneville Salt Flats on 15 October 1995.
Denise Mueller-Korenek claimed a women's bicycle land speed record at 147 mph (237 km/h) at the Bonneville Salt Flats on 12 September 2016.
