Cork biker, Ted Brady recently became the official holder of the Guinness World Record for the fastest kilometre wheelie setting a blistering speed of 217.85 mph. That is on the back wheel for at least a kilometre at that incredible speed. Ted has been involved in UK based superfast wheelie competitions for over 15 years.
Ted Brady & Guinness World Record Wheelie certificate at Cork, Ireland. (photo Cian Donnelan)
The Guinness World Wheelie Championship takes place at an airfield in Elvington, North Yorkshire in England. Nearly 30 top competitors from the USA, UK, France, Holland and Ireland compete for the world title. Success depends exclusively on the rider’s high-level skill, which is used to control the speed and balance of the motorcycle. This is no mean feat as some of these retro-fitted machines are the most powerful in the world.
Ted Brady in action at the Motorcycle Wheelie World Championship, Elvington, England. (photo Andy Menzies)
In 2017 Brady eclipsed the previous record of 213.3 mph set in 2016 by Egbert van Popta from the Netherlands. He set a new record figure aboard a turbocharged Suzuki Hayabusa that puts out somewhere in the neighbourhood of about 540 brake horsepower.
Ted is 51 and has 3 children. He is married to Shirley and they live in Inniscarra, Co Cork, which is about 13kms west of Cork city. He works in the airport police / fire service at Cork Airport.
Speaking about his involvement in the Guinness World Wheelie Championship Ted said “l have been going over to Elvington since 2005 and haven’t missed one yet. I started riding a 7/11 turbo and a K2 Suzuki GSXR. I then moved onto a k4 1 000 which I found to be a very stable wheelie bike and I got up to the high 1 50s MPH.”
Photo by Andy Menzies
In 2010 Ted got a turbo fitted to the Suzuki GSXR and it took some time to readjust to riding a turbo bike. In 2015 he achieved a best run of 197.6 mph behind Van Popta’s winning speed of 199.4. He decided at the end of 201 5, when Gary Rothwell from Liverpool set a new record of 209mph, that he needed to build a Suzuki Hayabusa turbo to be able to compete. Luckily his good friend John O’Brien who has been travelling overto Elvington with him for years offered him his 2004 Busa which had only done 21 00miles. He sent it to the well known racing and speed record bike tuner and builder based in Co. Down, Holeshot Racing, to get the full works done on the bike. Following that the Hayabusa was able to make 540bhp_
2004 Suzuki Hayabusa that puts out about 540 bhp Dec 2020 (photo Cian Donnelan)
2016 at Elvington was a steep learning curve again for Ted as the bike did not handle well. So after a second Guinness World Wheelie Championship in 2016 with the new bike he still had nothing to show To make worse Van Popta had pushed the record to 213.30 mph. Ted tells us “l was starting to doubt was ever going to succeed but I worked on all aspects of the bike in the Winter before the 2017 Championship. This was to make sure I could get the bike to handle which is not easy when you can’t test it out.”
Ted Brady at the Wheelie World Championship August 2015 (photo Worldreach)
Ted turned up at Elvington in 2017 hoping to have a bike that handled well and after his first run which he dropped at the finish line, he knew he was onto something good. “My second run was a flyer as I lifted the wheel in 6th gear and the bike picked up huge speed early on, so much so I thought I was going to run out of revs before the line but I made it and the wheelie was a full kilometre.” When he arrived back in the paddocks there was silence so he thought he had failed but then it erupted. “l couldn’t believe it when I was told I had just done 217.85mph and I had the new record.”
Ted Brady in the paddock after breaking the kilometre wheelie world record in 2017 (photo Worldreach)
Ironically conditions were not right for Ted in 2019 when another Irish man won the World Wheelie Championship although he didn’t beat Ted’s record. The winner was Richie Roche from Limerick who completed a kilometre wheelie at 210 MPH. There was no competition in 2020 because of COVID restrictions.
Team Ireland at the Motorcycle Wheelie World Championship Aug 2017. L to R – Enda Wright, Westmeath; – Ted Brady, Cork; – Richard Roche, Limerick. (photo Worldreach)
Elvington is one of the longest public accessible runways in the UK and allows riders a run into the timing gates for a kilometre. A similar distance past the finish timing gate to allow for slowing down. Times are officially recorded for all runs and can be submitted to record bodies such as Guinness World Records and Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme / International Motorcycling Federation (FIM).
Bikes line up for the Guinness World Wheelie Championship organised by Straightliners at Elvington, North Yorkshire in England. (photo Worldreach)
The Guinness World Wheelie Championship is organised by Straightliners which is affiliated to the Auto-Cycle Union (ACU) and the International Organisation of Professional Drivers (IOPD). Rider participation including record ratification and timing is administered by to UK Timing Association (UKTA). Both Straighliners and UKTA were set up by renowned motorcycle racer Trevor Duckworth.