Evelyne Scholz of Perth hopes to set a new land speed record this year and become the second female admitted to the exclusive Bonneville 200mph club riding a ‘naked’ bike.
She already has multiple and speed records at up to 211.398mph on her Turbo Suzuki GSXR1000 nicknamed ‘Tiger’, and will attempt the 220mph ‘Naked’ Land Speed Record in August, 2015, at the Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah, USA.
“It’s not an obsession; I just want to know how fast I can go,” she says.
Evelyne certainly is a tiger on two wheels, having ridden at high speeds on the European autobahns in her younger years, being a sidecar racer since 1989 and Australian sidecar champ in 2004.
However, aiming for a land speed record wasn’t always on her radar.
In fact, she thought it looked rather boring.
She’d been to Speed Week at Lake Gairdner in South Australia to watch the land speed racing and support her friends, but in the back of her mind she thought of it as just one long straight line with no challenging corners. When asked if she’d like to give it a go, she claimed it actually looked rather boring.
Breaking speed records didn’t feature as a priority until she tried it out for the first time in 2005 on the salt lakes in South Australia. Then she became a girl on a mission.
She shared a two-stroke Yamaha TZ350 with her boyfriend because she thought it would be a one-off event. Evelyne raced the bike without the fairing, entering in the ‘naked’ bike category.
There were no nerves about going over 100mph, as she’d done these speeds on the German autobahns surrounded by other vehicles. But there were some nerves about being on a bike she wasn’t used to riding.
To her surprise, Evelyne walked away with not just the Dry Lake Racers Australia M/G350 Record at 120.417mph, but also the desire for a new bike.
Three weeks after returning home with her first land speed record under her belt, Evelyne bought a Yamaha YSF-R1 and was in training to head back to Lake Gairdner in South Australia with a new goal.
If Evelyne completes two runs over 210mph at Bonneville she will be awarded the “Red Hat”, which is a lifetime membership of the Bonneville 200mph club, making her only the second female to score the honour on a ‘naked’ bike.
To support Evelyne, go to her Facebook page and buy a ‘Naked Tiger’ t-shirt.