Throwback Thursday: Don Vesco Hits 333 mph in Lightning Bolt (1978)

Larry Lawrence | October 19, 2023

Speed Set by Vesco in His Kawasaki Twin Engine Turbo KZ1000-Powered Machine

In this week’s Throwback we dial back the clock 45 years to September of 1978. At the Bonneville Salt Flats in Wendover, Utah a month earlier, Vesco set a new motorcycle land speed record with a two-way speed of 318.598 mph in his Lightning Bolt streamliner, powered by a pair of turbocharged Kawasaki KZ1000 engines. Vesco came back for the Bonneville National Speed Trials in September and on one run reached 333.117 mph. Even though the run was officially timed and verified, the course was a mile shorter than normal and that didn’t allow Vesco the space needed for the return run required for a land speed record, as a result the 333 mph was not recognized as an official record. So his 318 mph run from the month earlier was recognized as the record and that speed would hold for 12 years until Dave Campos broke the record aboard the Harley-powered Easyriders streamliner in 1990. This photo shows Vesco (kneeling on the left) with his crew celebrating his run at the Salt Flats.

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