(NEWS RELEASE)

For Immediate Release: October 31, 2013

Hendersonville, North Carolina: Being the first to go 400 MPH in a wheel-driven motorcycle might seem insane to many, but for Castrol, Triumph and pilot Jason DiSalvo, any speed less than that could be considered a failure for the new Castrol Rocket land speed streamliner that will be on display in the Öhlins booth at next week’s SEMA show in Las Vegas, Nevada.

If you don’t know what it’s got, at 25.5-feet long the Castrol Rocket is big. It’s made of carbon and Kevlar fiber, and has two massive custom wheels, and five Öhlins TTX shocks. Plus, it has two parachutes, two engines adding up to 2,970cc, twin turbochargers, and 1,000 horsepower. And, again, you can see it in Vegas, but please don’t sit on it.

Possibly the coolest “motorcycle” on planet Earth right at this moment, if not the coolest wheel-driven vehicle of any description right at this moment, the Castrol Rocket was created as a cooperative project between Matt Markstaller’s Hot Rod Conspiracy and Bob Carpenter’s Carpenter Racing. Markstaller is an aerodynamics engineer and his Hot Rod Conspiracy designed and built the streamliner’s chassis, while Carpenter Racing modified and built the two Triumph Rocket III power plants that drive the streamliner. Öhlins not only supplied the numerous suspension components and steering dampers, but also provided engineering for this unique application.

Pilot Jason DiSalvo is an experienced motorcycle dirt tracker and road racer, has earned numerous national championships, and in 2011 he won the prestigious Daytona 200. When you see the Castrol Rocket, be sure to see what Jason named it, carried on the bodywork just behind the cockpit. And, actually, if the Castrol Rocket beats the existing all-out motorcycle land speed record of 376.363 mph, that would in itself be a resounding success for this team that’s dedicated to bringing the world’s fastest motorcycle record back to Triumph, which last had it in 1970 with the Leppan/Tremulis/Bruflodt Gyronaut X-1 at 245.60 mph.

Öhlins’ booth at SEMA is number 21527, located in the southwest extension of the Las Vegas Convention Center’s Central Hall, towards Paradise Road from the Ford display. The show is Tuesday-Friday, November 5-8, 2013. This is an industry-only trade show, so plan your attack in advance. More can be learned about the Castrol Rocket project and its players at: http://castrolrocket.com/.

Öhlins USA distributes and services the world’s leading performance suspension components for automobiles, motorcycles, and ATVs. Öhlins develops its trend-setting suspension components, steering dampers and oils, at the highest levels of racing from open-wheel car racing, to Moto GP, to off-road competition on two and four wheels. Öhlins USA also provides training for service centers and dealers. Öhlins USA can be contacted at: 828-692-4525; http://www.Ohlinsusa.com