Tom Mellor’s record-breaking 1969 Triumph Trident T150

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And the bike sounds great doing it, too, with a mellow howl from the 3-into-1 Rob North exhaust, with California resident (and former BSA/Triumph factory chassis guru) Rob North himself looking on with satisfaction. He just happened to be visiting the Speed Trials with some friends and came across the Mellor Triumph. “I really admire what Tom’s done with his bike,” North said. “It just shows what [BSA/Triumph chief engineer] Doug Hele and his guys could have done if they’d had better support from management back then.” Indeed so, but instead it took a 59-year-old retired aircraft maintenance engineer from far Western Canada to do it for them, with a bike that didn’t miss a beat during its entire week on the salt, even running flat out repeatedly over a 7-mile stretch.

What’s next?
So now that Tom and his Trident are inked in the record books, what next? “I want to build another Triumph to run in a different class — but I don’t want anything over 750cc, because then I can’t road race the engine, which I still want to keep on doing,” Tom says. “I also have my original T150 that’s now completely restored as a street bike, and since the production record is only 130mph or so, I’m pretty sure it’ll pull better than that — so that’s what I guess we’ll go for, with the support of my wife, Diane.” But Tom is looking further ahead, at more records with pushrod Triumph triple power. “Over the next year or so I want to build a lower bike, probably with a monocoque chassis out of aluminum, and to have it mounted straight off of the engine, so that the front end’s no higher than the motor to get it really aerodynamic,” Tom says. “It’ll need to be open at the front so the air can get in and move around the fins to cool the engine, but the frame will be all bolted around the motor, with a streamliner fairing all around that. I’ll also put an airbox in there to feed the carbs. I reckon we should be able to break 200mph with that.” So is Bonneville now Tom’s main agenda? “I love it. You can take all of your skills and put them in one package, your building skills and your development skills, and then go out there and see if you can break the record,” he says. “You go home, you spend the next year trying out all this stuff, and then come down and see if it works. It’s just a great challenge.”

So, just like a certain Indian rider from New Zealand, for Tom Mellor the lure of the salt is hard to kick. He’ll be back next year — with the latest version of the World’s Fastest Trident. MC

The world's fanciest tow vehicle?
If the 40-year-old Triumph and its svelte streamlined looks weren’t enough to make it the most photographed bike at Bonneville 2008, Tom and Diane Mellor’s choice of transportation, a 1950 Rolls Royce, clinched it. “I’ve had it for 28 years, and it’s been reliable transportation for us all that time,” Tom says. “It’s an original Canadian car. A guy from Victoria, B.C., bought it new, and then my Dad got it from him, and now I’m the third owner. I don’t baby it, and these cars are cheap to run if you look after them yourself — you just have to change the oil regularly. I haven’t had to do any major repairs to it yet. We don’t use it around town, just for hauling the Triumph and stuff. On average we do maybe 5,000 miles in it each year. But we’ve used it to drive all the way to Daytona more than once, that’s 4,000 miles each way! The Rolls cruises at 60mph with the trailer, and gets 20mpg — it’s more economical than a van, and quite a bit more comfortable!”

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