The look of pure nonchalance on the faces of Leo Payne and his frame-holding friend in this photograph still makes me smile. Leo was a well-known drag racer from the ’50s right through to the ’70s, he’s known for his technical expertise at developing nitro-methane racing carburettors and for being the first man to break the 200mph barrier on a non-streamlined motorcycle.
Read more about Leo here, via the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame.
Ben Branch has had his work featured on CNN, Popular Mechanics, the official Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with millions of readers around the world and hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
The Sunbeam Tiger famously features a V8 shoehorned into an engine compartment designed in England by engineers who would have been mortified had they known that their little roadster would, a few years later, be shipped off to a former chicken farmer’s garage in California where it would be hammered, cut, and welded to accommodate…
The Rickman Metisse Triumph is one of the most thoroughly British motorcycles we’ve featured in some time. Not only does it have a British engine and transmission thanks to Triumph, it has a Rickman frame and bodywork, and just to cap things off, it’s parked outside the Ace Cafe in London – the original home…
The Lancia Stratos was the first car designed specifically for top flight rally competition – developed by the all-Italian dream team of Lancia, Nuccio Bertone, and Marcello Gandini, with engines supplied by Ferrari. We remember the Stratos today as one of the most successful rally cars of its era, but its conception and development were…
Adam Ambro is an architect based in Golden, Colorado, with a passion for both art and cars. His day job keeps him busy, and in 2013 he won the AIA Denver Young Architect of the Year Award, followed in 2014 with him being named an Engineering News Record Mountain States Top 20 Under 40 Professional….
The Harley-Davidson Sportster Street Tracker The Harley-Davidson Sportster Street Tracker is by far the best American motorcycle that isn’t actually in production. Custom motorcycle garages like XTR Pepo make light work of turning a stock Sportster into a handsome, nimble, and fast street tracker – but the Harley-Davidson factory in Milwaukee has been very slow…
This article was written by James Fawcett, the founder of Slipstream Creations. When possible we like to bring you the story of a custom in the words of the builder, to give unique insight into their thought process and methods. This bike is a tribute to all those boxes of old parts and storage sheds full…
