Sounding for all the world like something the 3 hosts of Top Gear might dream up for an episode in Lapland this photograph from 1908 shows an iceboat racing a motorcycle across a frozen lake in Canada.
It looks like the boat is going to win although the motorcyclist would have been literally risking his life, the bikes of the era had little in the way of suspension, power, grip or brakes so exactly how he’s staying up right on the ice is a mystery to me.
Click the photograph for the higher resolution version.
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.
This four-cylinder Windhoff was one of the most advanced motorcycles of its time thanks largely to its engine, which doubles as the motorcycle frame, and features oil-cooling, an overhead camshaft, and an engine block that acts as a giant radiator. Windhoff Motorcycles Windhoff Motorcycles, officially Windhoff Motorradenbau GmbH, began producing motorcycles in 1924 but the company…
A Note of Warning: Near the end of this film there are a few racing accidents that likely resulted in the death or serious injury of the drivers involved. If there’s a possibility you’ll find that troubling please consider not watching the film. Devil Drivers is a pre-WWII racing documentary that was likely filmed in…
The Yamaha XT500 won the first two runnings of the Paris-Dakar Rally as well as the Paris-Abidjan-Nice, it also surprised everyone by winning the 1977 500cc Motocross World Championship (in significantly modified form) against the formerly dominant two-strokes. Today the XT500 is remembered along with motorcycles like the original BMW R80GS as a godfather of…
The EcoFlow Portable 50W Solar Panel was designed to provide a miniature mobile power station for use when you’re off the grid and hundreds of miles from the nearest power outlet. It folds open to expose twin solar panels with a combined output of up to 50 Watts, it offers both two USB outputs at…
This article was written by Chris White aka Buzz Vizualz, it gives a detailed look into his work and his inspiration. Line / Distance / Time / Moment The motorcycle, its construction and purpose is a metaphor for life. Each engine creates its own “big bang” with many repetitions along a timeline. Raw materials are…
This Ferrari F50 V12 engine was built to F50 GT specifications along with three chassis and another three or four race-specification engines. The F50 GT (also known as the Ferrari F50 GT1) was built by Ferrari in collaboration with Michelotto and Dallara to compete in the BPR Global GT Series against the likes of the…
