Left: La Plata resident Chris Newton recently set Loring Timing Association land speed records in the mile and in the 1½ mile in the MPS/PG-750/4 classification while riding his custom-built 1972 Birmingham Small Arms Lightning A-65.
Right: Chris Newton of La Plata prepares for a land speed run during the Loring Timing Association’s Maine Event Land Speed Trials held July 13-16 in Limestone, Me.
Chris Newton of La Plata set a pair of land speed records aboard his custom-built 1972 Birmingham Small Arms Lightning A-65.
Left: A piece of paper from the official scorer verified that Chris Newton had set two land speed records. The La Plata resident had bumped up the records during the event held earlier this month.
Motorcycles, including this 1970 Triumph Tiger, front, are Chris Newton’s passion.
Chris Newton of La Plata is the owner of Blown Income Customs, a motorcycle restoration shop.
Left: La Plata resident Chris Newton recently set Loring Timing Association land speed records in the mile and in the 1½ mile in the MPS/PG-750/4 classification while riding his custom-built 1972 Birmingham Small Arms Lightning A-65.
Right: Chris Newton of La Plata prepares for a land speed run during the Loring Timing Association’s Maine Event Land Speed Trials held July 13-16 in Limestone, Me.
Chris Newton of La Plata set a pair of land speed records aboard his custom-built 1972 Birmingham Small Arms Lightning A-65.
Left: A piece of paper from the official scorer verified that Chris Newton had set two land speed records. The La Plata resident had bumped up the records during the event held earlier this month.
Motorcycles, including this 1970 Triumph Tiger, front, are Chris Newton’s passion.
Chris Newton of La Plata is the owner of Blown Income Customs, a motorcycle restoration shop.
When Chris Newton recently set a pair of motorcycle land speed records, his wife Kristina just knew there would be more work ahead.
“I just thought, ‘Yay, I get to clean spark plugs,’” Kristina said of her usual post-race duty. “Outwardly you’re super excited, and inwardly you’re, ‘Oh great, we’re going to do this again next year.’”
Spark plug duty aside, Chris Newton set the land speed records during the Loring Timing Association’s Maine Event Land Speed Trials held July 13-16 in Limestone, Me.
During one of his 13 runs during the event — which was held at the old Loring Air Force Base — the La Plata resident clocked a speed of 130.302 mph in the mile and 132.536 mph in the 1½ mile in the MPS/PG-750/4 classification.
“It was [a heck of a weekend],” said Newton, who is the owner of Blown Income Customs, a motorcycle restoration shop. “In the back of my mind I had a very good feeling I’d bump the record up to where it should be, at but at the same time I count my blessings. You don’t want to go in over cocky, but I felt pretty confident in the machine.”
“It can definitely be nerve-wracking [to watch him],” his wife said. “But at the same time you’re proud because it is a scary thing to do and to conquer a fear and just go for is really impressive.”
Newton, who set the records aboard his custom-built 1972 Birmingham Small Arms Lightning A-65, faced a stiff 12- to 15-mile-per-hour headwind/crosswind on the second day of the event.
“The wind was coming to my left, so to keep the bike going straight you have to lean into it,” said Newton, who had not raced in six years. “I had the bike leaning over as far as I was comfortable with and still [it was pushing me] off to the right. The power was there, it’s just the conditions were not favorable. On a bike that only has 65 horsepower, you’re relying on aerodynamics to achieve a higher speed.”
Newton, who is an ironworker with Local 5, also received a citation from the Charles County commissioners for his accomplishments.
He developed his love of motorcycles as a kid thanks to his father, who purchased a new 1974 Triumph Daytona 500 while working for Glen Burnie Cycles.
“I loved it,” Newton said. “You don’t get the same feel riding around in a car with the windows down.”
He said his first motorcycle was a Honda CB450 Nighthawk which was “one of those bikes you could ride all day long.” But he is particularly fond of British-made motorcycles.
“The British bikes to me have their own personalities,” said Newton, who also has a BSA A-10. “I’ve been around Harleys and I’ve ridden Japanese bikes but it’s just that the British motorcycles hold a special place. I just like the more vintage bike and you get that mechanical feel compared to newer bikes. A lot of it for me is aesthetics, and the British bikes have blended form with function very well.”
The idea of motorcycle land speed racing was first broached by his mentor, Bill Phillips, who had been Kristina’s boss when she worked at Harley Davidson.
“I was just like, ‘I don’t know if I really want to do this,’” said Newton, who had always loved drag racing.
His first land speed run took place in 2010 at none other than Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats.
He said the surface is “extremely different” compared to asphalt and added that as the sun heats up, “the heat draws moisture out of the salt so its gets looser. One run to another could be completely different.”
Besides racing on salt, there was also a small but intensive rulebook, a tech inspection to pass and wondering how the A-10 would react.
“You check final adjustments, have one eye on the starting official,” Newton said of being in the hot box, the land speed racing equivalent on the on-deck circle, “and just try and block out everything else and just tune myself in to the bike.”
He finished the 3-mile course with a speed of 120 mph, just four miles per hour off the course record, which was more than enough to light the fire.
“It was awesome. I was hooked,” he said. “It’s a very humbling experience. [It was my] first time going out there and I was four miles [an hour] off the record. It was pretty wild.”
Newton also owns three East Coast Timing Association records; one on the A-10 and two on the A-65 set at the Wilmington Air Park in Ohio. Those records will never be broken as the event later moved to another venue.
“I have a lot more trust in him because he knows his machine,” Kristina said. “Him and the machine are one and he knows the internals [of the bike] because he built it from scratch.”
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