Acerbis enters the Guiness book of world records:
On the 16th of June this year, Acerbis celebrated its 50th anniversary with a unique achievement.
The plastics manufacturer grabbed a Guinness World Record Record for the greatest distance ridden on a single tank of fuel by an internal combustion motorcycle.
Total distance covered? 4,183.8 kilometers without topping up.
That’s GP to PE and back twice!
Making it all happen, the technical team at Acerbis engineered the largest motorcycle fuel tank ever used, holding a mere 108 liters.
Acerbis selected the 125cc Honda Monkey for the challenge because of its simple design and economy.
Engineers at Acerbis knew they had to think ‘outside the box’ to turn the mini moto into The AC50 project. It took 2 years to get the bike ready.
The 4183.8km adventure started in Albino, the home of Acerbis, and then rode the Brenner Pass in the Alps, Austria, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, finally arriving at the North Cape. All at an average speed of around 64 kph.
Testing the bike’s dynamics with different amounts of Repsol Biofuel in the large tank, the team put the modified Monkey bike through a 304-lap test on a 1,9 KM circuit. They discovered that they had to use sponges to combat the sloshing inside the tank at the expense of losing some literage.
“It was from 7.30am until 5.30pm, with half an hour lunch break,” said project lead Sironi. “That sounds pretty good, but it was July and something like 35 degrees. But we needed to check the vehicle dynamics in different conditions.”
The final tank weighed 15.2 kg and could hold 108 litres.
For the record-breaking journey, three riders took turns at the handlebars: Mauritzio Vettor (Italian Journalist), Alicia Sornosa (Spanish adventurer) and Andrea Rastrelli (Italian off road racer) all riding at an average speed of around 65kph.
Guido Acerbis, CEO of Acerbis, said: “As a child, I admired the Guinness World Records book that my grandparents had given me and dreamed of entering it. Today, thanks to a determined and motivated team, the dream has become reality. Thanks to all of you who made it possible, and there are many of you”. How cool is that?
