Tuk tuk goes for world speed record attempt

Businessman Matt Everard will attempt to set a tuk tuk world speed record in early May. Father of two teenagers Matt Everard acquired his 48 year old open framed machine as a result of a night on eBay, and maybe a mid-life crisis/ motorbike replacement syndrome".  The record attempt will be put petrol head Matt and his open framed non-aerodynamic machine, to the test as they fly down one of the longest runways in the UK at a planned speed event in North Yorkshire.

The tuk tuk was manufactured in 1971 as a Bangkok Taxi and rebuilt over five month and costing  £20,000. The original two stroke 350cc engine has been replaced with a modern 1300cc fuel-injected Daihatsu van engine. This will give it a lot more power enabling it to beat the current world record of 68mph and maybe reach a wobbly 90mph+!




Matt spoke about the motivation behind the tuk tuk world record speed attempt "If I have a regret in life, it’s that I should have taken my bike test back in the 80’s when it was so much easier".  His love of speed was inspired by his father who had various sports cars through out his life including a Triumph TR4A, E Type Jaguar, Jenson Interceptor, Ferrari 308 GTB, Porsche 928 amongst others.  At Matt's own petrol head peak around 2010, he had -  eight cars, two boats, a jet ski and a quad bike! He learned how to drive on a dumper truck in a field and at the age of 13 he took his parents Ford Sierra while they were out and it a gatepost.

Speaking about the purchase Matt said "Imagine explaining to your straight-talking Essex wife that, after she went up to bed one night, you ended up buying a Thai tuk tuk from a bloke on the Internet. This ridiculous purchase is 330 miles away, an eight hour round trip journey to collect with a trailer and you haven’t even see it.  Oh how we laughed!"

Matt has many more stories to tell not least his wide array of charity work including  running a local group called Billericay Acts of Random Kindness in Jan 2018 -Dec 2018.  Its achievements included getting two defibrillators installed in two local schools. 

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