Wilhelm Herz Wilhelm Herz Wilhelm Herz (18 January 1912, Lampertheim, Grand Duchy of Hesse – 5 January 1998) was a motorbike racer and land speed racer. He started his career in 1932 with DKW and went over to NSU in 1939. He ran races on national and international courses like the Berlin AVUS, Grenzlandring, Helsinki, Hockenheimring, Hohenstein-Ernstthal, Isle of Man, Monza, Nürburgring, Schleizer Dreieck, Schottenring and Solitude. He gained his international reputation through numerous world records on two- and four-wheeled vehicles. He set a motorcycle record in 1951 on the Munich - Ingolstadt motorway and repeated it at Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah
Triumph Speed Twin features such as the transmission and clutch were straight from the Triumph single. Originally with girder forks, the sprung saddle was the only rear suspension as the Speed Twin had a rigid frame - also from the single cylinder production line. On the night of 14 November 1940 the majority of the city-centre of Coventry was destroyed by German bombs and the Triumph factory (which was working on an order of thousands of military specification 5T's) was completely wiped out, and all of Triumph's technical records, drawings and designs were destroyed. After the war the recovery of Triumph at Meriden