A Rider With No Fear
On July 19 1962 drivers on the Autobahn near Friedberg in Germany saw a cyclist riding behind a specially prepared Mercedes 300 SL. José Meiffret reached 204.93708 km per hour which is 127.32 miles per hour. It was the fastest speed ever recorded by a cyclist at that time.
Only a few weeks later Burt Munro set a motorcycle speed record on a forty two year old Indian Scout at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah with a top speed of about 288 km per hour which is about 179 miles per hour. Both men used older machines that had been rebuilt many times and both efforts took place during the same summer.
Early Life and First Race
José Meiffret was born in 1913. He lost his parents early in life and grew up as an orphan. He began cycling as a child and later entered his first race. He was dropped from the field and other riders laughed at him. Doctors told him he had a weak heart.
Meiffret visited Henri Desgrange who advised him to try motor paced racing. This type of racing involved riding behind cars or motorcycles on tracks or open roads. The air behind the vehicle formed a partial vacuum which allowed the cyclist to reach higher speeds.
The Montlhéry Crash
In 1952 Meiffret attempted a speed record at the concrete track at the Autodrome de Montlhéry in France. The track was twenty four years old and the surface was rough and worn. Meiffret reached about 128 km per hour which is about 79 miles per hour before he crashed.
Clifford Graves reported that Meiffret flew through the air tumbled about three hundred feet which is about ninety one metres and slid about twenty additional feet which is about six metres. He suffered five skull fractures. Newspapers announced that he was close to death. He survived and later made a full recovery.
During his recovery he spent time with Trappist monks and wrote a book titled Breviaire du Champion Cycliste which was published in 1957. Henri Desgrange contributed a written message to the book.
The 1962 Autobahn Record and Later Years
Ten years after the Montlhéry crash Meiffret returned to speed attempts. His most famous run took place behind the modified Mercedes 300 SL that carried a wooden shield to reduce wind. Meiffret used a bicycle with a one hundred thirty tooth chain ring.
When he passed the second flag the chronometers recorded 17.580 seconds. In his jersey he carried a written note asking not to feel sorrow in case of a fatal accident and to bury him at the roadside if doctors could do no more.
In 1973 at the age of fifty nine he still reached 146.341 km per hour which is about 90.91 miles per hour. Only three riders surpassed his Autobahn speed in later decades. They were Alan Abbott John Howard and Fred Rompelberg. Meiffret died in 1985. His one hundred thirty tooth chain ring remains preserved among collectors and cycling historians.
On July 19 1962 drivers on the Autobahn near Friedberg noticed police escorts, closed lanes, and a Mercedes 300 SL fitted with a strange wooden shield.
Behind it waited a thin cyclist in a helmet.
No one on the roadside had ever seen a bicycle prepared for a run like this…🧵 pic.twitter.com/QyejUGRSDo
— Fascinating True Stories (@FascinatingTrue) November 8, 2025