At an age when most of us are looking forward to easing up and slowing down, the last thing on Erin Sills’ mind is hanging up her helmet and contemplating retirement – in fact, the sixty-year-old from San Francisco’s steely focus is pointed in entirely the opposite direction.
Having broken multiple FIM and American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) records in the highly specialised Land Speed World Records (LSWR) discipline, Sills is heading to this year’s world-famous Bonneville Motorcycle Speed Trials – scheduled to run from 23-28 August – simply looking to go fast.
Surprisingly, the former world’s fastest female motorcycle racer – who has piloted a 2017 nitrous-powered BMW S1000RR to an incredible two-hundred-and-forty-two miles per hour – was a relatively late convert to the joys of two wheels.
“I was in the corporate world,” she said. “I grew up as an athlete and played soccer competitively as a kid, but in terms of riding I started a little later in life than many at the age of thirty-five. My late husband Andy and I were both sport touring riders doing twenty to thirty-thousand miles a year on asphalt, but nothing like competitive track racing.
“The way I got involved in Land Speed, I like to describe it as the intersection of passion and opportunity. Andy and I both really enjoyed motorcycles and speed – we used to go to Nevada to ride on the open roads – and then discovered there was a sport around it that’s actually governed by sanctioning bodies.”
Sills’ first visit to Utah’s fabled Bonneville Salt Flats came in 2004 when her late husband rode for the San Diego BMW Motorcycles team, though she knew she wanted to be at the sharp end of the action and the following year she was back with her 1998 Honda VFR to compete in the Run What You Brung class.
“I went one-hundred-and-fifty-four miles-an-hour and was hooked – it’s a sensation unlike any other. Also, I am competitive so there’s a sense of accomplishment and it’s extreme and difficult so there’s a challenge to it that I just don’t find you can get anywhere else. I don’t feel like I’m an adrenaline junkie – I don’t have a great desire to jump out of aeroplanes – and I’m not a thrill-seeker in any way, I just enjoy motorcycles and I enjoy going fast and I enjoy being successful.”
A former board member for the AMA Hall of Fame who has served on the FIM Women’s Commission, Sills – who currently owns six BMWs – works as an off-road instructor for the RawHyde Adventures riding school and is also a fitness coach as well as a co-owner of the Women Riders Now website.
Sills’ contribution to LSWR should not be understated – especially when it comes to promoting gender inclusivity – and her role as a trail-blazer has been acknowledged by the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC, that has one of her motorcycles and a set of her riding kit on display.
As far as gender is concerned, Sills views the Bonneville Salt Flats as very much a level playing field.
“Men and women compete equally against one another and without a doubt it’s both mental and physical. You need the ability to stay calm under pressure if things start to go a bit sideways because the bike does not want quick input. It’s not a brute strength requirement, but it certainly is a physical sport.
“When you’re doing two-hundred miles per hour and the bike wants to blow sideways and you have to fight against it, it can get pretty physical. It does help to be able to get behind a smaller fairing so being narrow in the shoulders can be an advantage. Having said that, Al Lamb is one of the fastest in the world and he’s a big, tall Texan.”
While the incredible speeds and intense competition involved with LSWR clearly tick all the right boxes for Sills, at the heart of her love for the discipline are the friendships she has forged with fellow enthusiasts who understand her passion.
“The camaraderie, the people and the community are a huge aspect for me. I’ve made some of my best friends through only spending one week a year with them. They become like family because you breathe the same rare air. We are all like-minded people who journey to this one place in the middle of nowhere once a year to spend a week together.”
The Bonneville Motorcycle Speed Trials are scheduled to take place this year between 23-28 August. For more information click here.