A VICAR is attempting to set the first Guinness World Record for the speed of a motorcycle hearse carrying a coffin.

The Rev Ray Biddiss, who has created his own motorcycle hearse, said he hopes to beat 100mph in the attempt which is being made at Elvington Airfield today.

Mr Biddiss, who has a full-time ministry holding life celebration funerals for religious and non-religious people, said the vehicle’s three-cylinder 2.3 litre Triumph Rocket III engine is the biggest in the world.

“As long as we get over 80mph we have got the record, but I’m determined to go over the ton. If not, it’s not really a record to me,” he said.

Mr Biddiss, 57, has been trying to create the perfect motorcycle hearse since his first attempt in 2008.

He said: “As a biker for over 40 years I personally wouldn’t want to be in a car for my final journey.

“There was a guy who started motorcycle hearses in this country, with a sidecar designed as a hearse. I have never liked sidecars. As a biker I wouldn’t be seen dead in a sidecar,” he joked.

In partnership with DTB Panther Trikes, of Liversedge, he came up with the idea of building a one-piece motorcycle hearse.

Rev Biddiss bought the Triumph Rocket III engine and Panther Trikes created the hybrid trike hearse, called The Rocket, by merging the body of the British-made 2008 Triumph Rocket III trike conversion with a coffin carrier.

He said: “In the biking world the hearse is the very last emergency service. If my dream comes true, and I set a world record, every biker will live with the reassurance that they can take their final ride in dignity, in style and in the fastest motorcycle hearse in the world.”

Mr Biddiss was carrying out the attempt at 11am today on the 3,000-metre long airfield.