A FORMER soldier smashed the blind solo world land speed record on Saturday, when he blasted down the main runway at Boscombe Down at over 170mph.

The average speed for two consecutive runs from opposite directions was 165.8mph.

Billy Baxter, known as 'The Whiz', lost his sight while serving in Bosnia as a senior NCO with the 1st Regiment, Royal Horse Artillery in 1977. The regiment is currently based in Tidworth.

Riding an unmodified, road-legal, high-performance Kawasaki Ninja motorcycle and accompanied by an outrider on a similar machine on either side of him, Billy reached speeds in excess of 170 mph on at least two of his three timed runs.

The former blind solo motorcyclist record was 78.4mph. Billy also broke the overall blind solo speed record of 141mph, but a man wearing a blindfold achieved that in a car.

The world record attempt was part of St Dunstan's Blind Ambition campaign to raise £100,000, and awareness of the work of the charity, which provides rehabilitation, training and lifelong care and support for blind ex-servicemen and women.

After the record runs, an emotional and delighted Billy said it was better than winning the lottery.

Surrounded by an invited audience of friends and media, he said he said: "If I could bottle how I feel I would be a millionaire.

"I wanted to win the record back for the blind and show what the blind and visually impaired can achieve with training."

He was supported in the attempt by members of the Royal Artillery motorcycle display team, The Flying Gunners, who are sponsored by Kawasaki. - Nigel Gillies