Thousands of people packed Brighton seafront at the weekend for the annual National Speed Trials and the Ace Cafe Reunion Run.

Two-wheeled power was the star attraction on both Saturday and Sunday, with the fastest times during the speed trials being achieved by bikes.

Thousands of old and new bikes also descended on the seafront for the Ace Cafe event yesterday.

The fastest man on two wheels at the trials was David Hughes, from north London, who reached a speed of 155 mph on his super-charged Suzuki.

There was a huge cheer from the crowd who lined Marine Parade looking down the quarter mile course along Madeira Drive as his time of 9.01 seconds went up on the electronic board.

Earlier he had had the fastest start recorded by a bike or car at the trials when he registered 1.61 seconds to cover the first 64 feet.

Dave was thrilled by his two runs, saying: "I got away smoothly both times and they were both nice clean runs and I got the gear changes right."

He was not riding the most powerful bike at the trials. That belonged to David Holland, on his Suzuki 1500 GSXR. He also managed a top speed of 155 mph and a time of 9.75 seconds.

The fastest car was a Datsun 240 driven by Shaun Sanders, who completed the course in 10.50 seconds, He was followed by a colourful Chevron B54, driven by Mark Ferbrache in 10.91 seconds.

No car or bike managed to beat the course record of 8.9 seconds, which has stood since 1993.

One of the favourite classes was the motorcycle and sidecar event as the passengers huddled over the wheels of the bikes and sidecars, moving to best wind resistant positions as the bikes sped down the course.

Fastest woman of the day was 28-year-old Amanda George from Pimlico, central London, who completed the course in 11.21 seconds in her Pilbeam MP62 car, reaching speeds of over 150 mph.

She said: "I am pleased more and more women are taking part in motor sport. The crowds at Brighton really made it a special day out for me."

On Sunday bikes again took centre stage on the seafront with the Ace Cafe Reunion.

Thousands descended on Madeira Drive for the event, which is named after the famous cafe off the North Circular Road in London where all the bikers used to meet in the Fifties and Sixties. More than 5,000 bikes made their way to Brighton. The bikers of all ages met up in various places in the South East making the run in convoys. Nearly 300 set off from Worthing.

There were some traffic delays in and out of the town as a result of the run, but police said it all eventually moved smoothly.