Motorheads, another hallowed record falls...

[mbelectric]

This today on the salt:

 

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/092210dnbusNearburg.11705dcf8.html

 

and the record they took:

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lightning72/sets/72157617400229757/

 

Kids, this record stood 45 years..and it was set with a 4 engined, 4 wheel drive monster of a streamliner in 1965...the heyday of Bonneville, when jet engined cars went 500mph. (Breedlove,Arfons)

 

Fastforward 45 years..

 

This team took the record with a 1 engined, normally-aspirated two wheel drive streamliner.

 

Quite an impressive achievement.

 

BTW, 4 other wheel-driven cars have been over 400mph in the last two days. Never seen it like that, ever.

 

Now, if a bike could reach 375....

 

MB>

[Matts_12GS]

It must have been something to hear that 4 engine monster at song.

 

 

[philbytx]

That is a neat story....and well done with a single V8

[James Clark]

Gale Banks' association with BBS goes back to 1958, when Banks owned a nearby speed shop in Lynwood. Gale chose BBS to ensure precision balancing of his high-performance auto and marine engines. After that, BBS balanced the Banks engines for many of Gale's record-breaking speed runs at Bonneville, including World's Fastest Passenger Car (268 mph in 1986), the World's Fastest Piston-engine Automobile with Al Teague (432 mph in 1997) and the World's Fastest Pickup Truck, the Banks Sidewinder® Dakota (222 mph in 2002).

 

 

[mbelectric]

I'm well aware of the Al Teague streamliner..In fact I was just off the course in 1992, awaiting a return run, after qualifying a modified sports record (246), had to clear the course as FIM cars were about to run, and was able to watch him scream by at the 5 mile and see him exit at 432...biggest noise I've ever heard on the salt from an engine. At the 5 I could hear all 4 shifts.. Blown KB hemi, stage 5 heads, 85% nitro. Oo-lala...if you've never seen anything run over 400, put it on your bucket list. Hearing a 3-4 gearshift at 370 is wild..

 

About the 432. His combined avg for two runs, and a record, was 409 and change. The 432 is an exit speed purely for informational

purposes and does not factor in as a speed towards the record. It DOES make him the fastest single engined , piston driven vehicle, but not for a record. The 409 is the two way average.

 

You won't find a nicer man on the salt. The car is retired, and so is Al.

 

Banks jumped in with some money towards the end. All of the work had already been done by that point. Prior to that it was Teague and Speedomotive out of LA. And he had to build an extension on his garage just to fit the thing in..that's where the majority of the work was done. His wife put up with many a long night. Good woman she is.

 

I love the salt.

 

MB>

[mbelectric]

Here's a vid of the initial run of the "Spirit of Rett". Note the large Mile markers as they whiz by at 400...

 

 

MB>

[James Clark]

About the 432. His combined avg for two runs, and a record, was 409 and change. The 432 is an exit speed purely for informational

purposes and does not factor in as a speed towards the record. It DOES make him the fastest single engined , piston driven vehicle, but not for a record. The 409 is the two way average.

 

http://www.ugofadini.com/teaguestory.html

 

Faster than "Goldenrod", but not fast enough, everybody thought, to take its mile record: the FIA rules state that the new speed must be at least one per cent higher to be recognised as a new record (the speed over the kilo was more than enough, but for some reason nobody paied attention...). After a few weeks, though, the FIA made it clear that the categories for the official International and World records had changed some time earlier, separating blown and unblown engine classes: Teague's Keith Black Chrysler Hemi was supercharged; the four Chrysler Hemi's of "Goldenrod" were not. The mile record set by the "Speed-O-Motive" (together with the one on the kilo) went in the books, albeit in a different class than "Goldenrod": Category A, Group II, Class 11 (over 8 litres), while "Goldenrod" is in Group I. It doesn't matter: from then on Al Teague was (and still is to this day) in the golden book as the driver (and builder) of the fastest automobile on land! Of course, as we know Don Vesco in 1999 drove his Turbinator to a SCTA/BNI record of over 427 mph, but failed to comply with the slightly more restrictive rules of the FIA. Whatever your opinion regarding sanctioning problems, anyway Vesco's car has a turbine engine, so "Spirit of 76" still is the fastest piston engined or, if you like, "proper" automobile on land... (read "Who holds the "wheel-driven" LSR?" for more details over this matter)

 

http://www.ugofadini.com/lsrwdold.html

 

[mbelectric]

And now, on with our regularly scheduled program...

 

<<<<<

 

It is AGAIN the fastest motorcycle in the world.

 

3 consecutive runs on Saturday went as follows:

 

#1

 

entry 360.3

mile 366.7

exit 373.8

 

#2

 

entry 361

mile 365

exit 369

 

damn, not enough, so 1 more try...

 

#3

 

entry 379.3

mile 386.9

exit 394

 

yea, that's right, a tick under 400

 

A new FIM average, pending ratification:

 

376.156

 

The record is back home.

 

Details to follow,

 

MB>

 

[russell_bynum]

Frickin sweet!

[TEWKS]

Details to follow

 

 

I'd like to hear about this!

 

 

 

Pat

[mbelectric]

And I forgot, since 6th gear was trashed, the 'liner was re-cogged (rear sprockets) and 6th wasn't used on the last run... Red line was at 10.5k...so I guess you could say "it pulled the gear".

 

So, 394 out the back door, with a top gear missing and 28lbs boost, on gasoline..

 

I'd like to think 400 next year could be possible.

 

MB>

 

 

[RonStewart]

What is your role in this, MB?

[mbelectric]

crew member, design consultant, chief bonehead.

 

MB>

[Tony_K]

Mark, I don't know how I always forget to mention this but this guy here is my friends father Sam Wheeler Pretty cool...

[mbelectric]

Small world Tony.

 

Sam was the first rider above the magical 350 mark. And he did it with (1) Kawi engine, in a small streamliner. Very small crew and program.

 

Very respected by all of us here.

 

MB>

[Tony_K]

It's always a small world.

[RonStewart]

It's always a small world.

Especially at 400 mph.

[mbelectric]

Here's a good vid from a run on Saturday by a cat from Salt Lake on a Suz Hayabusa, running on a 240+ record....needless to say, wheel spin prevented a record. Catch the rear breakin' loose at the 5 mile just a tick under 240.

 

Man, I love a 'Busa with a turbo..

 

 

enjoy,

 

MB>

[mbelectric]

...and a short vid from the 'liners first of 3 runs Saturday.

 

Pardon the cheering section.

 

http://www.youtube.com/ignition3#p/a/u/0/aJUoFMeMTqo

 

Catch the tower sayin' "not quite good enough"..

 

and then 2 other runs were made..

 

Better stuff (vid) to follow, for sure.

 

MB>

[ShovelStrokeEd]

Man, I love a 'Busa with a turbo.. grin

 

Traction, as you start pushing the aerodynamic limits of the bike, is certainly a problem on the Salt. I was out there as well on the day of Al Teague's run. You could here that thing clawing for bite as well and that was clear back at the starting line. Actually, you probably could have heard that car back in SLC.

 

We had 70 lbs of lead hung from the centerstand mount on the Luftmeister bike. Traction wasn't our problem, fueling was. As we were pulling 2 decent rods and a crank out of one motor to rebuild the spare, Vesco came by and said, "Now you are getting it, if you have any parts left and the end of the meet, you didn't run hard enough."

 

Back to turbo Busa, when they have traction, they are just amazing. I watched a guy a couple of months ago, on a drag strip, run 7.32 at 193 mph in 1/4 mile, no bars either. Impressive they are!

[mbelectric]

Ed, the Luftmeister, was that Matt Capri's bike? The K1?

 

True that, traction and tires are always a battle. Most of the open bikes have lead attached to the swing arm.

 

Good, hard salt may cure traction issues, but it's rare that good salt exists anymore. This meet was so-so. As the vid's show, when the color of the racing surface shows brown, ya know the salt surface is compromised. Today's surface is very different than that of 20 years ago...years of mining have changed mother nature's deposits, and drainage patterns by the addition of culverts/dikes haven't helped.

 

In fact, traction is usually not an issue with the streamliner, but tires factored into the equation this meet. The supply of tires were exhausted from the last 4 years, and a different vendor was found for the Mickey Thompsons. Poor quality control methods in the manufacturing process produced tires that proved less than satisfactory, so much so, that 3 runs were wasted while chasing handling issues. And these things aren't cheap, try finding tires rated for 400-500 mph..

 

Oh, and the fueling/tuning...everyone forgets about the 4200ft altitude...

 

MB>

 

 

[mbelectric]

Teaser:

 

http://www.leckey.tv/www.leckey.tv/Ack-Attack.html

 

MB>