700 Horsepower from Suzuki Hayabusa

Perhaps the most insane news we've posted on Gizmag this week comes from the inaugural DynoJet Horsepower Challenge held last weekend in Valdosta, Georgia, USA. Basically, DynoJet make motorcycle dynamometers and they provided a bunch oif them and anybody could roll up and the guy whose bike made the most horsepower won. The winning fellow was Hank Booth of Great Falls, Montana, whose highly modified 1999 Suzuki 1300GSXR Hayabusa motorcycle with an NLR turbocharger cranked out an incredible 701.32 horsepower.

Other winners in the Import Unlimited class with Booth included; RCC Turbo/Richard Peppler, of Ontario with 559.02 HP, and Glen Bertagnoli coming in third with a 445.16. All of the top three competitors were using the Suzuki Hayabusa engine.

Revving the scale in other classes were Kent Stotz with 210 bhp on a turbo powered Honda in the Imported V-Twin Cruiser Open class while Don Smith squeezed a respectable 118 bhp out of a 600cc Suzuki.

The domestic bike category was dominated by, well, what else would you expect ... Harley Davidson. The champ in this class was Kevin Kelly of Weston, Florida who managed to get his harley producing 247 horsepower in the V-twin Unlimited category, narrowly ahead of Nick Trask of Phoenix, Arizona whose Harley generated 228 horses.

Brandon Rybicki's turbo-powered Harley V-Rod produced 191 horses.

BUB 7 Streamliner motorcycle breaks 367mph for new world record

Looking more like a long, blurred, red flash than a motorcycle, the BUB 7 Streamliner is now the fastest motorcycle on earth (pending FIM verification) after Chris Carr set a new FIM world record and AMA national record at 367.382mph (591.244kmh) through the mile - and an exit speed of 372.534mph (599.534kmh) - at the Cook Private Meet at the Bonneville Salt Flats Utah. It probably also makes Carr one of the bravest men on the planet. BUB 7 beat the previous record of 360.913mph (580.833kmh), set by Team Ack Attack last year. We originally covered the BUB 7 when it broke through the 350mph (563km) barrier back in 2006.

To achieve this new incredible speed, the BUB 7 was powered by a 3-liter, turbocharged, 16-valve V4 that generated an estimated 500hp in a package the size of a 1-liter V-twin, because the maximum limit for this land speed racing is 3000cc. This purpose-built motor was designed with one thing in mind – breaking the motorcycle world record. Mission accomplished!

The engine is a big bang type, so it must gain traction, then relax and then transfer power with the next power pulse. Unlike drag racing, one of the challenges all teams competing in land speed record racing face is that their motorcycles have to make two runs; a down and a return that are combined for an overall average, so the engine has to survive for both runs without any modifications.

But power isn’t everything … this winter, the 'Seven' underwent further streamlining using A2 Wind Tunnel (A2WT) facility in South Carolina, where it scored the lowest coefficient of drag (CoD) that the A2WT has ever recorded - a CoD 0.09.

Denis Manning, designer and builder of the Seven, has been in LSR (Land Speed Racing) for the better part of 40 years, and first got the record in 1970 with a Harley-powered Streamliner with rider Cal Rayborn at 265.492mph. This is his seventh Streamliner. He has held the fastest motorcycle record with two of them (twice with the Seven).

Not much more information at this stage, but watch the video below to show how fast 350mph is when the BUB 7 Streamliner broke that record. The team is now aiming for the 400mph record.

Motorcycle Land Speed Record pushed to 350 mph

Denis Manning’s motorcycles have been chasing world land speed records for over three decades and in September, the BUB 7 Streamliner he designed and built captured the ultimate goal when it set the new absolute motorcycle land speed record at Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats. Rider Chris Carr piloted the BUB 7 streamliner to 354.832 mph on the down run and 346.939 mph on the return for an average speed of 350.885 mph, a new world record. Prior to the 2006 BUB Motorcycle Speed Trials the absolute motorcycle land speed record had not been broken since Dave Campos achieved his 322.149 mph world record run in 1990.

Of course, building the world's fastest motorcycle from the ground up is nothing new to Manning. In 1970 another Manning-built streamliner earned the title of world's fastest motorcycle. That machine was driven 265.492mph by legendary road racer Cal Rayborn.

In over 30 years of chasing land speed records Denis Manning, and his team, have overcome some unique challenges in order to reach success. In September 2007, they will once more return to the salt to defend their absolute motorcycle land speed title at the fourth annual gathering of the world’s fastest motorcycles, the BUB Motorcycle Speed Trials scheduled for September 2 – 6, 2007. Competitors from around the globe will again meet on the Utah’s legendary Bonneville Salt Flats. The FIM (Federation Internationale de Motocyclisme) and AMA (American Motorcyclist Association) sanctioned event is the only land speed racing meet solely dedicated to motorcycles, offering the world’s top builders and racers the opportunity to break world and national speed records.

Denis Manning, a 2006 inductee in the Motorcycle Hall of Fame, is the designer, builder, and owner of the BUB #7 streamliner – and no stranger to record-breaking speed. In 1970 another Manning-designed streamliner was the fastest motorcycle in the world. That year Cal Rayborn piloted Manning’s streamliner at the Bonneville Salt Flats to a two-way average of 265.492.

The current world-record setting BUB streamliner, the “#7” sponsored by Drag Specialties & Parts Unlimited, is so named because it is the seventh streamliner Denis Manning has designed and crafted. The streamliner features numerous engineering firsts, including a 3000cc, 425hp engine purpose-designed and built for land speed racing. Says Manning, “The goal is to continue developing and testing the #7 streamliner. We hope to retain the record at the next BUB Motorcycle Speed Trials. Our dedication and hard-work paid off this year. I have no doubt next year will be just as exciting.

source : http://www.gizmag.com