Featured Land Speed Racing 2023

2023.

just got things going for my land speed attempt in limestone, maine, usa.

i race a 1965 triumph 650 there in modified production. currently the fastest triumph 650 ever, anywhere, without a fairing, on a production frame, and on non-nitromethane.

135-plus mph.



anyway, thats not very fast for maine. my neighbor in the pits runs 219 on his ZX14 ninja, and he worries about all the oil i leak out.



still, there's nobody faster in this class, ever, anywhere.



my target is 140 mph. if i can do that, my machine will be the fastest gasoline-powered, production framed triumph 650 that has ever been, period, since 1959.

but its way hard to get that last 4.5 mph.



there are some hot BSAs coming in this year. the A65s dominated the modified production class until me and another guy brought in the bonnevilles, but they may catch up.

stay tuned.

 

thank you. not just me. the two sons have records in the pure production 250 OHC class, on a bone stock 250 ninja. 109 mph.

they may run the 650, too, if i cant get my messed up hip joints to work right.

 

i knew a guy who ran a supercharged 1971 T120 at 150mph. he was 84.

 

we'll see what we can do. i tried VP Q16 oxygenated fule last year. still qualifies as gasoline because theres no nitrous and no nitromethane. didnt help any. tried to pull gearing for 139, and the machine just couldnt do it. so this time im returning to the gearing that got me 135 and ill see what i can get out of it.

the main issue is getting out of the wind. theres no fairing or aerodynamic aids of any kind in this class, and it all boils down to what i do with design and folding myself up. the rules will allow a front fender and wheel discs, but id prefer not to use them.

ive lost ten pounds to try to get closer to the tank, and im looking to lose ten more. im 67 years old and it takes some doing to fold up as tight as i need. i overstretched a while back and ive been limping now for two months.

 

its one direction, on a B52 runway, 12,800 feet long. longest paved course in the world. it was a secondary destination for the american space shuttle- they landed one there once. that would have been something to see.

setting it up for two ways would mean doubling the lights and starting boxes, and theres not a lot on money to do that in LSR unless big-name record-seeking teams come and donate a lot of bucks. so instead of a timed mile, there's a 132-foot section between the lights where you're timed at the end of one mile, and then another at the end of the mile point five.

running one direction is both good and bad. it means that if you have a tailwind, then the gods of speed will smile on you. but if theres a headwind, there's nothing anybody can do about it. when i ran my machine three years ago, i blew it up at 131, and had to park it while the kids ran our other bike, a little ninja 250, in production. then for the next three days there was a 12 mph tail wind-- i was crying-- i could have flown down that course. but the kids all came home with records.

even though its not as long as the courses on the various salt flats, loring is where the fastest sit-down motorcycle ever built set the record. 311 mph:

 

july sometime. ive bought the motel rooms and think no more about it.

looking over the bikes tomorrow . . .

 

agh

concrete will kill you. roofers die young doing that shit.

age is inevitable