1998 Team Triumph Texas (bike 604) Sets New Bonneville Land Speed Record of 200.249 mph!

This is the final wrap-up for the TTT/Mabry Racing 2001 racing season at Bonneville. This was one of those years of mixed results: None of the bikes performed anywhere near their potential but we did get a new record and Top Bike Speed of the meet.

The single-engine Triumph (“new” DOHC engine) turbo, fuel, partial streamliner currently holds the record in the APS-BF 1000CC class at 200.249-MPH with a fastest one-way run to date of somewhere in the low 220’s. It is also the fastest 1000CC motorcycle in history, faster even than the full streamliners. It performed very well in dyno tests before the meet but only ran a frustrating ~190-MPH at Bonneville with elusive ignition problems that could not be fixed, at least in a timely manner as to not take too much time from the dual-engine bike. 

The dual-engine Triumph (“old” pushrod engines) turbo, fuel, partial streamliner held the existing record in the APS-PBF 3000CC class at 235.295-MPH. It holds the further distinction of being the “Fastest Real Motorcycle in the World” with a one-way run of over 261-MPH. A “real” motorcycle being one you sit ‘on’ rather than ‘in‘, you steer with handlebars, is powered by motorcycle engine(s), and you ride rather than drive. The following is the daily log summary of this motorcycle, No. 601 - which has a history of not running its’ best until Thursday & Friday of the annual meet:

Monday: 213-MPH with LOTS of wheelspin on a very slick track.

Tuesday: Jon wanted to disable one cylinder and run only 5 as a way to control wheelspin - this has worked in the past, producing the “World’s Fastest 5-Cylinder Triumph”! It didn’t work this time and wouldn’t make any RPM.

Wednesday: Heavy vibration at the 2 1/4 mile necessitated a shutdown at 212-MPH. The culprit was a broken connector belt, which also caused some minor damage. A new belt was installed, the damage repaired and the bike ran 205, 212, 230 and 228-MPH at the various timing traps. The track was still slick and high wind gusts required shutdown before “qualifying speed” of >235.295-MPH was reached.

Thursday: The bike ran 211, 219, 231 and 236, with an exit speed of 242-MPH, thus qualifying to attempt a new record on Friday. Exit speeds do not count as qualifying or record speeds - they are a tuning-aid and bragging-rights speed.

Friday: On a still slick track with Jon ‘finessing‘ 450-BHP and a “too-hard-hitting turbo“, the bike ran 216, 225, 237 and 241, with an exit speed of 246-MPH. The previous day’s 236 was averaged with Friday’s 241, for a new record of 238.741-MPH.

Ed Mabry, David Wade and Jon & Anita Minonno were “disappointed but pleased” with a new record and Top Bike Time. The frustration is the extreme potential of these motorcycles balanced against the extreme difficulty of running consistently fast under such adverse conditions.

The single engine Harley Davidson engine normally aspirated gas partial streamliner, operated by Crew Chief Ken Walthal and rookie rider Glen Narcho, experienced some minor glitches but is progressing well towards competition licensing and de-bugging. Stay tuned on this one!

Congratulations to Russell Duke from Austin and Sidney Conn from S. Carolina for their new record(s) with the Cooked Goose Racing Moto Guzzi team. And of course to Bill (Shogun) Jenkins for at least one new record with the 2-carb, NOS injected 1939 BSA M20 warbike!

Some trivia: Jon Minonno of TTT is the only open-wheel motorcycle rider in history to earn his “AA” racing license, allowing him to compete in the arcane speed range of 250-299 MPH! This has been primarily reserved for drivers of very fast cars and a very few pilots of fully streamlined motorcycles.

Mike Corbin’s “Privateer” LSRacer that is gunning for our single engine record went home with a basketful of fried parts after their injector/turbo design configuration resulted in a combination of very lean/very rich cylinder conditions. Welcome to Bonneville, boys! Keep your eye on this bike - they will be back.

There were almost 400 entries at this years SCTA/BNI Bonneville Nationals Speed Week.  One of the big dual engine diesel trucks with 2 V8’s, 2 superchargers and 4 turbochargers ran over 250-MPH this year!

Be sure to read more about Texas based Land Speed Racing teams in TEXMOTO Magazine.

Until next year,
Dave Howe for TTT

1998 Speed Week Summary

 Classes:

     MVG                Modified Vintage Gas
     APS - ABF     Altered (unlimited) frame, Partial Streamlining
                              Altered (unlimited) engine, Blown, Fuel
     APS - PBF     Altered (unlimited) frame, Partial Streamlining
                              Pushrod engine, Blown, Fuel

<[Home]>