Riding The Ragged Edge

the Bonneville Salt Flats over 47 square miles of the fastest land on earth literally thousands of land speed records have been set on this ancient seabed in 1990 dave compost grove is Harley Davidson streamliner into the record books with a three hundred twenty two mile-per-hour run braking Don vests codes motorcycle streamliner record that it stood for an amazing sixteen years for more than a decade and a half countless attempts have been made to surpass the compost three hundred twenty two mile per hour mark with some ending in catastrophe and all ending far short of their goal in 2002 motorcycle engineer Mike active set his sights on this now legendary record with a simple goal break it the AK attack as it soon would be called was designed and built around two critical elements horsepower and traction twin suzuki hayabusa motors and Mickey Thompson tires were actives choice the streamliners aerodynamics were centered around subsonic aircraft and missile design with a parabolic nose and straight sides gradually tapered to the rear of the body its shape and appearance would truly resemble a land speed rocket rather than a two-wheeled piston powered machine in the end Mike akka TIF and his team would build a stream liner unique in its design and capable of record crushing speeds to pilot the two-wheeled monster active would enlist renowned motorcycle racer Jimmy Odum as with all land speed racing vehicles and drivers the AK attack and Odom would need to make licensing runs at lower speeds to ensure the safety of the vehicle and the ability of the driver we've had some preliminary runs at Bonneville two weeks ago we had to go through the licensing process and that went very smoothly for us they let us skip a couple licenses and start at 150 and then we ran 175 and then ultimately ran to 20 and the meet was over that got Jimmy licensed to go go for it now with licensing completed Mike active turned his complete attention to the bub motorcycle speed trials in early September of 2004 it was here with officials from the International motorcycle Federation that the AK attack would begin its assault on the 14 year old ultimate motorcycle land speed record as the team arrived at Bonneville thunderstorms had rolled across the salt flats leaving the course in pit areas covered by as much as half an inch of water it was a difficult beginning to what would be an even more difficult meet knowing that weather and course conditions change from one day to the next the crew decided to set up shop and hope for the best the course did begin to dry but it wasn't until towards the end of a meet that Mike active considered running the powerful stream liner song conditions had improved but were far from ideal the track was still moist in some locations and downright wet and others our goal when we started this was to try to set a new ultimate land speed record and that's what we're aiming to do whether we'll be successful or not we're going to see here pretty quick Denis Manning owner designer and builder of the bub number-7 streamliner and a real contender for the world record ran first at 237 miles per hour it was a respectable run but nowhere near what would be needed after watching the number 7 run Mike active Odom and the crew moved an AK attack into line and prepared to run however what they didn't know was that this very run would end in near catastrophe Odom a fearsome competitor threw caution to the wind and powered down the track at breakneck speed fighting to maintain control Odom powered through the entry lights at over 300 miles per hour when suddenly a gust of wind sent the streamliner into a tailspin and over 300 miles per hour all the safety equipment worked properly then after what seemed like an eternity autumn climbed from the streamliner without injury he got in the vehicle by the vehicle standing unbelieveably the motorcycle had suffered only minor damage as the wounded insult covered streamliner was brought back to the pits the unanswered question was with the top one AK attack ever be capable of achieving a land speed record the answer to this question came remarkably quick undaunted by the terrifying crash and strengthened by the resolve to eclipse the record the top one AK attack racing team returned to the Bonneville Salt Flats an amazing one month later to claim a motorcycle land speed record during the world finals event in October the streamliner would prove that it belonged among the greatest motorcycles of all time late in the afternoon autumn was strapped into the streamliner a final wind check was made and the motorcycle began its first journey into the record price as the top one AK attack entered the timing blocks things both look and sounded good as the streamliner disappeared down the course officials announced the speed an amazing 330 miles per hour as the team celebrated this first run they knew that in order to set a new BN is ETA record the pack attack would have to duplicate this amazing run the following day the streamliner would spend its first night and impound along with other record-setting vehicles and await its return pass in the chill of the pre-dawn the bike seemed ready for the final leg of its first record as the first rays of Sun finally broke across the soul the only thing that stood between the top 1ak attack at a new land speed record was seven miles of hard song at 9:40 6:00 a.m. Odom began his return run the streamline is pricked by a racing fan again officials announce the speed 325 miles per hour this speed coupled with the 330 mile per hour run the previous day gave the AK attack a new Bien is CTA land speed record of an incredible 328 miles per hour the joy the team felt at this remarkable achievement was tempered by the fact that the official FIM world record was still not theirs they would have to wait to where the world record crowd as acket if and his crew prepared for the upcoming season a number of improvements were made to the streamliner perhaps the most impressive was the improvement in horsepower the 2004 SCT a BNI record was set with the streamliner producing a total of 415 horsepower with modifications to the engines the top one AK attack was now producing over 900 horsepower however 2005 proved to be a disappointing year at the Bonneville Salt Flats weather and solid conditions were poor and racing officials only managed to create a 5 mile course with the FIM world record within grasp the decision was made to travel halfway around the world to Lake Gardner Australia it was here some thought the AK attack could surpass the campos record however with water covering much of the salt and very poor track conditions the streamliner could do nothing more than a few trial runs it would be at the hallowed Bonneville Speedway where this record would be broken as the 2006 racing season began at Bonneville that AK attack arrived sporting a new color more horsepower an innovative vehicle push system and a new driver mike acket if had enlisted streamliner veteran rocky robinson to drive the yak attack it was the goal of active and the top one AK attack team to run the streamliner fast make sure there were no mechanical problems and give Robinson his first high-speed runs in the motorcycle remember when they strap you there take a deep breath cuz I'll pull them suckers down so hard won't be able breathe with his name jokingly velcroed on to his racing suit Robinson was anxious to prove his abilities and II would not disappoint the AK attack both looked and sounded good is it flew by as Robinson pulled the high-speed shoots the speed was announced 309 miles per hour both driver and team were relieved to have this first high-speed pass completed say what this thing at speed saw it's the most stable team I mean the wind was a factor but just going down to course hon yeah we didn't use just one rule no great this is number you got to really get on it as hard as you can to that that first two miles and then because that'll just add to this speed here you did good eager to increase the speed a team once again lined up to put the motorcycle on course as the team prepared to make their second run the wind picked up just as it done when the streamliner had crashed in 2004 although it was within acceptable limits it put the crew in Robinson on edge after several hours Mike active made the decision to run the motorcycle just as before if the AK attack both looked and sounded incredible 314 miles per hour if there were any doubts about the potential of this streamlined motorcycle and its new pilot they were now gone 340 my first run was 309 and it's only my I've only made two passes in this bike so I'm pretty confident we're gonna do real good in less than one month the AK attack would be back on the Bonneville Salt Flats for the bub Speed Trials and their hope to claim the ultimate motorcycle land speed record as August turned to September conditions at the Bonneville Salt Flats did nothing but improve racing officials had created an 11 mile course of near-perfect track and the AK attack was prepared to use every inch on the opening day of the bub Speed Trials the team wasted no time moving the AK attack to the starting line and their prepare the motorcycle to make its first of two history braking runs spectators hoping to see the two-wheeled missile make land speed history would not be disappointed in the warm afternoon Sun the streamliner emerged from the horizon had it straight down the course at a speed never before achieved by a streamlined motorcycle 344 miles per hour I was beautiful as soon as I released from the plank the big thing we're trying to do is build as much speed as we can the beginning of the run it might a tune while I was trying too hard and I lift the tire up and I'm the thing spun around a little bit so I decided to you know not be quite so aggressive I let it come down a little bit then I just get all my shift points at the that's when the timing light came on and going through the measured mile Mike was just like on Rails at work just perfectly and I didn't even hit the parachutes out to the measured mile I was dead center so I just wrote it for about 3/4 mile let it slow down on its own and then I hit the shoe everything seemed to work good for halfway there went three forty four point six I believe it was six something happy with the Ryan rocky said it worked perfectly we're going to try to turn this thing around ASAP and see if we can back this thing up we are we're in the record books so after 16 years you have a new one the celebrations were short at congratulations brief as the team would now need to turn the streamliner around and prepare for its return run the AK attack would have to duplicate this amazing speed now headed in the opposite direction that's all part of the equation you know everything's got to be right you got to have the track you gotta have everything working he had every right rider and I think we got it all together right at this point in just over one hour the streamliner was ready and it's second history breaking attempt had begun as the streamliner came into view the beauty power and sheer speed was something that would be unforgettable it's the top one AG attack disappeared officials announce the speed 340 miles per hour they had done the AK attempt was now the fastest motorcycle in the world the new ultimate motorcycle land speed record was now three hundred forty two point seven nine seven miles per hour and was owned solely by team top one and the top one AK attack the celebration handshakes and hugs continued well into the late afternoon as crews spectators and officials celebrated this new motorcycle land speed record what happened next however is the stuff Bonneville legends are made of in less than 48 hours the new motorcycle land speed record would be eclipsed by another the bub number seven streamliner piloted by Chris Carr would add another seven miles per hour to the record and would claim for itself the title of world's fastest motorcycle the crew and a Kotak fans were devastated how could a land speed record stand for an incredible 16 years and then be broken twice within 48 hours only at Bonneville Mike active however wouldn't rest until they have reclaim the record or blue the bike up trying the AK attack was once again lined up and ready to run rocketing down the course the streamliner blazed through the timing lights in over 347 miles per hour the fastest time yet for the motorcycle mic discuss the speed with rocky and that asked him to push the motorcycle to its limits rocky would do just that the result was at 349 mile per hour pass the crew tried to quickly turn the streamliner around and continue upping their speed however Mother Nature was about to speak and she would have the final word the wind slowly began to increase finally reaching the point that it was just too risky to run the top one AK attack would have to try again the next day runs the following morning however proved to be frustrating at best as the top one AK attacking crew rode the ragged edge things finally began to come apart on its final run of the meet the streamliner could do nothing more than limp off the course unable to finish its last run the crew could do nothing more than watch this remarkable machine finally come to a stop it had been an amazing event but one that had left Mike rocky and the crew both physically spent and emotionally drained as 2006 rolled into 2007 a few changes had been made with the streamliner including the most visible one rear tail doors the crew had decided to add them in hopes of lessening the drag at high speed and then his air brakes as they were open to allow the deployment of parachutes what no one would fully understand was the addition of this tail section would compromise the stability of the streamliner in a very subtle yet disastrous way Mike active decided to give rocky some seat time in the streamliner and to do a shakedown run at the 2007 Speed Week meet well this first run is a shakedown run we've added a tail to the bike and to access the parachutes the tail has to open up so we're going to try that out make sure it works good we also added traction control the bikes we're gonna see how that works out here the conditions aren't real good but I guess it's a you know it'll definitely help us out going into the bub meeting a couple weeks the only run the top one AK attack would make proved to be nerve-wracking what appeared to be a good ride turned ugly as rocky slowed the streamliner down to the measured mile he began easing the streamliner to the left of the course an indication to racing official that the vehicle or driver was in trouble as the motorcycle was brought to a stop smoke coming from the bike signaled emergency personnel of the situation it was quickly taken care of but not before substantial damage to the streamliners wiring had been done while we were going along and our goal was to try out a lot of things we had these new doors we had to open and close a few times when I got to about the just before the floor I felt a big bang and smoke filled the cockpit apparently we lost a rod and I went through the case and when it did it caught on fire and so I was filled with smoke by time I got it stopped it was on fire and I had to bail out my guys got me but I was never in any danger or anything we just had some bad luck we're heading back right now and we got four new moats four motors back there so we got plenty of motors would just put a couple more together and get ready to head out of here for both cross our finger hopefully all our bad Luck's have happened here the 2007 bub motorcycle speed trials in September would present the only chance during the year for the top one AK attack to attempt a world record run FIM officials would be present to certify a record and the streamliner would run on the International course usually a substantially longer track than those at other meets but wet weather conditions had limited the length and condition of the course to transfer the now more than 1,200 horsepower to the ground through a single rear tire with a surface area of about 28 square inches was extremely difficult to do with perfect salt conditions with moist salt it would be like running in slush however with the bitter taste of last season's record laws the crew set up shop and prepared to thread a needle it was clear from the moment the team prepared to run they'd be holding nothing back fans line the pit area to watch this beautiful motorcycle rocket across the salt like so many record-breaking vehicles had done for decades while the run looked clean as the top one AK attack screamed by Robinson had his hands full trying to keep the streamliner on course in under control last year the track was so good it's nothing like that this year it's it's nine miles it's it's soft in spots it's real soft and I think it's really a few times but I mean you know where else we gotta go it's decent you know our first pass with about 300 I know there's a lot more left if we can just you know get it hooked up and going so we'll make do we got aside from Sam wheeler rocky Robinson was the most experienced motorcycle streamliner rider in the world if there was a way to get more traction early Robinson would find it's the streamliner split the air entering the timing lights lock II was struggling to keep this 2,000 pound raging missile under control but salt conditions and the still is yet unknown rear door aerodynamics were about to reach out and rip the streamliner apart Oh pencil rolling over 16 times the g-forces inside the small cockpit were above what many believed were survivable somehow rocky had managed to survive his ugly brush with death remarkably he was more concerned about the beautiful streamliner and the critical damage the crash had inflicted the bicth built ultra stride and get her and i'm fine and they did a great job with pike it's a shame what happened to it but this stuff happens I mean I'm fining it you know it hasn't affected me in his part I wanted to bad as ever probably more in our shot 2007 would end without the record active Robinson and the crew most coveted it's 2007 vanished into 2008 Mother Nature had been good to the Bonneville Salt Flats while still not like the conditions of oh-6 the efforts being made to improve the soil conditions were slowly netting results the bub Speed Trials would take place the first part of September and the top one AK attack would take its place among the participants after the previous season's crash crew members had disassembled the motorcycle to the frame and began the arduous task of rebuilding the entire streamline it was an enormous job that would take the entire year for most of this meet the bike would not reach its full potential being completely rebuilt that were countless small issues that would have to be worked out the top one AK attack would make a few runs but none that would begin to challenge the current 350 mile per hour record Mike active had made a decision early in the year to participate in the land speed shootout this invitation only private event was designed for top-tier streamliners both motorcycle and vehicle capable of world record speeds September we have a private meet we put together I've worked the motorcycle guys and the FIM I'm taking care of getting them over here Mike Cook has put on a private meet for the last two years for the FIA the guys so what we're doing now is we're bringing the fastest bikes and the fastest cars in the world together it's going to be a shootout and be eight vehicles there I'll have plenty of time to run we'll have 12 and a half miles and you should see some really big speed well at that event they're going to attempt to make 11 or 12 miles of salt they'll probably angle of course a little differently so we can stretch the course and you know that's be the the best possible you know conditions for us to go we have that much room and we have the power to keep accelerating to that distance we can go real fast and our team in the bike that we're running we're putting out so much horsepower but we've never been able to use all of it and even this mean it's not optimal it bad but it's not really good song on echo 6 and so getting it all to the grounds the whole trick and we're working on trying to improve on that but you know obviously the more real estate we can cover the better our chances from the beginning of this private meet however the crew of the AK attack were beset with electrical issues mechanical problems and plain old salt gremlins while the streamliner was able to make a few initial runs some with very impressive speeds problems continued to plague the bike well yesterday we learned an awful lot I made a run and I've been having problems with handling with the bike can be on something with fishtail a little bit and I made a run and it was doing the same thing had been doing and I was about to abort the run I opened the door so it's gonna hit the parachutes if I open the doors the machine went real stable so I decided to accelerate through the mile and just see what it would do and I found for the first time since we got it machine that it ran real stable with the doors open which told me that we take the doors off of it I think we'll be back to where we used to be when the bike was really stable through the measured mile after almost aborting to running slowing down I exited at 3:46 and it actually gained seven miles an hour through the time mile so I think we found our problem unfortunately we came in and we were really excited about taking the doors out making another run and trying to get the record yesterday while the conditions were good took off and broke the main shaft in the front motor crews been working all night 10:30 at night they got the new engine in and running and everything and I think we're where we want to be we're about to run down there and with the changes we made see if we made all the right moves and hope we will go real fast finally with the event beginning to wrap up the AK attack would give it one last Drive early on the morning of the final day the streamliner was moved onto the starting line the top one AK attacks twin suzuki hayabusa split the silence as they anxiously came to life with no more tomorrow's it was time to roll the dice and pray the salt gods would smile on Robinson and the streamliner the all-out assault had begun entry speed 360 point one and six two kilometers speed 360 1.300 exit speed 350 two point four five three miles per hour that is the fastest pass ever measured for a motorcycle the crew intention is to turn around and make a return run in the next 15 to 20 minutes the top one AK attack was turned around and the wind was checked with nothing but 12 miles of hard salt ahead rocky Robinson would leave every losing memory behind and would run flat out for himself Mike active and routine the beauty of history being made was indescribable entry speed 3 56.75 8 kilometer speed 3 sixes 0.47 won the record was certain the new ultimate motorcycle land speed record would stand at 360 point nine one three miles per hour and be held solely by the top one AK attack and team top one for participants and fans of land speed racing the accomplishments of my kakoton rocky robinson the crew and the top one AK attack are now part of racing history the streamliner would now shuttle around the world having broken the record there was nothing more the AK attack needed to accomplish except what was lurking in the back of mike Actives mind was it possible could it be done could a Coutu robinson and team top one push the AK attack over the 400 mile per hour mark and make land speed history becoming only the sixth piston-powered we Grubin machine to ever achieve such an incredible speed perhaps you you you

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Length: 33min 34sec (2014 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 27 2013