The fastest motorcycle in the world?

[Wise Young]

A friend of mine just bought a BMW 1200 and suggested that it is one of the fastest motorcycles in commercial production. I looked up the fast motorcycles in the world. According to http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2001/JerryChan.shtml which lists the major speed records of motorcycles, the Guiness book of World Records lists the 322.16 mph set by Dave Campos in 1990 as the world record, powered by two 1491 cc Ruxton Harley-Davidson engines.

Tomahawk

Some people claim that the fastest motorcycle in the world is the Tomahawk. The following are videos of what some might consider the ultimate motorcycle, a 500 hp V10 viper engine mounted in a motorcycle with claimed capability of going 400 mph, 0-60 in 2.3 seconds, made by Chrysler.

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/246625/tomahawk/
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-472004366476459286

Here is a picture:
http://www.allpar.com/cars/concepts/photos/tomahawk.jpg

So, how much will these babies cost? One article suggested that Chrysler decided to make 10 and sold them at $555,000 each (Source (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/11/18/MTGP7MEG961.DTL)):
"
Chrysler sold nine replicas through Neiman Marcus, for up to $555,000 each," the allpar.com Web site says. "The motorcycles cannot be legally driven on public roads. A Chrysler spokesman told Reuters they were meant as rolling sculptures -- but they can probably still be driven on private roads (the rolling-sculpture comment may be designed to avoid legal liability)."

As it turns out, the Tomahawk's top speed is just theoretical and based on horsepower calculations. When Dodge first came out with publicity about the tomahawk, they claimed a 420 mph top speed and then changed its claim to 300+ mph (Source (http://www.popsci.com/popsci/automotivetech/82353bcc2eb84010vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd/2.html)). At speeds of over 200 mph, air resistance becomes a major factor that prevents faster speeds, including the ability of the rider to hold on. Many people have expressed doubts about the claim (Source (http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/archive/index.php/t-104047.html)) saying that it is not enough to have all the horsepower without being able to use them (Source (http://www.classicmotorcycles.biz/mechanics/wheels/thread11.html)).


Suzuki 1300R Hayabusa

Suzuki claims to have make the fastest motorcycle in the world and much more affordable (Source (http://www.pashnit.com/bikes/hayabusa.htm)). Its 1300cc engine puts out 175 horsepower and has a top-speed limit of 189 mph (Source (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzuki_GSX1300R)). A turbocharged version apparently recorded 261 mph, qualifying for the fastest open wheel bike in production.
http://www.pashnit.com/pics/hayabusa/hayabusa-bro.jpg

BMW K1200 S
These motorcycles are powered by a 1170 cc 4-stroke Boxer engine, costing about $15,000-$18,000 http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2005/04/30/054495.html, 110 bhp, a maximum speed of 246 kph (150 mph), a 0-60 in 2.8 seconds, and a 33 liter tank that gives a 450 mile range. According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_K1200S is as fast as the Hayabusa. Here is a picture:
http://img219.imageshack.us/my.php?image=146061001wm2007bmwr1200scheckerslc3.j pg In 2006,
http://www.bmwmotorcycles.com/etc/utils.jsp?t=news&idx=3&newscat=fun_stuff
BMW K 1200 S Shakes Bonneville Salt Flats

A 2006 BMW K 1200 S has set a world land-speed record in the 1350cc stock partially faired class at Utah's famed Bonneville Salt Flats. The motorcycle, piloted by Andy Sills and sponsored by BMW of San Francisco, reached an average speed of 173.57 mph after two runs on the vast, white plains, where hundreds of land speed records have been set and broken since the early 1900s in a variety of automobile and motorcycle classes.

"It was a rare opportunity for me and BMW", commented Sills, an avid BMW enthusiast who, has amassed more than 300,000 miles on four BMW motorcycles within the last seven years. "The best part is that our record on a bone-stock bike exactly the same as Ernst Henne's last record of 279.504 km/hr - right down to the hundredth of a second!" If this doesn't seem like much progress, remember that Henne's bike was modified,streamlined, and supercharged.


What fascinated me was the limitations of wind drag on the maximum speed of motocycles. A mile has 1609.344 meters. Therefore, at 300 mph, the rider is facing wind of 482,700 meters/hour or 134 meter/second. At 400 mph, the rider is facing wind of about 179 m/second. I found a web site that gives the speeds of a variety of bullets shot 30-60 meters at a target. A fast bullet travels at the speed of 862 m/sec. A "slow" bullet travels at 174 m/sec. In other words, if you are going at 400 mph, a bug would hit you with a speed that is comparable with that of a bullet. Ouch!

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6672/589/1600/results.png
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6672/589/1600/results.png

[2jazzyjeff]

The Hayabusa vs. Kawasaki ZX-12 debate has been going on for years for who has the fastest production bike. Here are some numbers compiled the same year of my bike, 2000.

http://www.qsl.net/n5mya/testdata.html

This year Kawasaki unveiled the ZX-14 because they couldn't compete with Suzuki apparantly.. Here's the ZX at the dragstrip.

http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/Article_Page.aspx?ArticleID=3088

With all that added hp, IMO, the ZX-14 falls short based on the times posted in the link.

I'm a bit partial to anything Suzuki..

[Hunker]

Check out this truck I heard him in an interview that he is 63 now and has really clear arteries because of the G forces that ate applied to speding up and slowing down. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZBrEdxICxY This guy sold everything but his home to make this record. I thought is was impressive what G forces do to your blood vessels. Jeff did you hear it on 96 rock?

[alhavel]

I had a Suzuki 1200, and did 120-160 mph on a regular basis, oddly enough it was a bulding that fell on me, not a bike crash, that did the damage, 5 seconds one way or the other and I wouldn't be in the shape I'm in.....Damn!!!!!!!!!! :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

[Hunker]

Nothing could beat me on the honda 50:) Then I had Suzuki 250. I got a joke played on my Dad's buddies when I got on a 400 when I was 12 (Ihad to put the kickstand down just to crank it!) I busted my butt :D I never made it to my Harley.:( That would have been great.

[2jazzyjeff]

I got yer 50 cc's right here!!! Those were the days. :) I probly enjoyed my racing go kart the most. That was a lot of fun..

[Hunker]

Yea they were did ya ever ride the gas line that went from behind Bonanza off 19 & 41 to the Talmage lakes? I had a go cart with a 12 horsepower engine. I would take the tractor with a big metal beam and drag trails thru the woods. We would come home with bent frames and Dad and his buddies would weld them back straight. that look like a fast one you got there. That bar in the middle really hurt them "boys" when you hit a tree :agog: I like dirt biking the best, I really enjuy watching it on TV. They do stuff I would have never thought of now.

[2jazzyjeff]

I know where you are talking about, but never rode there. I grew up riding motorcycles and 4 wheel drive trucks over there at Southlake Distribution which is at the end of the road if you turn by the Fresh Express plant.

That cart was a Yamaha 20 hp engine.. it would really get going..

[Andy]

Fast is rather irrelevent past 150, Kinda hard to see when you tuck in for that speed, and slowing is rather long as well (energy squared with speed doubled), unless you are on a Bonneville Salt Flats type course, it gets a little annoying pushing those limits on a bike unless you are suicidal or something. That said, I think the Kawasaki ZX14? is the king of power when it comes to numbers (and I hear when it comes to crashing too, LOL) Basically any litre class bike is the bomb when it comes to the just right amount of power (too much :D ), the question you want to ask is do you want grand touring or cutting edge sportbike in your bike (size and weight).

I saw the new BMW K bike, that thing looks sweet! If I was still riding I think I would have one right now as a replacement for the BMW Boxer I had (as my touring bike to accompany my Honda 954RR which donated a SCI to me)

[metronycguy]

wind resistance is big on bicycles once you get above 15 mph , air resistance is the prime slower down. i have a recumbent bicycle , when i put the fairing on it, the change in speed is huge, on roads in normally hit 15 mph , i now hit 18 with the same effort, and i am able to maintain the speed easier.
i guess motorcycles just increase the horsepower.
i wonder how a hand cycle would increase its speed with a fairing,
that one reason the sport bikes are so much faster than harleys , they have a better profile, the harleys upright position act like a sail catching wind

[2jazzyjeff]

that one reason the sport bikes are so much faster than harleys , they have a better profile, the harleys upright position act like a sail catching windYes and no.. mostly no. It's about bore and displacement. I could have taken my Hayabusa and stripped it down completely, sat up straight and my 1299cc's would still obliviate a comparable touring Harley, Goldwing or the like. This does not include Yamaha's V-Max.. lol :)

[Wise Young]

The force that one encounters at high speeds is described by the Drag Equation that is attributed to Lord Rayleigh (Source (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drag_(physics)))
http://upload.wikimedia.org/math/7/2/d/72d686af4bdf6ffdff7928e3a20cb4b5.png

where Fd is the force of the aerodynamic drag
p is the density of the medium (air)
v is the velocity of the object relative to the medium
A is the reference area exposed, and
Cd is the drag coefficient (a dimensionless constant that is related to shape)
Note: the equation from Wikipedia contains a v with a caret on it. I think that this indicates a steady state velocity.

In general, Cd is close to 1 on a rough non-streamlined body. Smoother objects have lower Cd values. If Cd is known, the equation accurately predicts the force of the drag given the velocity. Most cars have a Cd of 0.25 to 0.45, for example. But regardless of Cd, what this equation predicts is that the force increases by the square of velocity.

The power (force times velocity) required to overcome aerodynamic drag is given by
http://upload.wikimedia.org/math/d/5/7/d578cac564b3955cc8186985cba66547.png
and the equation indicates the power required to overcome drag increases by the cube of the velocity traveled. Thus, if you require 10 hp to overcome air drag at 50 mph, driving the motorcycle at 100 mph will require 80 hp. The number goes up very quickly. At 200 mph, you will need 640 hp. At 300 mph, you will need 2160 hp. At 400 mph, you will need 5120 hp. These calculations suggest that you will need a HUGE amount of power to overcome the air resistance.

Thus, the people who are scoffing at the claim of 420 mph top speed for the Tomahawk know from experience that the claim is ridiculous and the drag equation indicates why. The equations also explain why your gasoline mileage diminishes so rapidly as you go faster. Reducing the speed limit on the highways will save a great deal of gasoline.

Wise.

[Leif]

Fast is rather irrelevent past 150, Kinda hard to see when you tuck in for that speed, and slowing is rather long as well (energy squared with speed doubled), unless you are on a Bonneville Salt Flats type course, it gets a little annoying pushing those limits on a bike unless you are suicidal or something.
Andy, here is a video of some of those suicidal people on regular roads between two cities over here, I can’t tell what kind of bike he is driving though; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYkcSKRZoR4

[Hunker]

I heard that you have to back off the throttle a boost again because of the pressure from the G force? I think the space shuttle is one of the most powerfull machines made. I may be wrong but this guy said the G force was rough slowing down too. He said his heart was in great shape because of the expansion of his blood vessels (sp?) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acceleration_due_to_gravity That bike was flying.

[Andy]

Andy, here is a video of some of those suicidal people on regular roads between two cities over here, I can’t tell what kind of bike he is driving though; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYkcSKRZoR4

Something Japanese, all the guage clusters are similar. Nice video, brought back memories, but that was a bit more than I would do. Nice kneedragging action though!

[2jazzyjeff]

He just about wiped out trying to wheelie a few times.. scary. Brought back typical Sundays around here.

[alhavel]

Gotta love it, I was tucking and knee draging through the whole thing. Try to tuck by a computer keyboard,,,,,,,, not the same. Maybe I'll get another bike or two, I have come a long way, maybe I'm ready again....... I drove a Honda road and trail not long ago, post SCI, behaved like a real jack ass too! I'd do it again, for sure!!!!!!!!

[metronycguy]

human powered vehicle really work on reducing the wind resistance since increasing the horse power is kinda out of the question
these were records on a certified flat course, they have a 200 meter speed trap


Current WHPSC Records:
In 2002, Sam Whittingham broke the world speed record for the third year in a row by going 81.00 MPH!
In 2005, Damjan Zabovnik broke the European speed record by going 72.9 MPH facing backwards!
In 2005, Lisa Vetterlein set a new Women's world speed record, with a speed of 66.58 MPH.

[Wise Young]

human powered vehicle really work on reducing the wind resistance since increasing the horse power is kinda out of the question
these were records on a certified flat course, they have a 200 meter speed trap


Current WHPSC Records:
In 2002, Sam Whittingham broke the world speed record for the third year in a row by going 81.00 MPH!
In 2005, Damjan Zabovnik broke the European speed record by going 72.9 MPH facing backwards!
In 2005, Lisa Vetterlein set a new Women's world speed record, with a speed of 66.58 MPH.

Amazing. Wise.

[Bob]

Have you seen the Dodge Tomahawk ?? now this would have your heart pumping..
http://www.zdistrict.com/2006/10/31/dodge-tomahawk/

[Herco16]

Andy, here is a video of some of those suicidal people on regular roads between two cities over here, I can’t tell what kind of bike he is driving though; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYkcSKRZoR4

Something doesn't look right with that video. If he's doing approx. 150mph-180mph when he passes cars going at highway speeds, thats nearly a 200mph closing speed. It might have been the camera, but he seemed to have a lot of time as he closed on cars travelling against him and with him.

I wish I knew how far apart the street lights are along the side of the road.

[Leif]

Something doesn't look right with that video. If he's doing approx. 150mph-180mph when he passes cars going at highway speeds, thats nearly a 200mph closing speed. It might have been the camera, but he seemed to have a lot of time as he closed on cars travelling against him and with him.

I wish I knew how far apart the street lights are along the side of the road.
Herco, let me look into those q's, I know the road he was driving on although it is a bit far from here and I am not sure of the distance, I saw the video says 4:58 (which might not be a good indicator as for your Q, but still) between the two cities, so including the wheelie stuff and the stops it would give a good indication about the average speed. I’ll check here now.

[Leif]

Something doesn't look right with that video. If he's doing approx. 150mph-180mph when he passes cars going at highway speeds, thats nearly a 200mph closing speed. It might have been the camera, but he seemed to have a lot of time as he closed on cars travelling against him and with him.

I wish I knew how far apart the street lights are along the side of the road.
Herco,
Between those two cites the road distance is approximately 20 km, although one could argue where the city limits are I think we could go for 20 km in distance, and as for the video which says 4 min 58 sec;

20 km = 12.42 mi => doing km here tough gives an average speed of simplified; (20.000 m/ 298 sec) * 3.6 = 241 km/h (average) => 150 mi/h (average).... As for the clock on the video that is.

Street lights it could vary although we have some standards, could the white dashed lines help as for this or other things for as to determine the speed? The distance I am quite sure about now, give or take some hundred metres/yards.

Anyway - You’re the police here and if you’d help some of them cops here I am very sure they’d be pleased, stuff like this kind of takes off much more now due to internet compared to before when some only lifted their wings a tad at a lonely road out driving the bike :-)

[2jazzyjeff]

After Herco said something I rewatched the video. He's right, something is amiss. Watch the white dashes as they should be blurred at that speed as well as the oncoming cars. Also, he hits 303 km/h (188.27 mph) in a curve.. Not to say it's impossible, but highly improbable. I have to believe that as skilled of a rider it would take to ride those turns, he would have had the wheelies under better control. I think the speedometer gauge is skewed.

[Herco16]

Leif,

The best things to measure are fixed objects like the light posts, beginning to end of concrete barriers and such. The tunnels would be great to use, they're not going to move or be repainted. Measure their length then divide by amount of time it takes him to go from one end to the other. It’s been a long time since I did any traffic investigation, but if I recall correctly an object travels approx.88 feet per second at 60mph. At 150mph, it would be travelling 220 feet per second. You'd have to do the metric conversion of course, and then time him from known point "A" to known point "B." You can get a very close approximation of his speed by determining how many meters he traveled in a few seconds.

Good luck! Let me know how you make out. I won't be on the board for a while due to well-needed vacation!

Thanks Jeff, I should have figured a fellow Suzuki rider would back me up!

Dave

[Andy]

I'm not too up on the kmh/mph conversions, but to answer speed, just count the upshifts and check the tach to see if it is intentially misrepresented. Motorcycle speedos are notoriously generous in their high speed readings also. The guy could have had a bigger sprocket in back also, but nonetheless the guy was flying. Nice headshaking wheelie landings, and I liked the part of almost tagging the wall, but I'll bet he had fun :p

[Leif]

60 mph is approx the the same as 100 kmh. Have to look more into this, there is a timer on the video.

[2jazzyjeff]

If you liked that video, then you will enjoy these... this guy rides btw. cars at a pretty good clip.. :)

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/282030/ghostrider_remix_by_the_untouchables/

Funny police chase..

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/232066/police_chase_motorbike/

Over 305/kmh..

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/237649/honda/

[jetncomptech]

The Pashnit Site Is Biased As It Didn't Test The Bmw K1200s And It's Merely California Not Nationwide

[Darren]

as far as i have heard the tomahawk isn't even able to be operated by a human at the speeds claimed. is the claim they make based on real tests with a driver or is it just stats?

[2jazzyjeff]

hey guys Yamaha Has launched its new bike Yamaha R15 (http://yzfr15.blogspot.com) in the asian market by targeting the main country India,

Ne ways i just want the review about the conmany yamaha from the international usersBig deal.. it's only a 150cc bike.. woo hoo. :zzz: