Bryan Wood
Well Known Member
I just thought I'd pass along the latest info that we received from the Bonneville Salt Flats where my Father-in Law and several family friends were trying again to set the record and be crowned with the title of World's Fastest Motorcycle.
Here's a brief accounting of their saga and how they ended up going after this record.
Our friend Jim True who was a former 8 time #1 (consectutive) AMA professional hillclimbing champion during the era when hillclimbing was a very popular AMA event began feeling the need to compete again in some form. At this point he was close to retiring from the San Jose Fire Dept. and began looking for a way to get the juices flowing again. During his hillclimbing days he was credited with being the first to climb the famous Widowmaker near Salt Lake City after they moved it from the 600 foot face, down to the 1500 foot face. How does somebody compete again in a way where age and treachery can overcome youth and skill? He chose land speed racing. He teamed with another local and went after the record for streamliner car 1000cc and under. Aboard "Nebulous Theroum III" he bumped the record up and I think still holds it at 228mph. This used a V Twin Honda engine and ran gas. With this he broke the "Fuel" record also, while running gas. (Nitro Methane Class) He then began dreaming of the record for Worlds Fastest Motorcycle. He teamed with Mike Ackitiff and began this quest. For unknown reasons Jim has withdrawn from driving the streamliner, but he remains on the team. He has great pride in their accomplishment.
Mike Ackitiff is the designer and owner/builder of the Ack Attack motorcycle streamliner. To call Mike a genious might be an insult because he could very well be smarter than that. In his early life Mike was the person that BSA and Triumph paid to build motorcycles for factory racers Dick Mann and Jim Rice. He was very much a key player in making these two men successful at the highest level of professional motorcycle racing. Later he produced motorcycle parts before forming ACK which produces aviation ELT's and blind encoders.
Mike is one of those people that just boggles the mind with how his mind works. He designs in his head, and then watches the new design operate and then improves on it without ever building it or even drawing it out. By the time he machines or builds the part it is basically tested and ready for use. Truly amazing! Jim and Mike worked long and hard building the ACK Attack and finally began taking in others for help. Ken Puccio was brought in for welding and as a fabricator. He remains on the crew. Jim Leale, my wifes father is the engine guy. He is the guru of all things horsepower! Him and Mike did around 300 dyno runs of the Twin turbo intercooled Hiyabusa powered streamliner preparing for this record attempt. You name it and they tried it to make these engines that run at 150 hp in a stock motorcylce live when boosted to produce 1000hp between them. Then this power had to be put to the ground. Again, Mike the genious. A weak link were the drive chains which were getting white hot and breaking. In a record attempt the record has to be broken and then backed up within an hour, or something close to this. If the chains lived thru the first run they were ruined and couldn't be counted on. He designed a way to run the chains in a sealed chamber riding in an oil bath. Now the chains last and basically don't have to be fussed with. There are countless examples of how he solved issues with parts that were never meant to be used in such an extreme way. What he designed worked, what others build for other purposes had to me helped. He solved it all.
The current record has been held for over a decade now and WAS 322mph. The ACK Attack beat this two years ago, but the BUB judges (International)were not there so while holding a US record of 328mph, the streamliner was not titled as the fastest motorcycle on earth. A few months ago they packed up and tried another attempt in Austrailia but the salt conditions there were bad. They came home empty again. Three weeks ago they ran 338mph at the Bonneville Speed Week, but the exhaust exploded on the backup run. This was not a BUB event, but they used it as a proving ground for changes that they have made since they last ran it. Knowing that they were running this speed the World Record would be theirs if they could keep it together. This run at 338mph was at 1/2 throttle!!!!! Aerodynamics dictate how fast they go more than horsepower. Just grabbing a handful and letting the chips fall where they may could be catastrophic so they keep bumping it up in small increments.
I got the call yesterday morning that they had set the new record at 342.7 mph. They are now officially "The Fastest Motorcycle on Earth." There was talk at that time of putting on a taller gear and seeing what she will really do now that the record that they will be chasing is their own. They didn't want to break the streamliner or crash it trying to drive the record much higher until if was already their own. I'm anxiously awaiting news from the salt. Here's a link to Top 1 Oil who jumped on early to get their name on the streamliner. They are pretty proud of this effort and use the streamliner to fill their homepage.
http://www.topoil.com/index.htm
Best,
Here's a brief accounting of their saga and how they ended up going after this record.
Our friend Jim True who was a former 8 time #1 (consectutive) AMA professional hillclimbing champion during the era when hillclimbing was a very popular AMA event began feeling the need to compete again in some form. At this point he was close to retiring from the San Jose Fire Dept. and began looking for a way to get the juices flowing again. During his hillclimbing days he was credited with being the first to climb the famous Widowmaker near Salt Lake City after they moved it from the 600 foot face, down to the 1500 foot face. How does somebody compete again in a way where age and treachery can overcome youth and skill? He chose land speed racing. He teamed with another local and went after the record for streamliner car 1000cc and under. Aboard "Nebulous Theroum III" he bumped the record up and I think still holds it at 228mph. This used a V Twin Honda engine and ran gas. With this he broke the "Fuel" record also, while running gas. (Nitro Methane Class) He then began dreaming of the record for Worlds Fastest Motorcycle. He teamed with Mike Ackitiff and began this quest. For unknown reasons Jim has withdrawn from driving the streamliner, but he remains on the team. He has great pride in their accomplishment.
Mike Ackitiff is the designer and owner/builder of the Ack Attack motorcycle streamliner. To call Mike a genious might be an insult because he could very well be smarter than that. In his early life Mike was the person that BSA and Triumph paid to build motorcycles for factory racers Dick Mann and Jim Rice. He was very much a key player in making these two men successful at the highest level of professional motorcycle racing. Later he produced motorcycle parts before forming ACK which produces aviation ELT's and blind encoders.
Mike is one of those people that just boggles the mind with how his mind works. He designs in his head, and then watches the new design operate and then improves on it without ever building it or even drawing it out. By the time he machines or builds the part it is basically tested and ready for use. Truly amazing! Jim and Mike worked long and hard building the ACK Attack and finally began taking in others for help. Ken Puccio was brought in for welding and as a fabricator. He remains on the crew. Jim Leale, my wifes father is the engine guy. He is the guru of all things horsepower! Him and Mike did around 300 dyno runs of the Twin turbo intercooled Hiyabusa powered streamliner preparing for this record attempt. You name it and they tried it to make these engines that run at 150 hp in a stock motorcylce live when boosted to produce 1000hp between them. Then this power had to be put to the ground. Again, Mike the genious. A weak link were the drive chains which were getting white hot and breaking. In a record attempt the record has to be broken and then backed up within an hour, or something close to this. If the chains lived thru the first run they were ruined and couldn't be counted on. He designed a way to run the chains in a sealed chamber riding in an oil bath. Now the chains last and basically don't have to be fussed with. There are countless examples of how he solved issues with parts that were never meant to be used in such an extreme way. What he designed worked, what others build for other purposes had to me helped. He solved it all.
The current record has been held for over a decade now and WAS 322mph. The ACK Attack beat this two years ago, but the BUB judges (International)were not there so while holding a US record of 328mph, the streamliner was not titled as the fastest motorcycle on earth. A few months ago they packed up and tried another attempt in Austrailia but the salt conditions there were bad. They came home empty again. Three weeks ago they ran 338mph at the Bonneville Speed Week, but the exhaust exploded on the backup run. This was not a BUB event, but they used it as a proving ground for changes that they have made since they last ran it. Knowing that they were running this speed the World Record would be theirs if they could keep it together. This run at 338mph was at 1/2 throttle!!!!! Aerodynamics dictate how fast they go more than horsepower. Just grabbing a handful and letting the chips fall where they may could be catastrophic so they keep bumping it up in small increments.
I got the call yesterday morning that they had set the new record at 342.7 mph. They are now officially "The Fastest Motorcycle on Earth." There was talk at that time of putting on a taller gear and seeing what she will really do now that the record that they will be chasing is their own. They didn't want to break the streamliner or crash it trying to drive the record much higher until if was already their own. I'm anxiously awaiting news from the salt. Here's a link to Top 1 Oil who jumped on early to get their name on the streamliner. They are pretty proud of this effort and use the streamliner to fill their homepage.
http://www.topoil.com/index.htm
Best,
