Australian land speed record on a dirt bike

[Mike52]

Was just reading that the Australian Land Speed Record for a dirt bike was set in 1981 on a KTM 495 at 199kph and still stands today.
Did KTM have a 495 in 1981 ?

Ps Some guys are chasing it on a 700 Maico apparently.
If the story is true then the horses in 1981 must have been pretty big compared with today.

[firko]

After witnessing a bloke failing to top 90mph on a stock trim but highly geared and hotted up TT500 at Lake Gairdner in 2006 I reckon it'd be a pretty big effort to get 199kph (123.6 mph)on any dirt bike in standard trim. The big problem is aerodynamics with the tall, unfaired bike being like a brick and making the front end very light. I can remember when we ran our dirt bikes at the drags back in the 80's what a weird experience it was to sit up after going through the traps at 90mph and the front wheel lifting when the wind hit my body......very scary, let me tell you. The first thing I'd do at the salt would be to remove the front mudguard which smooths out the drag coefficient quite a bit, and remember not to sit up until a fair bit of speed has been washed off after the speed trap .

[Tony T]

FWIW I've had my '84 KX500 clocked at 184kph on dirt by a copper's radar gun. That was on dirt with corrugations etc, and I'm sure some of the faster guys at Finke would have topped 200 in years gone by?

[Davey Crocket]

Where's me alloy tank gone?

[Tony T]

Up in smoke.
When the shed burnt down in 2000, it went with it.

[firko]

FWIW I've had my '84 KX500 clocked at 184kph on dirt by a copper's radar gun. That was on dirt with corrugations etc, and I'm sure some of the faster guys at Finke would have topped 200 in years gone by?

...and that's where the anomalies come in. We were regularly doing 140-160kph speeds on the big bore enduro and motocross bikes of the time at the drags, a whole bunch of us would have a ball on Friday nights at the bracket races, I remember dear old GE threatening to blow us all away with his KX500 but my and Geoff Ballard's 490 Maicos , Bernie Ellis on an IT 465 especially Chris Ellis on an XC500 Husky were easily quicker and faster over the quarter but none of us went faster than 165kph. I'm not for a minute saying that those bikes are faster than the KX in the real world of the Finke course but over the drag strip quarter they battled to do 160kph tapped out. I don't pretend to know why those Finke speeds and what the blokes are doing on the salt and at the drags are so different. After our sojourn to Lake Gairdner we tossed around the idea of trying to knock off the KTM 495 El Mirage record of 200kph but the sheer magnitude of actually getting to the lake from Sydney and four years of rain outs sucked that idea out of our sails.
 http://www.off-road.com/dirtbike/vintage-the-fastest-stock-dirtbike-ever-built-23650.html

[Tony T]

I find this stuff really interesting.
The same year I got clocked on my KX Graeme Baldwin (I think?) was quicker on his XR600. 187kph if memory serves.

[GMC]

FWIW I've had my '84 KX500 clocked at 184kph on dirt by a copper's radar gun.

I hope you contested it in court

[firko]

Here's the records list for the Dry Lakes Racers at Lake Gairdner. Click on the blokes name to view his bike and remember the records are listed in miles per hour. When you look at the records and the bikes that hold those records you'd be forgiven for thinking it'd be a piece of piss to go down there and blow off some records. That would be your first mistake, it's not as easy as it looks. My mate Dave McLachlan originally took his very modified TZ350 down there in the early 00's and expected 150mph straight away but was battling to top 100. In the end it took him a number of years and a lot of development to finally get 177mph out of the little TZ that is now so modified he couldn't road race it any more. Like I said, 124mph on a dirt bike is a big deal when you compare it to what really happens on the salt.
http://www.dlra.org.au/recordcycle.htm

[Lozza]

Here's the records list for the Dry Lakes Racers at Lake Gairdner. Click on the blokes name to view his bike and remember the records are listed in miles per hour. When you look at the records and the bikes that hold those records you'd be forgiven for thinking it'd be a piece of piss to go down there and blow off some records. That would be your first mistake, it's not as easy as it looks. My mate Dave McLachlan originally took his very modified TZ350 down there in the early 00's and expected 150mph straight away but was battling to top 100. In the end it took him a number of years and a lot of development to finally get 177mph out of the little TZ that is now so modified he couldn't road race it any more. Like I said, 124mph on a dirt bike is a big deal when you compare it to what really happens on the salt.
http://www.dlra.org.au/recordcycle.htm

Bonneville or a piece-o-piss it aint. Even seen the highly succesfull BUB team struggle out there. Much much faster speeds seem to be achievable at Boneville and El Mirage. My mate has gone 126mph on a RGV with Dave Bolger taking the record at 132mph with partial streamlining, Mark Jordan from the UK went 143mph on a stock (engine tuned) KR-1 shows the difference between the venues. Think several factors, first being the big disparity between when you line up and when you run, limited testing you can get, the event getting more and more popular , the heat and the low altitude playing havoc with aero.
Last year one poor bloke didn't even get a run due to the wouldn't rev when the throttle was opened.

[Tony T]

I hope you contested it in court

Are you kidding? I was proud as punch!  Not many places in Australia that you could ride an unregistered bike on a public road, get clocked by the coppers at silly speeds and still come home smiling. 

Amazing stuff.
I'd really like to get out and have a look at Lake Gairdner one year. Especially as it's only 'up the road' from me.
We did plan to go one year, but it got rained out.

[bigk]

To actually answer your question Mike, yes KTM did have a 495 in 1981. The only twin shock 495 and stupidly fast, commonly known as the "great White".
K

[MX?]

Think this may be the afore mentioned beast

[Ktm181]

IF I recall correctly, didn't Bert F. use a 495 with maybe one of the Sharps on board at an air field in early 80's for a speed attempt? 
In any case I reckon 200 IS feasible, just need a strong 500 that will rev and the right gearing, the problem would be getting it to those speeds within the measured run area AND is the run not an average, i.e. has to be achieved both ways?  I have had a 500 mx bike checked on radar at over 180kph, a long time ago and the engine was fairly stock, just correct gearing and plenty of room to get there, old style KR11 radar back in the 80's, was on tar though and street tyre fitted on rear, very scary with nobby front although it was a  K139 (remember them boys?), also had a DR650 clocked at 160 ON DIRT about 10 years back, that took several kilometres but was also radar checked, I wouldn't have believed it until I saw the readout!  AND no ticket involved either time.....just laughs all round and plenty more trys but no faster, have no idea of wind assist or if slight down hill,  in western NSW.

Kt

[firko]

My friend Dave was telling me there was a couple of CR500 Hondas there last year and neither of them survived the week. Apparently one shit itself so bad the cases exploded and the other bloke took a tumble at over 160kph. Like I said, it ain't as easy as you'd think. Carburetion is the big learning curve, mainly for the prolonged wide open/top gear fuel suck and for the unique atmospheric conditions. As an aside it's worth going to watch the Hyabusa guys ride their bikes to the lake, strap on some swingarm ballast and then go 200mph. One bloke went 230 on a registered turbocharged Hayabusa while we were there....pretty impressive.