Australian land speed record on a dirt bike

[Davey Crocket]

When I did beach racing in NZ in the 70's the blow up rate was pretty high, and the top bikes there would be struggling to get to 100mph [1/2 mile straights I think]...most of the newby's blew up there engines when they closed the throttle on there big 2 strokes tapped out in top....closed slide...no fuel...no air....engine stoppy real quick [methanol was the fuel of choice].

[matcho mick]

bones's salt TZ's in my w/shop getting fairings thrown at it atm,pia,it's so low,& long, nothing fits  ,

[silverfox]

The newer 450 mx bikes will easily do 200kph with the right gearing. But they are 4 stroke, So how would that go running one of them? as the class is dirt bike, does it have to be a 2 stroke??
At Finke a few years ago I ran 15/ 40 on a CRF 450 Honda, At 9000rpm it worked out to around 190kph I was on the tank in top gear, on the rev limiter going down the road!! Scary fast. I figure with wheel spin etc was prob doing around 175/180

[firko]

 

bones's salt TZ's in my w/shop getting fairings thrown at it atm,pia,it's so low,& long, nothing fits  ,    

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.

That's what I was saying Mick, I think the TZ has seen its last lap of the Creek  .....Bones has got salt fever baaaad.

[Tony T]

The more I read about this stuff, the more interested I get. 
One thing I've picked up pretty quickly is that 90mph isn't far from 100, but 190 is a hell of a long way from 200. 
What I love the most is that everyone seems to turn up with whatever they've got and goes racing.
I do worry that it might be a bit crappy as spectator, though.
Anyone been? Is it a fun week?

[Rookie#1]

The more I read about this stuff, the more interested I get. 
One thing I've picked up pretty quickly is that 90mph isn't far from 100, but 190 is a hell of a long way from 200. 
What I love the most is that everyone seems to turn up with whatever they've got and goes racing.
I do worry that it might be a bit crappy as spectator, though.
Anyone been? Is it a fun week?

I can feel an adventure bike trip coming on! 

[Tony T]

I can feel an adventure bike trip coming on! 

Hmmmm......... might be worth thinking about. It's only 7 weeks away though.
Got the potential to be feckin' hot up there at that time of the year. 

How come it's not on the telly?   

[matcho mick]

watched a featured doco at a broadford southern classic sat nite  ,think it was called "white dyno",on the salt racers,

[Mike52]

The newer 450 mx bikes will easily do 200kph with the right gearing. But they are 4 stroke, So how would that go running one of them? as the class is dirt bike, does it have to be a 2 stroke??
At Finke a few years ago I ran 15/ 40 on a CRF 450 Honda, At 9000rpm it worked out to around 190kph I was on the tank in top gear, on the rev limiter going down the road!! Scary fast. I figure with wheel spin etc was prob doing around 175/180

Interesting , so why does the record still stand I wonder.

[Rookie#1]

The newer 450 mx bikes will easily do 200kph with the right gearing. But they are 4 stroke, So how would that go running one of them? as the class is dirt bike, does it have to be a 2 stroke??
At Finke a few years ago I ran 15/ 40 on a CRF 450 Honda, At 9000rpm it worked out to around 190kph I was on the tank in top gear, on the rev limiter going down the road!! Scary fast. I figure with wheel spin etc was prob doing around 175/180

Interesting , so why does the record still stand I wonder.

Because I bet it doesn't pay nearly as much as being the next bloke to jump 9 suburbs at a time, whilst doing a quadruple front flip and landing on the roof of a moving tank! 

[firko]

I do worry that it might be a bit crappy as spectator, though.
Anyone been? Is it a fun week?

It's hot, the flies are flucking as annoying as a fly ever gets and it's as boring as batshit.........but it's strangely addictive. We went in 06 and once you get your head around the fact that you're stuck out in the desert with a bunch of weird eccentrics with a humungous amount of alcohol it becomes strangely entertaining. The engineering on the cars and bikes ranges from backyard to factory high tech and it's a whole new learning curve on what you think it takes to go fast. My mate Bones (Dave) and his then girlfriend Evelyne went for a look back in the 90's and now they're both addicted enough to go to Bonneville every couple of years and have given away their road racing sidecar exploits and are now dedicated Saltheads.  Evelyne now holds the Bonneville record for her class on the Yamaha V-Max she leaves over there. She has an identical V-Max racer here as well. Dave's currently building a streamliner using a speedway Weslake motor for the 500 streamliner class and he's got a tricked out FZ750 which spat him off at 150 back in 06 while we were there, not to mention his TZ350. If it wasn't so far away I'd build something for one of the weird vintage classes using a raked out 750-1000cc something or other, probably a Bol d'or Honda. Jonesy's talked of building something with his spare 850 Weslake motor and to take his Rickman Triumph roadie that once held the NZ Land speed record for its class at 129mph. The two things (maybe three) things that kill it for me are 1: the distance from Sydney, 2: Spending all that time and money for a once a year shot at it that might easily be rained out. We might one day take another trip down there with my cousin who's currently (but very slowly) building a 200+mph 2002 all steel Monaro.
                                               

[Lozza]

...............then after that long trip home you have the pleasure cleaning rust, corrosion and scale of everything

I can feel an adventure bike trip coming on! 

Hmmmm......... might be worth thinking about. It's only 7 weeks away though.
Got the potential to be feckin' hot up there at that time of the year. 

How come it's not on the telly?   

Last year temps were between 48 on the monday to 44 on the thursday. One massive problem for the organisers is the event's rapid gain in popularity with a whole new raft of procedures are being introduced for this year, one new rule is you have to be in the line up the whole time, where as before you could sit and wait for you number to be called. No joy standing round in leathers from 8am until 12.30 in 45deg heat.

[davidmc]

In 1981 Dirt Bike (US magazine) clocked a STOCK 1981 KTM 495 at 123.75mph (198ks)
although on the salt its a little more difficult.

[35elsinore]

Only being 170ks from Lake Gairdner means a quick trip when its on is easy. As a spectator, one day maybe two at the most is enough. It definitely gets you thinking about what you could build but as Firko said its not that easy. The range of machinery there is amazing and to walk around the pits is truly educational. Theres not a lot to see when it comes to the speed side of things but certainly the tunes coming from the vehicles is sweet, listening to Rod Hadfields Bronzed Aussie [commodore] at full flight makes the ears prick up.
A tarp, shade, sun screen, hat and plenty of liquid a must. The tarp is requires to put underneath your vehicle incase of oil leaks etc. Most people use tek screws for shades and tarps.
Its well worth the effort and the journey is all part of it.
It pays to go early in the week while most of the vehicles are still in one piece.

[Slakewell]

Brad and myself have discussed bringing back the methanol twin carb big clutch Kato 495 back out for a run on the salt. When we used to drag race it back in 90's we had it doing 11 sec's flat over the 1/4 mile which I'm guessing would be over 200km , we ran TZ wheels in it so we get the gearing lower.