| The next day there were light winds so we were not in a big hurry to get our new engine set up inspected but the day was getting hotter, by about eleven o’clock the winds were steady at a little less than 5mph and we were ready for the first 125cc down run. The high gears on the 125 left Eric struggling with an 80mph first gear; the aluminum components within the clutch would heat up and grab after the clutch was slipped for a few seconds at 11,500rpm dropping the engine down to a near idle. After several 11,500rpm and back to idle cycles the engine started to accelerate into its’ midrange; once into its’ power band the 125 accelerated quicker than the smaller engines despite the higher gears. At the four mile flag all of the shift lights had come on and Eric was looking for seventh gear (the engine only has six) the dash was indicating 187mph he had underestimated the gearing slightly and would have to live with the engine performing at maximum rpm for another minute. With his hand on the clutch he waited till well past the measured mile before letting off. We would have to return from the 11 mile point so the best strategy was to drive all the way down there, the five mile drive past the measured mile was uneventful with the little streamliner’s suspension soaking up the rough course and only moving around a little in the ruts. At about a quarter mile before the end of the course at 75mph Eric deployed the parachute extended the landing gear and rolled to a stop just after the last pop up tent. It took John over twenty minutes to drive his truck to the opposite end of the course; he arrived tooting the horn, energized by the performance of the little streamliner. Eric was sitting in a chair under the pop up tent with a cold bottle of water with the top half of his fire suit pulled down talking to the course workers. We waited once again for the FIM officials to show up and witness the preparations for the return run. The turn around drill for the 125 was a repeat of the procedures performed the day before for John’s 100cc class record. The water tank was drained and refilled with cool water, the spark plug was replaced, the tires, landing gear, and parachute deployment reservoir were recharged with compressed nitrogen. The parachute was repacked and the streamliner and Eric were ready. The wind had calmed down to less than one mph for Eric’s return run. As he took off Eric noticed that the speedometer on the dash had stopped working (we later found that the connector was partially unplugged) the tachometer and shift lights continued to work. The official mile speed for the 125cc down run was 187.456mph paired with a return run of 185.842mph for a two way average of over 186mph or just over 300kph in metric units. Despite calls to Europe and having listed it several years ago on their website our FIM official couldn’t tell us what the current 125cc World record was and it doesn’t appear to be on the latest version of the FIM website. The fastest SCTA 125cc Bonneville record was set by Jack Costella’s little number 5050 streamliner in 2006 at 151.481mph. In a repeat of the day before it took most of the rest of the day to have the vehicle documented by the FIM. We decided to spend the remainder of the day cleaning the salt off of the liner and getting packed up for the drive home to California . One week after the BUB Event we would be driving to El Mirage to defend our points lead in the 2009 El Mirage Points Championship. For the second year in a row we left the BUB Event with the Mile per Hour to CC Ratio award and two FIM World Records (pending FIM ratification). With the 50cc, 100cc, and 125cc World records I think it’s safe to say that The Buddfab Streamliner is The World’s Fastest Small Displacement Motorcycle. |
| BUB SPEED TRIALS SEPT. 2009 page two |
