GPz750 turbo goes to Bonneville

The following was sent to me by fellow 750 turbo rider Jim Short from California, after his first crack at 200mph at the World of Speed event.

"Hi Lorc,

Back from WOS and have taken it easy for a couple of days. Only thing I've done is wash the salt out of, around, in, and out of the bike, trailer, and truck! You would think that white stuff would stay within the confines of the fender wells. Ha! It was everywhere. Didn't care much about the truck and trailer but I had produced and installed several "salt shields" for the bike. Worked very well I might add. My carbon fiber lower fairing was not completed in time so I ran without. The only salt collection I had per missing fairing was on the turbo and lower suspension. The intercooler and oil cooler collected zero salt (in contrast to all other bikes that stuffed their radiators full!). My induction snorkel also functioned perfectly as not one kernel of salt was collected on the K & N.

My crew chief and his brother had the worst of it as they have to clean up the motorhome and the workshop trailer. Don't envy them for sure!

'Nuff of cleaning salt.

Was incredible weather the whole week. First couple of days held in the upper nineties and produced some outrageous burns and tans. I noted plenty of nose and ear undersides that were sunburned as a result of the sun's reflection from the salt. We were lucky in the sense that we had the availability of getting out of the sun via the motorhome when we weren't waiting in the lineup. I also sat in our pit truck with the air going full blast as Bonneville approved leathers gets mighty hot very quickly. SPF 50 sun bloc, wide brimmed hats, and plenty of water is most definitely the order of the day!

My crew and I all met up Weds. night, the tenth of last month, at the "bend in the road." We awoke the next morning while it was still dark, broke camp, and drove the last few miles to the "end of the road," as it's called. We had to wait there until 7:00 am as the BLM (Bureau of Land Management - US Government) allows no one on the salt before then. We were one of the first to get setup and shortly we were off to Tech.

I found the Tech experience fun. I had read and re-read the rule book backwards and forwards and also had contacted the tech inspectors via email on numerous occasions so I was ready. My Tech inspector was Seldom Seen Slim from the LSR mail list. I enjoyed speaking with him immensely. I was out of Tech in less then 20 minutes. Had the whole day to peruse the pits, checking out the continual stream of vehicles arriving. Looked to me as if the pit area grew to the dimensions of 1/4 mile wide and about a mile long. Had to have been over a thousand vehicles at the peak. I never got a count but I'd estimate 300 entrant vehicles.

All manner of machines were present. John's Landracing.com site nor the WOS site doesn't come close to giving a flavor of what was out there. Every kind of motor driven thing you can imagine was there. From unique and exotic runners to crazy pit vehicles, to bike engined go-karts, to the Dragon, a V-16 Detroit diesel powered truck, all made up the unforgettable week on the salt.

Everyone had to be off the salt by 6:30 pm (BLM thing again) and we left for the bend in the road, leaving the work shop trailer in our staked out spot. Up early on Thursday the 12th, first day of racing. Drove out to the end of the road and the entrance to the salt flats about 8:00 am. Set up upon arrival and proceeded to the registration area where the driver's meeting was to be held. Very informal and didn't finish until 10:00 am. At that time all crews were given the opportunity to drive the course. I, for the life of me, can't remember why we didn't make it. As it turned out, it didn't matter anyway.

Unloaded the turbo from the shop trailer, tied it down on my little Kendon one-bike trailer, and headed to the start lineup about a mile away from the pits. THREE HOURS later, it was our turn. Since I was a new driver, I needed to be licensed for the salt. My first run was to be at 125 mph and timed at the two mile mark. Actually timed between the two mile and the two and a quarter mile marker.

We got the turbo set up in position and fired up the motor. We noted an availability of less then 11 volts and decided to make the run anyway, after all it had taken us three hours to get to this point! I got the starter's waveoff and idled out on the course testing the traction. Started rolling on the gas and discovered I needed to play with it a bit to keep wheelspin in check. The first black markers loomed ahead signaling the first half mile. I noted nothing on my GPS speedo. Started thumbing the speedo's switch to try to make the speedo portion come alive. Didn't work. About that time I passed the mile and a half mark and saw the two mile sign approaching. I begin to feel as if I might be traveling a might too fast so slowed down a bit. I pulled off the track at the three mile marker and headed for the time shack. I was shocked to find I'd clocked at 140 mph and change! I thought I was going to get my hand slapped and have to repeat the run. I took the time slip to Tech (they do licensing in addition to tech) and I found that 125 was the minimum to qualify. I could have ran a maximum of 149. That was cool! First license out of the way and no more runs on that day. Line was simply too long.

Next morning we had the bike very close to the start and I got my first run early in the day. I got the waveoff and rolled on the gas. Was feeling good. Up through the gears and then noticed a lack of power. I ended up full throttle in 5th at the 2 and a quarter marker at 124 mph indicated. (We'd charged the battery and the GPS was working perfectly.) I did notice some rough running at the end before I turned off course. My crew pulled up with the chase truck and we loaded the bike. Did some checks before we left and decided it was fouled plugs. Pulled back into the starting lineup and put a set of plugs in the motor. Ran good. We had the rev limiter set at 11,000 and the motor pulled instantly there with zero hesitation. Try another run. FIVE HOURS later it was our turn again. Up to the start, fire the motor, wait a few seconds for the GPS to find the sats, and give the starter the high sign. Pull out and roll the gas on. No power. Pulled off the course long before the 1st mile marker at 108 mph! Done for the day. We hauled the shop trailer to the bend in the road and had dinner before tackling the bike.

Finished up BBQ'd steaks and played around with a potato gun on steroids for a while. Then got started on the bike. Pulled the plugs to find them all lean. Stripped all the covers and the tank so we could access the bike. Found a vacuum line broken off the sensor on the back of the airbox. Guess we got lucky as I could have lunched the motor over that one. Hauled out some new line and replaced the broken one. I'm pretty certain we'd broken the line the first evening we arrived when we installed a relay to work with lanyard switch hitched to the fuel pump. We took the opportunity to replace most tubing and buttoned everything back up around 1:00 am. I kicked my crew chief out of bed (farted on him actually!) before six the next morning.

We caravanned everything back to the pits and immediately drove to the start lineup. I was number two in line. There were only six vehicles in impound waiting for record return runs so I felt we had a good chance of running before 9:00 am. Not to be. Shortly after arriving at the start lineup, an official came over and stated they were moving the track as the existing one was pretty badly torn up around the five mile mark. Crap! Didn't take them as long to build a new track as we all thought. What actually happened was a widening of the existing track and the movement of all the left side markers to the right about 20 feet.

I lost track of time but I believe it was around 11:00 am when the record return guys were done. We fired the bike for the first time since the ill fated 108 mph run from the previous day as we moved into position at the starting line. (We hadn't started it after completing the work the night before as we didn't want to awaken anyone in the surrounding trailers and motorhomes.) Motor sounded wonderful. Came our turn and I roll into position. High sign and the starter gives me the waveoff.

I can tell immediately we have the power back. I was determined to make this run at 174 mph one mile under the 175 cutoff. (The GPS speedo was right on with the course clocks to the tenths so was confident if I rode 174, it would be okay.) Anyway, I'm rolling on the gas with a bit more oomph then the previous runs. Easily hazing the tire. Lot of fun, minor fishtailing, blowing the tire, still trying to get a handle on it through fifth. I'm at the mile and a half marker and indicating 168 and I'm still in low boost. I starting to get a little excited thinking this little baby is gonna pull through. Just as I saw the 168 I felt an instant power loss. Added full throttle, left it in low boost, and the bike started to decelerate. I crept through the 2 1/4 marker at 153.97. Good enough for my second license but I was sick. 61 years old and I felt like bawling. Turned off course at the 3 1/2 mile marker and waited for the guys.

Didn't even try to start the thing when they got to me. They didn't say anything as it was all over my face. We hauled the bike back to the pits and put it in the shop trailer. I said I was ready for a beer, several beers in fact. A couple of hours later, we decided to pull the plugs.

Holes one and three were dead on compression. Put a light in the cylinders. Stuck valves. All four pistons have valve marks. What the hell! Retired to the motorhome for more beer and a nap. Spent the rest of the day smoozing with the other drivers and riders. Left the pits for the bend in the road about 5:00 pm. Broke out the BBQ and beer and put a DVD on. Dead motor. Life is not good at the moment.

Got up the next morning early to watch the sunrise over the salt. Was surreal. Simply stunning! Drove to the pits and leisurely started to pack everything up. I was struck by the empty pits. The event closed up shop around noon. We finished packing up and cleaning our pit area and left for the bend in the road. We decided to have a late lunch there and headed out for Winnemucca, Nevada about four hours away. Our destination there was a Wal-Mart where we planned to stay the night. We met up at the Wal-Mart (huge variety store that allows trucks, trailers, and motorhomes, to spend the night for free) and had dinner, retiring to bed early.

We said our goodbyes in the early am, my crew heading off to Corvallis, Oregon and my Son and I off to Carmichael, California. The next morning, my crew chief called me to tell me he knew why the motor failed. The head has the biggest valves we could stuff in there. We needed to degree those cams. The motor had ran like a scalded ass ape and so we just never got around to doing that last tedious chore. I think we work for Dumbass Incorporated. It cost me my last license and a run over 200 mph.

Next year I will be prepared!

The bike runs a USD ZX7r front end, a 600 kawa wheel in front, six piston calipers, a 750 SRAD swing arm and wheel, a ZR7S shock, stock rear suspension pieces with my made up dogbones (they look like yours), stage 5 turbo, my own design intercooler and flow pipes, modified air box, pilot road tires at forty pounds pressure, Nordskog GPS speedo, biggest bosch fuel pump we could stick in the frame, pingle petcock, Convertibars, and a whole hell of a lot of machining and stuff I've forgotten about.

In sum? It was one hell of a week and I can't wait to get back there!!!!!!!!! I've carried a dream off and on to get to the salt flats since 1962. That was the year that Johnson went 230 mph in a Triumph 'liner. That resulted in Triumph creating their Bonneville model. I salivated over that for years. Never bought one.

Here's three pictures for you from my equipment. John has four pictures, two of the bike and two of me, on his landracing site. I have a total of 362 shots if you think anyone might be interested in seeing some of them. Well, here's three of them.

img.photobucket.com/albums/v30/Lorcan/short1.jpg

img.photobucket.com/albums/v30/Lorcan/short2.jpg

img.photobucket.com/albums/v30/Lorcan/short3.jpg

If you make it to the salt next year, please look me up. Won't be hard to find. Be the only turbo there! The bike was quite a spectacle. Got so I'd park the thing on the rear stand a few slots up from the chase truck so I wouldn't be besieged with the constant flow of people that surrounded the bike.

All the best,

Jim Short"

have a total of 362 shots if you think anyone might be interested in seeing some of them.

Hell yeah!

Nice read.

Thanks for sharing, Lorcan. That's cool stuff -- tell Jim sure, some additional pics would be welcomed.

How about it, you coming out next year? The ultimate dyno!

Well I was hoping to make it this year, but as I ended up selling my previous business, starting a new one and moving house this year that kind of vacation could not be worked in. Maybe next year.

There is also the question of Bonneville being the ultimate dyno. Frank Gillebaard ran 265mph at Elvington airfield on his Busa turbo "streetbike" last year, which is in excess of the 261mph record set by John Noonan (I think) at Bonneville, so maybe a 2 mile asphalt near sea-level airfield is better than a 7 mile but 5000' elevation salt lake? Not that I am doubting Bonneville as the spiritual home of land speed, and I would love to visit one day, but it's possible that the ultimate dyno might actually be on pavement, not salt.

It was a great time on the salt. Are you going to speed week next year in August? Some guys were telling us that (World of Speed) www.saltflats.com/ gets rained out some years but (Speed week SCTA) www.scta-bni.org/ is never canceled, but it's hotter.

Big thanks for sharing this!!!

Great morning story to read with coffee in hand. You guys are nuts, but it's good to read about your trials and tribulations. Wheelspin in 5th? :blink:

There's a guy around the couner here, that parks his 750turbo on the street from time to time. I went to look at it, and there's a sticker on the gas tank, "Bike Not For Sale". :laugh:

What a great story. Thanks for sharing Lorcan.

More pics from Jim

s218.photobucket.com/albums/cc317/880Turbo/