Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126308
00 t"O') ..... >w a:: o ::;; til w ... a:: " J: U >en til 15 iE L::..O:-_-=--== (Clockwise from top left) Wide'open throttle position yields a squirt of fuel from the Beildix carb's accelerator pump. The pressure relief .valve in this black 'n box controls boost. Pee Wee Gleason warms up a tire for a quick run. The TC is super clean on the right side. Rajay Industries makes the 11·blade turbine, shown here with the exhaust pipe removed. An Autopulse fuel pump fits where stock Z1-R airbox used to be. I " I .lIl Takin'it to the streets I Turbo Cycle Corporation combines Kawasaki Zl-R brawn with , American Turbo·Pak boost and unleashes a street legal 10-second quarter mile beast By Charles Morey It's hard to concentrate when you're wo rried. Mind waves race at a speed exceeded only by the ultra high speed turbine rotor in the machine below , trying to recall every important detail of how to opera te the in cred ib ly stro ng turb o cha rged Kawa sak i Zl -R T C _ wit hou t bl owing . It 18 up . "Yo u 'll j ust waste parts," America n T urbo Pak 's Ed R yan h a d sta te d earlier, " if you hold th e t hrott le a t steady high rpm waiting for th e lights to c ha nge li ke yo u wo u ld on a sta nda rd bike. " Th e.staging lights blin ked on as th e f ron t wheel rolled into posit ion . T he red light f or t he oth er lane flash ed on. We'd j ust fini shed fou r ru ns on a stoc k Kaw asak i Zl -R , a n impressivel y powerfu l mo torcycle . Qu'art e r m ile times had fa llen in the 12 .5 to 12.7 seco nd ra nge, and termina l speed had register ed in the 106-108 mp h bracket. Th e ye llou.' lights on th e Orang e Coun ty Int ern at ional Ra cew ay Ch ristmas tr ee began th ei r cou ntd own . "You ha ve to wing th e thrott le," Ryan had said. "See how Pee Wee does it? He tim es it so tha t whe n th e gr ee n comes on , th e mot or 's a t th e rig h t rp m ." For Pee Wee Gleason , th e " rig ht rpm " was arou nd 10 gra nd . Bu t he's goo d; it was ou r first time on a d rag stri p. Pee Wee's also very brave . He'd been pa inti ng b lack tire ma rks t h reequ art er s of the way dow n OC IR for most of the a fte rn oo n. For a timid begin ner. t he hot set -up seemed to be to ease off the line . ge tt ing on ly m od erat el y sidewa ys whe n th e hopelessly in ad equa te stock rear tire bro ke loose , a nd let t he tim es suffer in favo r of rid er life longevity. Th e last yellow ligh t dim m ed and it seem ed to happen in slow mo tion th e g reen light rose fro m a f ain t glow to gla ring brilliance. "T he cra n k is th e weak est part ," Alan Masek had to ld us. " W hen t hey go over eigh t or 10 po u nds pressure , it 's im port ant t o h a ve th e c r a n k wel d ed . " Press - fitt ed c ra n ks spi n under t he power crea ted from th e turbo cha rged motor. T he abi lity of th e to p ..nd to prod uce power excee ds th at of the bot tom end to accept a nd tra nsfer it int o wheel ro tat ion . T he m otor sd f-d e stru cts. T h e rpm wasn 't righ t - Pee W ee s d e monst ration was a hard a ct to jollow. L eft hand fing ers ging erly op en ed trying 10 slip th e clut ch and ease th e ma chine in to mo tion . Th e rear whe el st il l br ok e loose an d sidest ep p ed wh a l see me d like six in ches. It uiasn 't . Alan Ma sek . fo rm er Mark et in g Direc tor fo r' Ka wa saki Mot o rs • Corporat ion, j<;f ~ he. bigJ~ J bis spring l after 12 yea rs of service . He formed T urbo Cycle Corpora ti on . . a nd h...• plans to ma rk et th e absolute fastes t st ree t machine in th e co u ntry . PerHaps in t he world . T urbo Cycle will bu y Zl · Rs fro m Kawasak i, tu rb o kits fro m Ameri ca n T urbo Pak , a n d co m bine' the two to p rodu ce th at m ach ine . T he bik es will be av a ilab le from selec t Kaw sa saki deal er s in Ma y. Production obviously will be lim ited . T hey 'll cost $5000 eac h. First gea r was gone in a secon d; th e I tac h n eed le clim bed to its midpoint, t he n snapped up toward th e 10,000 rpm ma rk when th e tu rbo boost cut in . " Don't use th e cl utc h," Pee Wee had wa rned . " O n a turbo-power ed motor , ' it'Il bu ry th e tach need le just like that!" I I , T he righ t hand rolled f orwa rd a quarter tu m ; t he left t oe lift ed th e shifte r, and some wh ere insid e gea rs and shifter m echa nism pa rts slid int o pla ce. Th e righ t wrist dropp ed , holding t h e throttle har d against th e . stop . Th e ta ch n eedle dipped slightly as the rear wh eel dug f or, then lost trat, tjq"!.._