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/126327
Don Vesco linset) powered his double-engined Kawasaki to 274 mph despite numerous problems but failed to break his Land Speed Record of 303.812 mph. Vesco delayed in all-out LSR attempt By Charles Morey WENDO VER, UT, AUG . 14 In a week of attempting to better his own 303.812 mph FIM World Land Speed Record under sponsorship of Kawasaki Motors Corporation and Bel-Ray Oil , streamliner pilot Don Vesco was held back from making an all -out attempt a t the two-wheeled record by fail ing drive-belts chains and finall the weather. 14 I; , y It was, nonetheless, an enco uragi ng effort desp ite the miner-yet -sign ificant problems. In a Tuesday, August 8, mor n ing run down the I I-mil e Bonneville Salt Flat LSR co u rse , Vesco's strea m liner , powered by two Kawasak i KZIOOO motors, produced a 270 + mph run through th e one-mile speed trap. And thatwas in third gearl Sh ifter linkage play, due to a broken heim jo int. kept the streamliner in on e gear after a sh ift made well before th e speed trap du r ing hi s five -m i le accelera tion run . "We've go t to do a littl e work on the clu tch , too ," Vesco mu sed , "Gonna crank up the boost (~~rbo<;:~ arge r) a litt le - I think we' ll go up to 10 psi t h~~ tim e . . . , . T he bIggest t hmg we ve got IS th e wind - feel th at gus t? I got about five of those on the wa y down . You ca n run with th e wind up to a certa in exte nt, but. . ." T he wind , as it turned out, held back any furth er runs th a t day. Vesco had la id th e ma ch in e ove r once already ill " Sat urday p rac tice run at low speed. scourin g 5600 worth of a $1200 Moll y paint job off th e right side , and he wasn't looking forwa rd to a repeat performance. In a " su p p o rt class" rol e , ' ac com pa nying th e Vesco en tou rage , was stu nt wom an /mot orcycle racer Ma rcia Holley rid ing J ack Dola n 's sing le-engi ned turboch arged KZIOOO Kawasaki . Tuesday was a bad da y for the Holley attem pt. too . In t he one run made that day , the mac h ine refused to run on all four cylinders, and Holley _turned in a speed of only 106.222 mph. The fastest woman on a motorcycle at Bonneville had clocked a speed of 142 mph . That, along with the class record of 178 and the ever-tempting 200 mph Club were Holley's goals. She would become the new unofficial fastest woman on Wednesday; the other records remain unchallenged until a later date. On Wednesday morning, a tense and serious mood filled the early morning a ir. One cou ld sense that this was the run . "Does anyone know what I'm doing h ere ?" Marcia asked , obviousl y nervous but ready to "go for it." Compared to a casual , laid-back attitude he'd assumed on Tuesday , Vesco seemed unable to relax. In the limi t ed c onversat ion that passed among crew members , ob servers and the rid ers themselves , it show ed. "Do I go first?" Holley asked Vesco . She had run before on Tuesday. "You go first ; I' ll draft you, " Vesco lau ghed. But he would run first. It was a record -attempt day, and a ladiesfirst policy wou ld not apply. Vesco kne eled beside the exposed motors , hand on th e throttle linkage as the rollers cranked the rear wheel over. A full 30 seconds passed before th e first rumble of life burbled from the exh aust. V esco held th e throttle low , barel y keeping th e motors running for a few moments as oil ci rc u la te d and metal reached operating temperature. He blipped the linkage and eight cylinders howled in cadence. Flames burst from the turbocharger exha ust in boomin g puffs. Working th e fuel, Vesco ran th e mot ors for severa l minutes , look ing over th e enti re motor d epartm ent . tou ching ; in sp ec t in g parts and co m pone nts until he was - sa tisfied. He shut it off and went to slip on his suit. ' " I just talked to Earl Flanders," Kawasaki's Bryon Farnsworth told Vesco. " He says there's little or no wind. The ambulance is there - Let's go for it!" , Vesco started from mile 11 heading , for the trap between mi les five and six. Near mile seven, the drive belts . connecting the two motors broke. "O ne of them blew up - either too much heat or too much stress - he was running 15 psi boost for a wh ile . . . " c rew member Mike Ferguson explained later. " W e' re putting some scoops on it . They think . there's too much heat at the belts. We're gonna try channeling some a ir around it. If it does it again . we'll try tak ing th e bell ypan off and run without it ." The run had also cost the single (stock Kawasaki ) transmission one gear. First gear had broken. probably due to t he fact that th e streamliner was bouncing on the less-than-perfec t salt surface . " He had both wheels off the ground!" crew member Jim Hassad noted later tha t afternoon when a second run produced another broken belt. The right side belt blew on the second run , and the left side belt-was frayed . ''I'm running close to two-and -ahalf (250 mph) where I'm losing the belts - maybe morel" Vesco said. Wind, too, was becoming a problem once again . " I changed lanes three times!" Vesco added. "T he thing's handling pretty well . Even with the cross-ups , it'd stra ig hten out OK." he added. Marc ia H oll ey al so ran in to' problems . She turned 154 mph after having to down shift to fourth gear when a p rematu re shi ft. to fifth proved