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HAYABUSA MAN:
15 December 1999
09:39:19GMT
Hayabusa man breaks speed limits for charity
By MCN Reporter
A SUZUKI Hayabusa rider covered 30 miles in under 10 minutes on a public road, tripping speed traps at 193mph - as the police stood back and cheered!
American Ken Merena, 51, who has raced at the Isle of Man TT, was granted special clearance to hold the throttle wide open for the high-speed demo on a desert road in Nevada. He took just 9:46.035s to get from Austin to Battle Mountain on Route 305. His average speed was 184.29mph.
Merena was asked to do the run by the organisers of the annual Pony Express race for classic cars, which covers the same route. They plan to open the event to bikes and wanted to see exactly what a modern machine could do.
He said: "Considering my own mistakes I was pleased with the average speed, but I was disappointed not to have achieved our goal of breaking the 200mph barrier on the straights."
The Hayabusa was fitted with a Yoshimura race exhaust, a modified airbox and remapped fuel injection to deal with the high-altitude road, which reaches 6500ft above sea level. The lack of oxygen at this height saps power.
Over the entire 30-mile section of road there are just five corners, and Merena claims all but two can be taken flat-out. He took the slowest turn at an indicated 140mph, but reckons the bike could have managed 160mph - if he'd had the bottle!
Between the curves the road features straights of up to nine miles - easily enough
to get the Hayabusa up to its top speed. One of the biggest problems Merena faced was finding tyres capable of coping with that speed for that length of time.
He settled on Dunlop slicks with a compound designed for sustained high-speed running.
Despite starting out with half-a-tank of fuel to save weight, the warning light came
on before the end of the run, forcing him to back off towards the end. He reckons an even higher average speed would have been possible had he been able to hold it flat-out.
REPRINTED FROM MCN
15 December 1999
09:39:19GMT
Hayabusa man breaks speed limits for charity
By MCN Reporter
A SUZUKI Hayabusa rider covered 30 miles in under 10 minutes on a public road, tripping speed traps at 193mph - as the police stood back and cheered!
American Ken Merena, 51, who has raced at the Isle of Man TT, was granted special clearance to hold the throttle wide open for the high-speed demo on a desert road in Nevada. He took just 9:46.035s to get from Austin to Battle Mountain on Route 305. His average speed was 184.29mph.
Merena was asked to do the run by the organisers of the annual Pony Express race for classic cars, which covers the same route. They plan to open the event to bikes and wanted to see exactly what a modern machine could do.
He said: "Considering my own mistakes I was pleased with the average speed, but I was disappointed not to have achieved our goal of breaking the 200mph barrier on the straights."
The Hayabusa was fitted with a Yoshimura race exhaust, a modified airbox and remapped fuel injection to deal with the high-altitude road, which reaches 6500ft above sea level. The lack of oxygen at this height saps power.
Over the entire 30-mile section of road there are just five corners, and Merena claims all but two can be taken flat-out. He took the slowest turn at an indicated 140mph, but reckons the bike could have managed 160mph - if he'd had the bottle!
Between the curves the road features straights of up to nine miles - easily enough
to get the Hayabusa up to its top speed. One of the biggest problems Merena faced was finding tyres capable of coping with that speed for that length of time.
He settled on Dunlop slicks with a compound designed for sustained high-speed running.
Despite starting out with half-a-tank of fuel to save weight, the warning light came
on before the end of the run, forcing him to back off towards the end. He reckons an even higher average speed would have been possible had he been able to hold it flat-out.
REPRINTED FROM MCN
