An Uplift for Top Fuel Bike Racer Stuart Crane – Warpspeed Racing Steams Ahead

words and photos by Ivan Sansom and Rose Hughes

The season opener for Warpspeed Racing promised much but delivered nothing but frustration, prompting a schedule rethink for Stuart Crane, while Luke Farrugia is looking to build on early-season momentum for the remaining rounds of the FIM-E Top Fuel Bike championship.

“So after the poor performance at the Main Event, we decided to test at the Summer Nationals [domestic round at Santa Pod] and what an event that was! We were primarily testing the new-design billet crankcases and looking for any flaws in the design or problems with the configuration. We made a planned 1/8-mile run on the first pass, which I shut off 2.97 seconds into the run and rolled through with a 6.9-second run. So then we decided to do a full run, but take some boost out of the whole table to gauge what the track could take, which resulted in a 6.35.

We then noticed the bike spinning the tire at the top of first, second, and third gears, so we took some more power out of those gears, resulting in a 6.22. We then decided to put a couple of lb of boost in a few areas to start to step on the tune-up a little, which resulted in a 6.1818/225.61, so now we’re headed in the right direction. We shot a bit harder, as the competition was also stepping up, which resulted in a 6.18 again in the final at 234.90mph! [The semifinal ET set the class record for ACU competition, with the astonishing final round speed being too quick to be backed up by the earlier 225.61 mph, which now holds as the class record terminal]

I can’t thank everyone enough for all the design and manufacturing process of the billet crankcases and the help to make these happen these worked absolutely flawlessly all weekend I won’t sell anything unless it works and with everyone asking me if the billet combination is available I can say yes I’m happy to retail these billet cases now for the Warpspeed racing billet engine combination any enquiries please feel free to drop me a message via http://www.warpspeedracing.co.uk/.

Thanks again to my great crew who worked flat out all weekend to make sure I had the best bike I could, and my main man in the USA, Dan Wagner; without all these guys, nothing would have been possible.

We’re now looking towards the next FIM-E meeting in Tierp for Luke. Myself and Mark [Smith] are sitting this meeting out due to time constraints, but we’re looking forward to Hockenheim at the end of August with all 3 bikes running to push the competition the best we can.”

Stuart also provided an update on progress with Gabriel and Joe Briffa’s Maltese GSX with Luke Farrugia in the rider’s seat:

“After the impressive debut at the Festival of Power, winning the Funnybike class running 4.11, 4.09 and 4.14 passes [over the eighth thanks to strong crosswinds] in April, Luke with the Checkmate GSX continued where it left off at the Main Event and ran a straight off the trailer 6.48 in testing. Luke kept improving in qualifying with a 6.44 and 6.40 at 215 and 217 mph, resetting its own PBs, clinching Maltese best marks, and ending up as number 2 final qualifier in FIM-E Top Fuel Bike. An unfortunate leak meant a bow-out in the first round of eliminations, but the bike is ready to continue the rest of the championship tour at Tierp, all the way to Hockenheim, and then the Euro Finals.

Looking at the data and considering the heatwave conditions we faced, we are excited about what this new combo can do after a total rebuild of the bike last winter in our shop using all our flagship products, including a full GSX shift from the traditional GS platform, and also a full Warpspeed turbo system showing its potential. Gabriel would also like to thank Visit Malta, Power House Garage and Bilom Service station for their support.”

Like many, Crane and Farrugia will be hoping for somewhat more comfortable conditions in the remaining rounds of the championship than the heat that has dominated much of Europe for much of the summer.

FIM-E Schedule 2026

May 22-25, Main Event, Santa Pod Raceway, England
August 6-9, Summit Racing Equipment Internationals, Tierp Arena, Sweden
August 21-23, NitrOlympX, Hockenheimring, Germany
September 10-13, Euro Finals, Santa Pod Raceway, England