|
Dragbike.com
/ Tiger Racing Hayabusa
Breaks 3 Land Speed Records
It was during
the East Coast
Timing Associations
May event that held many surprises for Guy Caputo who
piloted the Dragbike.com / Tiger Racing Hayabusa. Saturday
morning was the opening day for the ECTA Land Speed Trials
and the Dragbike.com Land Speed Racer was rolling out
of the trailer from its long trip from Toledo, Ohio. The
sleek, black and silver 2001 custom project bike had suffered
a bloody nose during the opening ECTA event held in March
of this year. After only 6 weeks in intensive care (Tiger
Racing's Shop), the 1397cc high compression Maxton Monster
was ready to take on the world.
Guy slipped
on his leathers, kissed his wife for luck and started
the 1-mile trek down a back taxiway to the starting point
of the Maxton mile Land Speed course. This course is actually
an abandoned 8,000' runway that the ECTA uses for its
Land Speed Trials course. Once at the starting line, Guy
lined up the "Tiger" for its inaugural run down
track. "We're just going to take it easy on its first
run on motor only just to see what it will do" Guy
was heard saying. The starter gave the go ahead and off
he went. Guy started the day with an official run of 196.665mph
in the MPS/F 3000 class. "Not bad" he said,
"but now lets turn on the juice and see what she
does". Guy was running a 19T/36T gear combination,
which made the "Tiger" very long winded but
capable of some high mile per hour if the power was there
to pull it.
Using some small 16/18 nitrous jets, Guy made another
attempt and came away with a 204.382mph run and missed
the record by only 0.180mph. After reviewing his tune-up
with his cousin Mike Caputo, Pro-Modified Suzuki rider/builder
and owner of Maximum Performance Cycles in Toledo, OH,
it was decided that the nitrous jetting could go up a
bit. In went the 18/20 jetting and off he went to the
starting line again to make another attempt. This time
around, Guy launched the 1397cc Hayabusa down track like
a missile and tucked in tight for decreasing wind resistance.
Guy not only broke the record set in September of 2000,
but also pushed it up to a new record of 210.128mph beating
the old record by 6mph. Guy was now an official life member
of the East Coast 200 MPH CLUB. To become a member, not
only do you have to go over 200MPH, but also you have
to set a record doing it!
Guy was awarded
the coveted 200MPH Club Green Hat and T-shirt by none
other than Scott "Mr. Motorcycle" Guthrie who
holds over 200 records to his name and regularly goes
to Maxton with at least 2 to 6 motorcycles for riding
at the meets. "It was an honor to have become a member
of this very elite group of riders and I will never forget
this day" Guy exclaimed. The day was not over yet
and there were still records to be broken. Instead of
competing against his newly set record, Guy chose another
record to break. "This one has stood since the year
2000 and it's time to fall" Guy said. Having a tune-up
that allowed for some consistency, the "Tiger"
was put to the challenge. In just 1 run, Guy knocked over
another record in the APS/F 3001+ class at 208.318mph
and pushed it up another 4mph for the next person to try
to break. This was getting to be a very fun day for the
Dragbike.com / Tiger Racing Land Speed Racing Hayabusa
so why stop now.
Guy picked out
another record to break and off he went down the 1-mile
taxiway to the starting line to make another attempt down
the Maxton Mile. From a dead stop to a full throttle run,
Guy shot down the course vigorously looking for another
record. The "Tiger" was moving at breakneck
speeds and when he went thru the traps he had not only
set another record in the APS/F 3000 class at 211.555
but was clocked exiting at 213.351mph. A personal best
for Guy and the Dragbike.com / Tiger Racing Hayabusa and
who could ask for more. Guy had bested 3 records this
day and became a life member of the prestigious East Coast
200 MPH CLUB. He can now wear his Green Hat proudly and
be known for his accomplishments. 
Guy made sure to let everyone know that this hat and t-shirt
had cost him around $7,000 where to his surprise most
of the other members chuckled. He was told that most of
the other members had spent more than twice that and he
was lucky to get away so cheap. Cheap??? Going 200mph
seemed so mundane when this all started until his bubble
popped during his first event in September of 2002. Guy
said, "I thought I could just go out with a big motor
and run down a 200mph pass for sure. I had done it with
a GPS on the back roads of Ohio, what was so hard about
Maxton?" Here is the reason, at Maxton, you start
from a dead stop and go only to 1 mile. 200mph is 293.33
feet/second or roughly about 1 football field per second.
To get to that speed in just 5,280 feet (1 mile) takes
an enormous amount of Horse Power and a lot of aerodynamics.
The only bikes going faster than 210mph are the Turbo
Hayabusas. Scott "Mr. Motorcycle" Guthrie recently
told me and that there is 1 kind of bike at Maxton going
faster than 210mph, the Suzuki Hayabusa. I had to agree
with him.
"I wish
to thank Matt Polito, Editor of Dragbike.com for allowing
me to pursue this project, Mike Caputo for his engine
building expertise, Rob Muzzy for a great exhaust system,
Paul Gast for his awesome head and tranny work at Fast
by Gast, Phil Tinsley of X-treme Cycles for all the chrome
and polish work to the "Tiger" and last but
certainly not least, my wife Dianna. Who without her support,
I would have stopped this project long ago." Guy
Caputo
If you feel
you have what it takes to go over 200mph or you have a
motorcycle that you just want to see how fast you can
go, then check out the ECTA website at www.ecta-lsr.com
for dates, rules and track information.
Congratulations
to Dragbike.com and Tiger Racing for setting 3 new Land
Speed Records
and to Guy Caputo for becoming an East Coast 200 MPH Club
life member.
|
