Advertisement
Canada markets closed
  • S&P/TSX

    21,969.24
    +83.86 (+0.38%)
     
  • S&P 500

    5,099.96
    +51.54 (+1.02%)
     
  • DOW

    38,239.66
    +153.86 (+0.40%)
     
  • CAD/USD

    0.7318
    -0.0006 (-0.08%)
     
  • CRUDE OIL

    83.68
    +0.11 (+0.13%)
     
  • Bitcoin CAD

    87,499.59
    -918.77 (-1.04%)
     
  • CMC Crypto 200

    1,383.71
    -12.82 (-0.96%)
     
  • GOLD FUTURES

    2,350.80
    +8.30 (+0.35%)
     
  • RUSSELL 2000

    2,002.00
    +20.88 (+1.05%)
     
  • 10-Yr Bond

    4.6690
    -0.0370 (-0.79%)
     
  • NASDAQ

    15,927.90
    +316.14 (+2.03%)
     
  • VOLATILITY

    15.00
    -0.37 (-2.41%)
     
  • FTSE

    8,139.83
    +60.97 (+0.75%)
     
  • NIKKEI 225

    37,934.76
    +306.28 (+0.81%)
     
  • CAD/EUR

    0.6837
    +0.0016 (+0.23%)
     

Land Speed Racing Ride-Along - Video

Who's the Fastest Rider You know?

Last month, my friend Ralph Hudson asked me if I could put together a short video for him to display along with his land speed race bike at the 67th Annual O'Reilly Grand National Roadster Show. Over the last few years, I had been documenting Ralph and his crew, Ironwood Racing's Land Speed Racing, in the hope of chronicling their run at the Bonneville record for the fastest internal combustion, "sit-on" motorcycle—263 mph. Conditions at the Bonneville Salt Flats have cancelled the Speed Week event two years in a row, but that hasn't stopped Ralph and his team from prepping his bikes and participating in land speed racing events.

This short video, which was compiled from multiple racing meets, gives a taste of what it's like to prep and race a record-making, land speed motorcycle.

READ MORE: 10 Top Most Frightening Motorcycles | RideApart

The data graph in the video is from the MoteC telemetry aboard Ralph's highly modified Suzuki GSX-R1000 Turbocharged (Blown) motorcycle. On this run, Ralph set a record for the day on the El Mirage lake bed, with a speed of over 232 mph. At 2:35 into the video, take a look at the light blue line (fourth from the top), which measures lateral G Forces. As Ralph accelerated through 200 mph, he and the bike experienced a high-speed wobble on the unpredictable lake bed surface that lasts for about eight seconds.

ADVERTISEMENT

Here's the list of Ralph's records aboard #3535:

Owner/rider: Ralph Hudson

Crew Chief: Ted Silver

Built in 2009 – based on 2003 Suzuki GSX-R1000

Mojave Magnum record:

LSM – 262.6 mph – 2015 Fastest vehicle of the meet

Bonneville records:

APS-G 1000 210.622 mph - 2009

APS-G 1000 220.874 mph - 2010

APS-G 1000 225.596 mph – 2011

APS-G 1000 239.976 mph – 2012

APS-BG 1000 crashed 217.9 – 2013

El Mirage records:

APS-G 1000 194.882 mph – 2009

APS-G 1000 203.744 mph - 2010

APS-G 1000 214.360 mph – 2011

APS-BG 1000 241.126 mph – 2013

APS-BF 1000 237.529 mph – 2015

For more info about Ralph, you can follow him on Facebook. for updates on all his racing.


Follow RideApart on Facebook and Twitter, along with @RideApart on Instagram.