American Motorcycle Dealer AMD 215 June 2017 | Page 20
World’s fastest motorcycle
BRIEFS bound for Bolivia
NEWS
The Sportscar Vintage Racing
Association (SVRA) has
announced Harley as its ‘Official
Motorcycle’. The SVRA is
expanding its motorsports
festival weekend formula into
the realm of vintage
motorcycles. Vintage two-wheel
racing will join the wide variety
of activities at the June 16-18
Brickyard Invitational at the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Harley will lead a large
motorcycle presence at the
Brickyard Invitational with an
“arrive and ride” experience of
its latest models. The Speedway’s
very first motorized competition
was a motorcycle race meet of
August 14, 1909.
FOX has announced a voluntary recall
for Harley-specific aftermarket
motorcycle shock absorber products,
purchased after September 2014, due
to a potential failure hazard. It is
believed that affected recall product
units are limited in quantity to about
2,460 shock absorbers. Retailers or
service professionals who have
questions can call FOX Customer
Service at 1-800-369-7469; additional
information will be posted online at
www.ridefox.com
New owner Textron is closing
Arctic Cat’s (relatively
new/old) corporate head
office in Minneapolis and
relocating some production –
with ‘Stampede’ SxS engine
manufacturing and vehicle
production moving to their
existing Thief River Falls, Mn.,
facility from Germany and
Augusta, Ga., respectively.
The world’s fastest motorcycle, the TOP
1 ACK ATTACK, is bound for Bolivia for
an epic adventure to exceed its own
record of 376.363 mph/605.697 km/h.
The twin-engine streamliner is going to
make a run for the record on the
remote Salar de Uyuni salt flats high in
the Andes mountains between August
3-8, 2017.
The TOP 1 ACK ATTACK’s previous
record-breaking runs took place on the
legendary Bonneville Salt Flats, but the
team is now travelling to Bolivia to
conquer this new challenge.
“Bolivia has been selected because it
has a much longer run up and down of
16 miles versus about seven miles at
Bonneville,” explains ACK ATTACK
pilot and three-time World Land Speed
record holder Rocky Robinson. “This
makes it safer, too. Wheel spin on
driven – not thrust/jet – streamliners is
a danger, so the acceleration has to be
very gradual to avoid awkward
handling. Distance is your friend!”
“Honestly, we would have preferred to
set the record in Bonneville,” adds TOP
1 VP of Sales & Marketing Frank Ryan.
“TOP 1 lives and breathes the
American lifestyle. We produce and
package our products in the USA
before distributing them to 60
countries around the world. However,
several years of bad conditions at
Bonneville, coupled with record rainfall
this year, means we have to travel to
the top of the world to find optimal
conditions. Those conditions just
happen to be at 12,000 feet above sea
level in the Andes mountains.”
Breaking down Bolivia by the numbers:
Salar de Uyuni is the world’s largest salt
flat at 10,582 square kilometers
(4,086 square miles) with an elevation
of 3,656 meters (11,995 feet) above
sea level. The high elevation will play
havoc with fuel management, and the
harsh conditions will take their toll on
the entire team, but Robinson says they
are on a mission to not only defend the
current World Land Speed record of
376 mph/605 km/h, but also to be the
first motorcycle to break the 400 mph
speed barrier!
“When we started to build the TOP 1
ACK ATTACK in 2003, our goal was to
exceed the record of 322 mph that had
stood for 16 years,” said Mike Akatiff,
builder of the TOP 1 ACK ATTACK, “but
in the back of my head was the thought
that we could build a bike to actually
go 400 mph. We began challenging the
record in 2004, and, with the backing
of TOP 1 Oil, we have broken the record
three times: in 2006, 2008 and 2010.
The 2010 record still stands today at
376.363 mph, but I believe the bike is
now ready to go much faster, and with
a suitable race track we feel we can
make history once again.”
Founded in 1979 by William “Bill”
Ryan, TOP 1 Oil Products is a premium
synthetic lubricant brand. TOP 1 prides
itself as being an American brand and
being run by the 2nd and 3rd
generations of the Ryan family.
Built by Mike Akatiff, owner of Ack
Technologies, an avionics company, the
ACK ATTACK is a brilliant piece of
engineering. The 20-foot long
streamliner is powered by a pair of
turbocharged/intercooled Suzuki
Hayabusa engines, producing more
than 1000bhp. The quest to be the
world’s fastest motorcycle hasn’t been
easy – the ACK ATTACK crashed three
times during record runs, in 2004,
2007 (when it rolled 16 times) and
2011 – “but with great risks come
great rewards.”
www.top1ackattack.com