Saturday, February 13, 2010

The BUB Seven Streamliner...or...in search of the "salt-gasm"

Denis Manning’s motorcycles have been chasing world land speed records for over three decades and now the BUB 7 Streamliner he designed and built is the fastest motorcycle on the planet. Chris Carr set a new FIM world record & AMA national record at 367.382 mph thru the mile with an exit speed of 372.534 mph at the Cook Private Meet at the Bonneville Salt Flats Utah.

We got a chance to not only look over the car at the V Twin expo and talk to the BUB team, but the Biltwell/Lowbrow Customs booth was set up directly across from their display.....which meant I just drooled all weekend over this....
The Engine: The BUB Seven is powered by a custom V-4 engine. This engine is purpose built for motorcycle land speed racing. From a blank sheet of paper this engine was designed for one thing, power the world's fastest motorcycle. The maximum limit for this land speed racing is 3000cc. The engine also needs to fit in a space 18 inch x 28 inched so part of the initial design is to fit this compact space. The V-4 concept was used for two reasons, one to fit into the packaging and two the unique surface of the salt flats requires a engine with traction control. The engine is a big bang type so that the engine can gain traction then relax and then transfer power with the next power pulse.
Unlike drag racing one of the challenges in LSR racing is that the motorcycle has to make two runs; a down and return that make the average for the record, so the engine has to survive for both runs without any modifications.

Specs:

3 Liter, Turbocharged, Liquid Cooled, 16 Valves , DOHC, 90deg, V-4
Bore x Stoke : 4.125 in x 3 in
Compression ratio : 9.5 : 1
Transmission : Computer Controlled Air Shift 4 Speed
Clutch : Indy Car Dry Clutch
HP/Torque : 500hp @ 8500 RPM, 400 lb/ft torque @ 8500 RPM
Power Command :MoTeC
Fuel :
Methanol

1 comment:

Unknown said...

This thing was designed and built in my hometown of Grass Valley, CA and I've never even seen it, or met Denis Manning. Somebody shoot me!