Nerd’s Eye View: Standing Mile Turbo ‘Busa

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It might look like a whole lot of runway, but it disappears quickly. Focus is required to keep the bike heading straight.

Do you know what’s scarier than going over a couple hundred miles an hour on a bike? Getting back to a stop before running out of road.

The speeds listed should be quarter mile, half mile, and full mile trap speeds. A stock Hayabusa typically traps around 152mph in the quarter, so the speed advantage in the quarter is not that great. The thing about motorcycles is the front wheel likes to come up which limits acceleration. A stock Hayabusa tops out around 190mph. So at the half mile, this turbo ‘Busa has pulled far ahead. At the end of the mile? 255mph is hauling some serious ass. Especially on two wheels.

Building a bike for top speed runs is not too unlike building a car. With a singular focus, modifications to the bike make it unsuitable for anything else besides its purpose of short runs at obscene power levels. It’ll probably overheat if ridden for any significant time. It won’t go over speed bumps. The longer swing arm makes it harder to turn. And with the lack of padding on the seat, no one would want to stay on it for more than a minute anyway. So what type of guy builds such a thing? Guys like Hussain Alsowaigh. The extent of modification to the bike with the relocation of major components along with the quality of the parts chosen shows Alsowaigh’s determination to reach the highest terminal velocity possible. And after going faster than any racecar besides an NHRA dragster, he has to get the bike to stop before running out of runway using a tire contact patch of maybe a couple square inches. It definitely takes determination.