Speed Records
From dragstrips to top-speed venues to roadrace courses around the country, super-light BST carbon-fiber wheels are enabling motorcycle suspension systems to provide greater traction, pushing racers to record-setting performances.
BST-shod bikes hold a pair of AMA Dragbike records and the title of World’s Fastest Streetbike. In roadracing, another BST-equipped machine leads two national championships and is on its way to taking 11 regional titles.
The best example of BST wheels helping competitors push the limits is Victor Gotay’s stunning march to setting AMA Dragbike’s Pro Street Turbo ET record of 209 mph in the quarter mile at the most recent AMA Dragbike race, in Atlanta.
Last year, the 24-year-old racer routinely sprinted Kenny Edwards’ "No Joke Busa" to 201 mph runs with a popular, intentionally weighted aluminum aftermarket front wheel. After the Puerto Rico native crashed the bike at more than 200 mph, lighter magnesium aftermarket rims were mounted. The first-generation Hayabusa and Gotay responded instantly, immediately ticking off 203 mph runs.
Realizing that lighter wheels were making his bike and rider happy, for 2010, Edwards installed a set of BST carbon-fiber wheels and Worldwide Bearings ceramic wheel bearings on his Busa. ETs instantly came down, trap speeds increased and record-setting runs ensued. 204s and 205s, then 206s and 7s soon lit up the scoreboard.
In the third round of qualifying at Atlanta Dragway, Gotay beat a 13-month-old class record by ripping off a 209.14 mph pass and backing it up with a solid 208.55 during the first round of eliminations, but didn’t know he was on record-breaking passes because, as he says, "The thing’s so smooth now." This is an amazing feat for a street-legal motorcycle on a DOT-approved tire, without a wheelie bar. At the eighth-mile point in this record-setting run, the Suzuki went from a dead stop to 161 mph in 4.92 seconds-an almost unbelievable feat.
"The BSTs roll better and feel totally different," says Gotay. "The bike oversteered with the weighted wheels. When we started running the BSTs, things changed immediately. Now, the bike 60-foots way better. I just hold on and go."
Gotay’s success with BST wheels is backstopped by Brock’s Performance-sponsored Jeremy Teasley, who won the Pro Street and SuperSport classes in Atlanta. He also set a record-breaking 7.351 sec. Pro Street nitrous run on a Kawasaki ZX-14.
Another Hayabusa, this one equipped with 700 tire-shredding horsepower and ridden by "Wild" Bill Warner, recently claimed the World’s Fastest Streetbike title last month with a 272.340 mph pass in the standing-start Maxton Mile.
In WERA roadrace competition, Team Hooters’ Tim Hunt has taken five national wins and 13 regional victories on his BST-equipped GSX-R1000 in early season running. In addition, the squad sits second and fourth in the WERA National Endurance series’ Mediumweight and Heavyweight classes, respectively.
Also proven internationally at every level of FIM Grand Prix competition and in winning 12 national championship titles around the world, BST’s five-spoke wheels feature a trick, single-piece construction. They utilize carbon fiber strands woven in a unidirectional pattern, embedded in a resin matrix, cured in a high-pressure autoclave at 250 degrees and coated with a chemical-resistant, high-gloss finish.
The completed rims roll on maintenance-free, precision-sealed Worldwide Bearings wheel bearings encased in low-friction seals with aerospace-grade grease. Outfitted with ultra-light, billet aluminum hubs and integrated rotor carriers, they have internal cush drives and come ready to bolt on. With the confidence of a higher strength-to-weight ratio than any alloy, BST carbon-fiber wheels are covered by a two-year, manufacturer’s warranty.
Supporting the sport in 2010, BST is offering more than $56,000 in race contingency money: $25,000 in AMA Dragbike; $7200 to MIROCK competitors and $24,000 to WERA roadracers. BST is also the headline sponsor of AMA Dragbike’s Real Street – Presented by BST series.
Transforming the ways a bike accelerates, handles and stops, BST wheels are available now in standard and race-specific sizes for Japanese and European sportbikes, as well as Harley-Davidson’s XR1200 and V-Rod from Brock’s Performance. For more information on BST wheels and other Brock’s Performance parts, go to BrocksPerformance.com.
