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Suzuki has proved that its GSX1300R Hayabusa really is the fastest production motorcycle on the planet with John Hepburn blasting one to a New Zealand record of 307.447 km/h.
On Saturday February 5, when Auckland’s Pukekohe Raceway was hosting what it called the Streamlined Spectacular with three 500cc Grand Prix racers from the 1950s equipped with ‘dust bin’ fairings, at the other end of the country Hepburn was putting on a ‘streamlined spectacular’ all of his own.
Riding the Suzuki Hayabusa he used to contest the recent New Zealand Superbike Championship, Hepburn turned on a tyre smoking, wheel-spinning display as he cranked the big Suzuki up to blast through the Southland Motorcycle Club’s electronically controlled timing traps with a best run of 193 mph (310 km/h) and a two-way average of 191.08 mph (307.44 km/h).
For Hepburn to make his attempt on the New Zealand motorcycle speed record, the Southland Motorcycle Club had to have Matai Road near Edendale officially surveyed to ensure its timing lights were exactly a quarter of a mile apart on the 3.2 km stretch of road, which was closed off for the occasion.
In addition to making a high speed pass through the flying quarter mile, the rider must return in the opposite direction within 15 minutes of the record run, with the speeds averaged.
Despite a gusting north-westerly wind, Hepburn’s very first run was faster than the 187.96 mph record set by Jon White on a Britten in December 1993. However, in order to establish a new top speed mark, the existing record must be bettered by more than one per cent, and Hepburn’s first few runs were a little short of that.
However, after taping the joint between the pants of his racing leather suit and his boots, removing the knee sliders from his leathers as well as the beading around the windscreen of the Suzuki and filling in the space above the rear wheel with a taped in piece of cardboard, the Timaru rider was on his way again.
Then, streaking down Matai Road at more than 191 mph, Hepburn lost the seat padding on the Suzuki, but in his haste to make the return pass within the required 15 minutes, he took off without it. Sitting on the seat rails, Hepburn blasted the Hayabusa into the record books. Then, just to prove a point, he did three more runs all at higher than the existing record, entertaining the crowd by wheel-spinning the Suzuki up through to third gear and leaving 70 metre long black rubber marks on the roadway.
“It was a lot harder to get the record than I thought,” Hepburn confessed later. “There was quite a cross wind and it was gusting so I had to make allowances for that. But I am really happy to get the record, especially on a production-based motorcycle.”
After his record runs, the Suzuki’s fuel-injected 1298cc DOHC engine was sealed and the Hayabusa was taken to a workshop for technical and eligibility checks under the watchful eyes of the Motorcycle New Zealand scrutineers.
It passed with flying colours, putting Hepburn and the Hayabusa into the New Zealand record books.
