Two guys fully on speed

World Speed Record The idea which became an advertising campaign across Europe was born out of spontaneous enthusiasm. The amazing story of two Swiss motorcycle enthusiasts.

Text: Rof Lüthi, MOTO SPORT SCHWEIZ, Photos: Lüthi, zvg

By the time you are reading this, Markus Saegesser, Ruedi Steck and their six team-mates will already be on the road in the USA. The motorcycles which the two men plan to ride to bring one or more of the motorcycle speed records to Switzerland were sent on ahead two weeks ago. From 2 to 6 September it gets serious: at the Motorcycles Speed Trials officials from the International Motorcycling Federation or FIM will be making sure that the rules are maintained on the salt flats in Bonneville/Utah, only then is it possible to set officially approved world speed records. It all started with a film: "The Worlds Fastest Indian", which tells the story of speed freak Burt Munro. This made such an impression on Ruedi und Markus that they spontaneously decided to try to set a world speed record on the salt flats at Bonneville just like Munro once did. Are these unrealistic dreams? Not at all! Even though the absolute record on two wheels is 565 km/h, there are a whole host of classes and sub-classes in the Speed Trials where more achievable goals are up for grabs.

"That’s what we want as well!"

"We would have gone to Bonneville anyway to set a few records, although we might have set our sights a bit lower. But then Castrol got involved", says Markus, explaining the sudden turnaround. They were looking for an oil sponsor when negotiations with Castrol took an unexpected turn. The aim of the project "Swissperformance and Castrol Power 1 go for the World Record" is to promote Castrol’s new quality motorcycle oil. "We looked at each other and I said straight away: "Let’s do it!", Ruedi explains. "We had to quote Castrol a total price for the team, for building the motorcycle, a two-month promotional tour across Europe, travel to the USA, the actual record attempts and the media management. That all happened one Wednesday. We rushed home and hastily began to work out what it would all cost and ended up working through the night. On Saturday at 13.10 Markus e-mailed the quote to Castrol. Just two hours later we got the go ahead! Ruedi, the organiser of the Swiss Performance and Customizer trade fair dedicated his corporate work to the world record, but it wasn’t as straightforward for Markus (Territory Manager IBM). On the two-month promotional tour through six countries where the motorcycles that were due to be used for the world record attempts were normally ridden to the events, frame builder Livio Kägi helped out on several occasions.

Two and three cylinders

Ruedi is bringing a totally exotic machine to the Bonneville Salt Flats: the "Swiss Express" has a Feuling W3 engine. The air-cooled three cylinder engine was built by Jim Feuling who died in 2002. Ruedi imported the engine and the frame from the USA and first of all used them to build a Powercruiser. For the world record attempt he has added three 39mm individual throttle bodies and open pipes. With a 2.5 l capacity the engine can deliver 150 hp. The Cruiser antlers have been replaced by a steering stem. Ruedi wants to dedicate any new records to engine builder Jim Feuling. In response to the obligatory question from journalists Ruedi replies that "for personal reasons he is no longer a member of the Hells Angels ". The "Castrol Power 1 Hot-Shot" ridden by Markus is not a Harley. The company Hot-Shot built the V2 with a 45º cylinder angle. A Turbo Aerocharger including charge air cooler increases the output to 230 hp. The low-lying running gear (unsprung rear wheel, tank in tail piece) was built by Livio Kägi and his company "MID.land Framework". Markus previously rode for Autocross and notched up over 500,000 kilometres on the road. Markus and Ruedi are the first Swiss riders to have a go at the Bonneville Salt Flats world speed records. They are being trained by the boxer Stefan Angehrn. Markus: "He really makes us work!"

Final preparations

Here, there are hundreds of small things to organise and solutions to find. Logistics sponsor DHL gave one of their men the week off in order to get the world record motorcycle through the US customs and take it to Bonneville. What’s more when you are tuning the engine you have to bear in mind that Bonneville lies 1400 m above sea level. What was very helpful was the fact that FIM official Charles Hennekam visited the workshop of mechanic Sven Traber in Waltalingen ZH in person. He gave some valuable tips to ensure that the machines would be accepted in Bonneville. For example, on Markus' motorcycle the charge air cooler had to be positioned higher up and had to have a narrower design. In addition we decided at short notice to enter the "Partly Streamlined" class as well and we built half-shells for both motorcycles. There will be an eight-man team in Bonneville. Markus and Ruedi will start in the 2000 to 3000 cm³ class, Markus in the sub-class for supercharged engines and Ruedi in the non-supercharged class. Although the target to beat is a relatively modest 221 km/h (Warren 'Pete' Davis 2004 on a non-supercharged Harley Davidson), Markus and Ruedi point out that they plan to go a lot faster than this. During our visit to the workshop we watched Ruedi sorting out different sizes of crown gears. These were marked with the speed of the gear ratio. On one of these we saw the number "319". MOTOR SPORT SCHWEIZ wishes them Good Luck!