Many consider Top Fuel Bike riders the crazies of the drag racing world, and true, you have to be a special breed to ride a fuel scooter. But pull off the wheelie bars, bolt on a a narrow racing tyre – and in my opinion you have to be an extra bit of crazy to straddle one of the no-bar turbo machines.
All these bikes want to do is buck you off at any given moment, as we have seen with some spectacular incidents in the past, like this one from Perth Motorplex last season.
But when the rider and bike get it right they are fast – very fast. Last weekend Alex Borg set the record for this special breed for a Hayabusa with his no-bar turbo-charged Suzuki hammering out a 7.38 at 191mph, the quickest no-bar Hayabusa pass in Australia, surpassing Leonard Azzopardi’s 7.47 mark – though still shy of his 198.4mph outright no-bar speed record.
There is no question that 200mph will be cracked very soon, and word is Leonard Azzopardi – who has been assisting Borg with his bike – has bought back his famed “Quick Silver” Hayabusa and readying it for racing once again.
Check out the video by Fast Performance Videos.
Update: The quickest no-bar bike outright in Australia is Brett Ghedina’s Honda with a 7.347 clocked at the Perth Motorplex earlier this year – apology to Brett if the article alluded otherwise.
