Top 1 Oil "Ack Attack" Sets New Absolute Motorcycle Land Speed Record Posted: Sep.26.08
Bonneville, UT - Sept. 26, 2008 - After five days of pushing their streamliner motorcycle to new limits on the salt flats at Bonneville, The TOP 1 ACK Attack team achieved what it came to do - topple the existing absolute FIM motorcycle land speed record with a blistering 360.913 mph run.
At 8:58 MST, team owner Mike Akatiff, driver Rocky Robinson and crew shattered the existing 350.884mph record set by Denis Manning and Chris Carr in 2006.
The historic record was set during the first annual TOP 1 Oil World Land Speed Shootout last week at Bonneville Salt Flats in Bonneville, Utah.
The first-ever private land speed event to be sanctioned by the FIA and FIM saw new records in both the automotive and motorcycle categories.
The 4,000 horse power Burkland Streamliner set the FIA category A, group 1, class 11 record for the flying mile with a 415.896mph run.
And it wasn't without drama. Crashes, fires and a ride to the Emergency Room for one driver punctuated the event.
Full details are forthcoming, but you can read about the TOP 1 ACK Attack's record-setting run below.
About Mike Akatiff - The well-known motorcycle engineer and AMA dirt-track and desert racer built race bikes under contract with BSA Motorcycles for AMA champions Jim Rice and Dick Mann before starting his own company in 1971 to design and manufacture racing and custom motorcycle parts. In 1987, he founded ACK Technologies, which manufactures aircraft altitude digitizers and emergency location transmitters.
Akatiff began the design and construction of the Top-1 Ack-Attack twin-engine motorcycle streamliner in 2002, setting an unofficial land-speed record at the Bonneville Salt Flats less than two years later.
The 2006 BUB Speed Trials in September were a showdown among the top three streamliners in the world: the Suzuki Top-1 Ack-Attack, Sam Wheeler's E-Z-Hook, and Denis Manning's #7. The 16-year record 322 mph toppled twice!
Powered by 900 HP Twin 2600cc Suzuki Hayabusa engines, ACK Attack's initial pass (1 mile w/Flying Start) hit a top speed of 344.673 mph, with the return pass at 340.922 mph. The previous record was set in 1990 by Team Harley-Davidson's "Easyriders Liner" riden by Dave Campos, topping 322 mph (518.450 km/h.)
Sept. 6, 2006 - Streamliner Seven driven by Chris Carr archived the new world record of 350.884 mph with a one way pass of 354.832 mph through the measured mile. This record bested the world record set the previous day by Top 1 Ack Attack at 342.797.
Sept. 26, 2008 - The new record 360.913 mph was witnessed by an FIM official onsite, but is still subject to FIM ratification.
The TOP 1 World Land Speed Shootout is the first invitation-only Land Speed Racing event bringing together the fastest wheel-driven streamliner cars and motorcycles on the planet. It is also the first to be sanctioned by the FIA and FIM, the same organization overseeing Formula 1 and Moto GP racing.
Organizer and Land Speed Racing (LSR) veteran Mike Cook selected eight teams - five cars and three motorcycles - each led by icons of the sport with decades of racing experience behind them. To compete, vehicles had to conform to FIA/FIM technical and safety requirements, and be wheel-driven, with recent or close to setting land speed record times.
Competing teams in the car category are:
• Buckeye Bullet 2 - Ohio State University students will run the world's first hydrogen fuel-cell powered car under the direction of school staff advisor Don Butler, in an attempt to set a new Land Speed record for electric vehicles.
• Mormon Missile Diesel Streamliner (Boulder City, NV) - Bonneville veteran Lynn Goodfellow will try and lead the Duramax-powered team to a diesel Land Speed record in class, which will require velocities in excess of 235mph.
• Nish Motorsports (Salt Lake City, UT) - With 12 Land Speed records under their belts, the Nish family has its collective eye on taking their 1,800 horsepower streamliner to 425mph.
• Burkland Streamliner (Great Falls, MT) - This 4,500 horsepower, twin-engine monster first ran in 1996, ten years after it was conceived by driver Tom Burkland. In 2004 it set a record of 417.020mph, which the Burklands intend to break.
• Team Speed Demon (Simi Valley, CA and Memphis, TN) - Built in just six months, by Bonneville regulars George Poteet and Ron Main, the Mopar-powered Speed Demon has already exceeded 353mph.
Competing teams in the motorcycle category are:
• ACK Attack (San Jose, CA)- In 2006 Mike Akatiff's TOP 1 Oil-sponsored ACK Attack motorcycle streamliner shattered a 16-year-old record by averaging more than 342mph. Just two days later that record was broken by a competitor. Akatiff will be looking to reclaim his title.
• Team Kuryakyn/Full Blast Engineering (Sioux Falls, SD) - Representing the Harley crowd, team leader and holder of 10 world records Leo Hess is also the first and only rider to be a member of four different 200mph clubs. The Harley-powered streamliner is the only one to run over 200mph at El Mirage, Murac, and the Maxon Mile.
• Team E-Z-Hook Streamliner (Arcadia, CA) - With more than 8,000 hours invested in building the E-Z-Hook streamliner, and 50 years spent Land Speed Racing, team owner Sam Wheeler will attempt to push his creation past his fastest speed of 355mph.
