Ian King, the famous dragbike racer is going to attempt a world record at the Straightliners Top Speed event aboard his Gulf Oil Top Fuel Dragbike next week at the same place where Egbert van Popta, Dutch Rider set the fastest wheelie world record last month.
The fearless rider will try to break Brit Phil Brachtvogel’s record in Category I, Class A1, Division B (partially streamlined), over 1350cc to 1600cc.
Ian’s dragbike is equipped with a Purpose-built Puma 1584cc inline four cylinder fuel-injected and supercharged engine that produced 1500 BHP (estimated) depending on the tune. It features aluminium cases and billet steel crankshaft, 12V DOHC billet aluminium cylinder head with aluminium bronze hemispheres.
The Straightliners Top Speed event will take place on September 17th and 18th of this month at Elvington Airfield in Yorkshire, England.
Ian King visited India back in 2011 for Gulf oil’s event and xBhp interviewed him in Feb-March 2012 Issue. The same article is featured on Ian’s website http://kingracing.com/.
These drag bikes are the fastest accelerating machines on two wheels and they can out accelerate all vehicles from a standing start including Formula One Cars and even F14 Jet Fighters. The estimated development cost of these machines is around $120,000 USD
The machines pull over 3g of acceleration (more than an astronaut experiences at take – off) from the start line and lift the front wheel off the ground. Struts with small wheels at the back are employed (wheelie bars) to prevent the machines flipping over. The only way to steer the bike with its front wheel off the ground is for the rider to hang his body off the side to alter the balance.
