258.54mph from Big CC's 1000bhp road-legal turbo Hayabusa...

ACTION PIC: STEVE MCDONALD

WE'VE BEEN following the progress of this bike for a while now, and the Big CC Racing/Steelheart Hayabusa has finally shown what it can do. At the Straightliners top speed event at Elvington in Yorkshire, it hit an amazing 258.54mph, over a mile, from a standing start. Which is a really incredible figure for a full racing land speed record bike - but for a *road legal* machine, it's simply stunning.

Ridden by top drag racer and very nice man Phil Wood, the bike is nothing less than a full drag-racing Hayabusa engine, in a road-legal package. Sean Mills at Big CC built a copy of his 1,547cc 1000bhp 'Project Pisstake' (above) engine for a foreign customer, who had planned (we're not making this up) to fit it into a giant chopper. Said customer ended up changing his plans, and Sean bought the engine back off him again.

Saddled with the blown, stroked, GT4x-equipped turbo motor, Sean decided to do something different. Rather than sell it to another drag racer, or strip it down for the parts, he put together a road-legal silencer, fitted lights and horn, and started shakedown tests for a 1000bhp road-legal Hayabusa, in stealth black colours, that looks almost stock at first glance. Lee at Steelheart Engineering made a special 8" rear wheel out of two standard Busa rims, all the better to hold a sticky 240-section rear tyre. Steelheart also made the special high-strength rear swingarm, and altered the frame to allow a straight chain run to the wider tyre - vital to get the huge horsepower down to the Tarmac.

Fast forward to last weekend, and Phil Wood was preparing to ride the beastie in anger. He'd taken the bike out for a gentle shakedown run in May, which revealed some issues, now sorted over the summer. Now, there's no traction control or anti-wheelie aids on this bike of course. The engine has so much torque, fuel and ignition going through it, that cutting sparks or fuel at the wrong moment would risk snapping the crankshaft in two (See video below for what 900+bhp looks like. Erk. All Phil has is an adjustable boost controller, and his skillz at handling multi-hundred-horsepower motorbikes.

How did the 1000bhp Hayabusa (dyno above) feel from behind the bars? Phil's remarkably relaxed when we speak to him. "It's easy to ride. Just like a 'busa, it will sit comfortably at 70mph in fourth gear, just off idle. Handling is really good in a straight line, I had the bars going lock to lock at about 240 in fourth due to the tyre just skimming the ground. I sat back a bit lifted the front wheel, shifted to fifth to load the motor and the front settled as it came down with a bit of weight on the tyre. It spins like my racing Katana, no warning, just spins, at any speed even at 250 plus."

That's a 240-section rear Michelin Power RS which is spinning btw...

So, on the second full run that Phil has managed, the bike comfortable out-performed all the specially-built race bikes at the event, and was fastest on the day. For something that Sean has ridden to Box Hill on a Sunday afternoon, it's truly amazing. Even more amazing is the fact the boost was set to 'just' 21psi, which equates to about  600bhp. The motor is built to take 45psi of boost, which gives the near-1000bhp maximum output. Plenty more power to go then...

More on the Stealth Busa soon. In the meantime, go to www.bigccracing.com for your own turbo bike! And go to www.straightlinersonline.co.uk for all your high-speed racing needs!