The overcast conditions subsided on Day Two of Cook’s Top Oil Land Speed Shootout in Bolivia, and competitors were greeted by sunny skies and a drying track at the Salar de Uyuni the morning of Saturday, July 14. The Top Oil Ack Attack Team finally saw some action on the track today, though it wasn’t a solid run, and a return to the course later in the afternoon was thwarted by gusting winds. Ralph Hudson upped his own FIM World Record set yesterday, bumping up the partially streamlined motorcycle record by another few miles per hour, although the 300-mph barrier still waits. Meanwhile, Erin Sills and the Hunter Sills BMW team saw promising speeds, but wrestled with technical issues in trying to put two solid runs together, ending their day with a broken engine.
Mike Akatiff and his Top 1 Oil crew spared nothing when it came to preparation for the Bolivia meet this year, but have nonetheless been wrestling with technical issues and “salt gremlins” in the past two days. The Ack Attack streamliner got out to its first run of the meet midday, but quickly glided to a halt when rider Rocky Robinson discovered he couldn’t shift gears. The malfunction prompted the team to head back to the pits for inspection.
“Oh what a day,” said Mike Akatiff. “We must have brought the Bonneville curse to Bolivia because the bike was shifting perfectly last year. We touched nothing on it. We went to push Rocky off to do a test run and the thing wouldn’t [shift]… it was like it was in neutral. It wouldn’t go. We were totally puzzled. It would be the last thing in the world I would think of if somebody said, ‘Oh there’s something wrong with the transmission.’ We put the bike up, we put it in gear. We spent a lot of time doing that today and everything seems fine. The shift indicator has a set of lights that shows what gear each motor is in; they’re not working so we’re just going to can that.”
Later in the day, the Ack Attack was ready for another run, and sat at the Mile 1 marker awaiting a clear course. But winds steadily increased in the afternoon, and after watching Ralph Hudson get blown off the course on his return run, Akatiff opted to call it a day. It turned out to be a good call as winds quickly picked up to 25 mph (40 km/h), even lifting the entire row of Top 1 Oil tents off the ground, sending the crew scrambling to pull the airborne mass of metal and canopies back down to earth.
“The plan now tomorrow morning is get out early,” said Akatiff. “If the wind is calm, we’re going to go for a record on this thing. It was a frustrating day yesterday, too, but Bonneville usually is. My son Jason said one of two things are going to happen. Either it’s going to be like 2006 where we drop the bike on the ground and he breaks the record, or it’s going to go like 2008 and 2010 where it comes down to the last day at the last hour before we actually do something, and it looks like it’s heading in that direction right now. We’ll just have to see what tomorrow brings.”
Ralph Hudson had his best-ever one-way pass today, reaching a top speed of 298 mph (479 km/h) in the timed mile. Hudson put it together with a previous run and technically upped his own record set just yesterday by another three mph for a new FIM World Record of 294 mph (473 km/h), but it still not good enough for the Glendale, California resident. Hudson is hungry to break the 300-mph barrier, and has one more day to get there.
Following his run of 298 mph, Hudson attempted a return that could up his average for a new FIM World Record, but steadily increasing winds quickly put a damper on his efforts. Gusting wind sent him for a bit of a wild ride as he was blown off the course in the timed mile, where he was clocked at an entry speed of over 250 mph (402 km/h).
“I really, really wanted to have a good return,” Hudson said. “The tower did say that we had a crosswind at about seven mph but I thought, ‘I gotta try.’ It was interesting; I looked at the data and the bike speed was like 294 [mph] and the wheel speed was 318. So it was really slippery. The tires are slicks so… if we could run knobbies it would probably help. [laughs]
“I was having to lean into the wind quite a bit. And you can’t get tucked in, and so I knew the speed was going to be off, but you try not to let off until it’s just absolutely done all you can. At the very end I actually got blown off the track outside the timing lights so I didn’t have a finish timing speed at the mile. I did my best, and I guess we’ll clean it all up and we’ll try again tomorrow.”
Erin Sills and Trev Richter of the Hunter Sills BMW team also had an eventful day with both high and low points. Sills completed her first pass aboard “Snoopy,” the team’s nitrous-powered BMW S 1000 RR, and recorded a searing entry speed of 221 mph (355 km/h) in the timed mile. Her mile average on the run was several mph lower, but the pass showed enormous potential for the team.
Trev Richter completed his first passes of the meet aboard “Woodstock,” the naturally-aspirated BMW S 1000 RR, and he was able to reach 195 mph (314 km/h) on his return run, a best-ever for the Colorado native.
Sills’ next attempt aboard “Snoopy” didn’t fare as well, however, as she aborted the run in a cloud of smoke after blowing a hole clear through the engine. Fortunately the team came prepared with a spare S 1000 RR power plant. The crew is working into the night in sub-zero temperatures on the Salar to prepare for the final day of racing tomorrow.
Text and Pictures Jean Turner, FIM