Roel Koedam

 

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ROEL Koedam's fuel bike at Santa Pod 2001-2.

The 2001 season success was achieved after a frustrating beginning to the year when the engine threw a rod. I think I would be right in saying that this is an unusual event for a top fuel bike of this type. Nevertheless the team managed to repair the damage in 2 weeks! A few weeks later triumph, with a best of 6.29/224mph at Gardermoen in Norway ( performance will be regularly updated on the Team Information page ). This was backed up with a 6.39, and an event win at the Hockenheim 'Nitro Olympics'.
Now second only to Brian Johnson in Europe, this success was achieved with a new 3 valve billet head. In fact look closely and you will see that most of the engine and induction system is carved from solid.
Take a look at the minimalist belt guards and final drive outrigger bearing support, beautiful work.

 

Carved from solid!Very low.

Drive sideInjector

 
 

AT the Speedfreaks Ball 2002, the team were experiencing problems later traced to a faulty oil control ring.
Whilst the supercharger was removed we can see the ubiquitous Puma injector scoop and main fuel metering valve. The link to this from the throttle butterfly spindle can clearly be seen. Hard to believe that the run of the mill throttle cable can unleash 1000hp!
Cable is of the push pull type as specified in the Top Fuel bike construction rules. The main fuel valve must also be fitted with a spring loaded shut off mechanism to close the motor down in case of accident or emergency.

  Injector offPuma injector
 
 

CLICK HERE FOR TEAM INFORMATION AND BIKE SPECIFICATIONS

 
 

TOP fuelers are amazingly complex motorbikes and obviously a lot of thought has to go into fitting all this complexity into a one frame.
Taking the left picture and moving from left to right are: upper pulley - Mallory Supermag 3, lower - "Pace" 3-stage oil pump and Enderle 110 fuel pump, belt tensioner on lower run. These are driven from the centre of the three pulleys on the crank. Outer pulley drives forward to the MSD Pro-12 Mag, whilst the inner and largest in width drives the supercharger ahead of the cylinder block.
Note the Yamaha crossed tuning fork logo engraved in the supercharger pulley guard ( the bike ran a Yamaha XS1100 2 valve head previously ).
Design of the billet 3 valve head is exquisite with the plenum chamber sweeping into the inlet ports. At the front of the plenum can be seen one of the burst panel flanges.

 

 

Belt salesman's delight!Magneto  and final drives.

 

Cylinder head