V-8 Dragbikes

OH yes there have been a few of these believe it or not. In this country there have been several Rover V-8 engined bikes. I don't know if anyone here ever went to the extreme of using a Yank V-8 as did the 'Michigan Madman' E.J. Potter.

WE just have to begin with E.J. Potter who fitted a Hilborn injected 500 hp nitro burning small block into a bike frame. Mad enough you might think; it gets worse - the bike didn't have a clutch!
With the engine running this monster was transported to the start on a stand where 'EJ' wound it up before being pushed off the stand by his assistants!! This was the fastest bike in the world at the time, running 8's at 160mph, though it wasn't accepted officially.

Unfortunately one day the throttle stuck open and despite cutting the ignition it kept on going (now you now why fuel bikes have a spring loaded fuel cut off)! 'EJ' bailed out at over 100mph and walked away, though the bike ploughed into a forest and was totally destroyed.

Not one to be easily put off 'EJ' built a big block engined bike, and this was followed by a series of outlandish demo drag vehicles. Visit his site via our links page and buy his book!

Cover of EJ's Autobiography.

Photo courtesy Jon Spoard.

NOW here is something a bit special. Monty Hill's ( Hampton, Virginia ) 2.7 ltr V8 fuel bike. Information is a bit sketchy and the photos not to sharp despite lots of work, but it is a beauty. Looks to be based on 80's Suzuki GSXIIOO top ends. Bike has a B&J 2 speed transmission, 3 stage clutch and redlines at 13500rpm. Love to hear it running. Monty is quite interested in racing over here so maybe one day we will see it in action.
King racing believes this bike may have been built by or for Danny Johnson who also ran double engined fuel Harleys. Recently (Jan 2002) Marius van der Zijden of the Koedam Racing Team, confirmed that the bike was built by Danny Johnson but ridden by his son Ronny. Marius believes its best run was a 7.3.

I wonder what happened to the 2000 V8 built in the UK some time ago based on two Yamaha FZR1000 top ends. Conceived for car racing it was a very compact unit.

THERE have been Rover V-8 engined bikes before, including one by Rod Pallant. However Graham Syke's 'Syko' is certainly the most sophisticated, perhaps as a consequence development has been continuing for a number of years.

Work on this monumental project began in the early 90's. Graham has made extensive use of engine management technology in his quest to build a pump petrol/nitrous bike capable of matching current top fuel bikes.
The bike starts up like a normal car engine as the system retards the ignition and richens the fuel/air mixture, rpm's are limited to 3000 until the engine reaches operating temperature.

The fuel system monitors rpm, water temp, throttle angle and air inlet pressure when determining fuel requirements. Added to this the system controls nitrous triggering, the pneumatic GKN 2-speed gearbox (programmed to change at 6000rpm) and takes care of over revving.

The ignition system uses a 9 pip crank trigger and 2 'Sajem' coils to replace the standard distributor and its drive from the camshaft. In fact he dumped the whole camshaft drive train, and replaced it with a toothed belt drive which also drives the oil pump for the new dry sump, carved from billet (see photo). By adding an adjustable tensioner either side of the camshaft, the cam timing can be adjusted easily; with the engine running for example!

To cover all this beautiful engineering the bike features a 2-piece carbon/kevlar body which hinges up like a funny car (first used on the Vance and Hines fueler I believe). Perhaps the most controversial feature of the bike is its rear tyre, a huge 33.5 X 17 X 16 Goodyear as used on funny cars.

The bike has run a number of times over the last couple of years and is currently having a new air scoop and throttle plate made along with engine and clutch mods. Graham hopes to be out on 'Syko' in 2002, lets hope so as I can't wait to see the beast in action.

CALIFORNIAN John Hanson has a Vincent Lightning, a rare beast in itself. However the forks had been replaced at some time. Miraculously John managed to track down the original forks and steering head, attached to the monster seen at right top in a 1967 concert poster!

Having purchased the bike and returned the forks to the Vincent, John now has a small block engined drag bike with a motor bored and stroked to 6.6Ltr! The bike is methanol injected and features a CAE in-out gearbox driving a centrifugal clutch built into the rear wheel.

Click here to read the article from Motor Cycle Sport, 1966 courtesy of John Hanson.

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