Posted on 09/21/2004 9:43:55 AM PDT by Lijahsbubbe
WABASHA (AP) - With a State Patrol airplane overhead, a Stillwater motorcyclist hit the throttle and possibly set the informal record for the fastest speeding ticket in Minnesota history: 205 mph.
On Saturday afternoon, State Patrol pilot Al Loney was flying near Wabasha, in southeastern Minnesota on the Wisconsin border, watching two motorcyclists racing along U.S. Highway 61.
When one of the riders shot forward, Loney was ready with his stopwatch. He clicked it once when the motorcycle reached a white marker on the road and again a quarter-mile later. The watch read 4.39 seconds, which Loney calculated to be 205 mph.
"I was in total disbelief," Loney told the St. Paul Pioneer Press for Tuesday's editions. "I had to double-check my watch because in 27 years I'd never seen anything move that fast."
Several law enforcement sources told the newspaper that, although no official records are kept, it was probably the fastest ticket ever written in the state.
After about three-quarters of a mile, the biker slowed to about 100 mph and let the other cycle catch up. By then Loney had radioed ahead to another state trooper, who pulled the two over soon afterward.
The State Patrol officer arrested the faster rider, 20-year-old Stillwater resident Samuel Armstrong Tilley, for reckless driving, driving without a motorcycle license - and driving 140 miles per hour over the posted speed limit of 65 mph.
A search of speeding tickets written by state troopers, who patrol most of the state's highways, between 1990 and February 2004 shows the next fastest ticket was for 150 mph in 1994 in Lake of the Woods County.
Tilley did not return calls from the newspaper to his home Monday. A working number for him could not immediately be found by The Associated Press on Tuesday.
Only a handful of exotic sports cars can reach 200 mph, but many high-performance motorcycles can top 175 mph. With minor modifications, they can hit 200 mph. Tilley was riding a Honda 1000, Loney said.
Kathy Swanson of the state Office of Traffic Safety said unless Tilley was wearing the kind of protective gear professional motorcycle racers wear, he was courting death at 200 mph.
"I'm not entirely sure what would happen if you crashed at 200 miles per hour," Swanson said. "But it wouldn't be pretty, that's for sure."
_
There was a thread on FR a few years back about a story (complete with pictures) where the rider of the motorcycle was doing approximately 150 mph in a 35 zone, while pulling a wheelie.... and he basically cut the car that turned out in front of him in two. Was a pretty interesting thread :)
Nice bike. Mine was a 91 900ss...with a BCM built 980 kit. Pankle titanium rods....Falicon lightened, welded and knife edged crank, V2 cams, hand made intakes, one downdraft and one side draft...$4000.00 of headwork...Marchesini wheels, Ackapovic (skorpion) full spagetti exhaust....race tech front end (I tried lindenmen, but was unimpressed)...I could go on and on....I'm a freakin' MORON for selling that bike.
My ex bike is in Cali now.....WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
I miss her!
Actually suspensions have gotten pretty good. The limiting factor is now the tires. Centrifugal force, tangent forward thrust vectors and heat are tire exploders.
What I'm getting at is this... (just numbers straight out of the air)
if 100hp will get you a top speed of 100mph then, due to aerodynamics, it will take much more than 200hp to get you to 200mph... do you know what I'm getting at?
"I have MY motorcycle, and have since '68. I'm a "conservative";, ya know."
Well a few of us Conservatives have made it past 1968 technology, or did you snail-mail this in?
It's still v2 at only ~300 ft/sec. It's a hp problem. The engine has to move that mass of air aside. The bike here was probably an 1100 with ~170 hp. Given the same aerodynamics, it would have to have >200hp to go as this article claims. The suspensions are fine. Even with the washboard in the road at that speed, the suspension keeps up. It's easy to steer and this guy would have had to in order to come any where close to that speed. The bike is also equipped with a steering damper to damp precession caused by those bumps in the road. The brakes are excellent and are capable of knocking off that speed easily.
oh yea...I went down to a 37 tooth rear sprocket and it would do HONKIN" 3rd gear throttle wheelies!
God, that bike was sex on wheels!
Well, a box-stock Honda CBR1000RR was tested by Motorcyclist Magazine, who declared it the fastest, most powerful factory bike they've ever tested. It showed just shy of 154HP at the rear wheel, and again, that's factory stock. At right about 400 pounds, that's scary fast.
Mark
"Kathy Swanson of the state Office of Traffic Safety said unless Tilley was wearing the kind of protective gear professional motorcycle racers wear, he was courting death at 200 mph. "
Uh... Riding 200 mph on public roads is courting death. No protective gear is going to help at that speed.
You've persuaded me. I'm heading out this afternoon to buy a nice, used tank.
Any crash over 75 is considered not survivable. Granted it is possible to survive that, but it would not be expected.
I had that happen. Just tell them your only planning on being on the road for 1/2 hour...
Actually the Hayabusa's engine is unchanged since it was introduced and has actually been electronically limited to 185 mph since then. Nothing faster has been introduced since.
"Cal Rayburn rode a single engine Harley Sportster streamliner to a speed of over 265mph in the early '70's at Bonneville Salt Flats. I've got a hundred dollar bill that says its true. Put your money where your mouth is!"
A remarkable achievement, to be sure (I have looked it up previously), but when was the last time you saw one of those on the road?
I'm not a RUBie. I've been riding since I was 14. When I was 18, I did flat track at Ascot Raceway on a popper 500 BSA. Don't shove your sterotypes up my nose.
You're such a purist. But at least MV Agusta made out from the whole 999 fiasco. Have you seen the F4 1000...SCHWEET!
I was actually talking about the Honda engine, which is indeed revamped for 2004.
How nice for you.
I'm a lucky dude then, having walked away from most of my "over100 mph" crashes.
I've never suffered anything more than broken ribs and a broken foot.
God is smiling on me!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.