High-speed test Suzuki GSX-R 1300 Hayabusa

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High-speed test Suzuki GSX-R 1300 Hayabusa

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It is moving forward, without a doubt! The Suzuki GSX-R 1300 Hayabusa should also enable ordinary people to experience 300 km / h.

1899: The world is on the threshold of the 20th century, the car is battling for gasoline, steam or electric propulsion, motorized aviation has not yet been invented. The daring Belgian Camille Jenatzy is the first person to drive a “land vehicle” – the torpedo-shaped, electrically driven “Jamais Contente” (“Never satisfied”) – over the magical limit of 100 km / h.
1947: The American pilot Chuck Yeager in the Bell X1, not so much an airplane as a rocket engine with seat, tail unit and stubby wings, dared to die. The rocket ignites, a short time later the first sonic boom signals the success of the company to those waiting on the ground.
Two examples of the run on speed records that has been thriving throughout the 20th century. Triumph follows disaster, disaster after triumph. As early as 1927, a speed barrier tumbled in the country that was unmatched for production motorcycles to this day: 300 kilometers per hour or, more tangibly, 83.3 meters per second – just here, a moment later across the football field.
It is actually clear that the first faster serial moped that can cross this magical limit has a place in history. And since INTERMOT 1998 it has been clear that the Suzuki GSX-R 1300 Hayabusa could set precisely this milestone. Finally, it was clear that MOTORRAD wanted to know that immediately. Therefore: Suitcases packed and with curious colleagues from the European sister papers (Motociclismo, Moto Journal and Moto Sprint) as well as two Japanese off to IDIADA. The 7,560-meter-long high-speed track near Barcelona connects two 2,000-meter-long straights with two banked curves with a 472-meter radius each. The curves are so excessive that at a speed of 200 on the outermost lane the resultant of centrifugal and normal force acts perpendicular to the road. In other words: the best conditions for full throttle driving.
The plan: Four Hayabusa from the pilot series are brought there directly from the presentation, checked and driven around the course for the devil. So that there are no discussions afterwards, in addition to the MOTORRAD Tellert measuring device, a Formula 1-tested TAG light barrier and – ahem – a radar gun, kindly borrowed from the Spanish police, record the speed. Independent technicians monitor the measurements, the photographer captures the tension, perhaps the sensation, with the camera. The hunt for the record is supposed to last two days, the previous bearers of the blue ribbon, the Kawasaki ZZ-R 1100 and the Honda CBR 1100 XX, serve as references. A lot can be expected from the test bench: If the Kawa is still elegantly holding back with 146 hp, the Honda puts forward a whopping 160 horses. The Hayabusa can only smile mildly at this: 176 test horses set a new benchmark for series motorcycles.
Unfortunately there is disillusionment from another side. When the pack of journalists, announced months ago with all sorts of paperwork, arrives at the gates of the ultra-modern test center, they hear the clearing of power from a newlywed, Swabian-American automobile manufacturer. This is because he feels disturbed by annoying scribes showing up. Consequence: Instead of two days, only two hours of test time, photography during the test is prohibited, a folder collects all cameras as a precaution. After all, after the generously approved test period, there is still some time to take photos, during which, however, no more laps are allowed.
But admittedly, these two hours are tough too. The grim-looking, wiry Tsukasa “Tsuka” Tsuji, a Japanese colleague with a samurai habitus, first of all turns a functional lap and is the first to pass the measuring point. An outcry: 299 shows the radar pistol, 300.02 the light barrier printer ticks out. Helmets on, the hunt is on. 300 km / h, that means extreme stress for the material. The engine shovels all its punch onto the chain and tires at top speed, the tortured tire erases the horsepower as a black line on the asphalt. Can you imagine anything under kinetic energy? Such a Hayabusa, which roasts around 300 and weighs around 350 kilos with the driver, is on the way with over 1.2 million joules. The three filigree brake disks have to convert this force quickly into heat in the event of doubt of an emergency braking. With an average deceleration of 10 m / s² – and you have to manage that first – the braking distance is almost 350 meters. Just as a hint that you should never underestimate high speeds.
This makes the steep curves difficult for the pilot on the mega-wide IDIADA runway, which appear frighteningly elevated when you drive past them carefully, and even rise up like a wall next to the intimidated first climber. If he then lets the Hayabusa jump, the impression of breadth and space is reversed in the direction of the video game: In a little more than 90 seconds, one lap wipes away from under the tire and the Hayabusa passes the measuring device again. The smallest mistake in the driver’s posture takes merciless revenge in the form of a sinking speedometer needle. Tunnel view of the narrow asphalt strip, in the distance a bridge over the course, like a small hole in the horizon – washed – through. The speedometer needle climbs with difficulty: 336, 337, 338, km / h for km / h, the Hayabusa converts the huge thud of its 1300s into speed. Then the steep curve, it is there in no time, aim precisely at the outermost path, nerves, nerves, nerves, AAAAh, damn it, briefly lifted the gas again. The guardrail with speedometer 320 races along one meter from the left leg, next to it the blue sky, upside down world. Dive down from the very outside of the steep curve into the straight, using every bit of momentum, butt up, head down, small bumps hit your thighs with brutal force, no muscle that is not tense. Legs, arms, feet, the whole body squeezes as close as possible to the motorcycle, just don’t have a face. Damn shoulders, too wide. The wind finds every fold in the leather suit, tugs at it, roars furiously into the helmet.
Wusch: Speedometer 344, real 296. I’m just too big and wide. Laurent Cochet from Moto Journal scurries past the measuring point at 299 km / h, turns into the steep face, suddenly missing. Horror news: a flat front tire, several liters of adrenaline in the air, everything went well. Laurent looks aged, smokes one first. Pere Casas, colleague and friend of the Spanish sister paper Motociclismo, has had a huge aerodynamic hump sewn on, and he also has a long bump on the back of his helmet, is small and narrow: Eureka, 300.99, well, it works. Markus “Braveheart” Barth, tester at MOTORRAD; takes it to the extreme: under the skeptical and concerned eyes of the tire technicians, he turns two laps at constant full throttle. 302.11 km / h mark the end of the flagpole, at least on this course – the straights are just too short, the contact pressure in the steep face costs too much momentum. There is no question that the Hayabusa would go even faster on a suitable stretch of motorway, much faster anyway than the ZZ-R and CBR-XX, which rank far behind with 277.92 and 284.65.
Just for fun, Laurent unscrews the mirrors of his Hayabusa: A scream, a murmur: 309.38 km / h, the sporting spirit awakens again, off to the slopes. Shit, like before, just too big, 307.85 km / h for me, 311.82 for “Streamline-Pere”, record. Unfortunately, Markus can no longer drive, the gentlemen from the car manufacturer use the radio to indicate the end of the test drives.
W.hat did we learn? First of all, again that good things just take time. With a few hours more fine-tuning of the driver’s posture, a few km / h would have been possible. Oh yes, and that the Hayabusa easily goes over 300 on German autobahns with a little more attempt. Incidentally, the large increase in speed without mirrors indicates that the Suzuki engineers were sure of their work and had dispensed with the last bit of detail work – such as narrower, clad mufflers or a fender pulled down over the axle clamp. But the tires also set limits to the speed and the centrifugal forces, and the rear tire in the picture speaks for itself. Who would want to rub the asphalt at 300 with certainly fatal consequences? And anyway, why 300? Why? Because it’s just good. I agree.

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