2008 BUB Bonneville Land Speed Records
3 BMWs - 3 Records!
Rapid Bike USA Congratulates Team America First And Edward Bell 3 BMWs - 3 Speed Records!
Date: Mon, Sep 8, 2008 at 2:52 AM
From: H. Edward Bell AKA Badsurfer
Back from the 2008 BUB Bonneville LSR event and will be brief. 3 BMWs - 3 Records!
Ran my bike “Harte Sonne” (Hard Sun), the same yellow 06 BMW K1200R plated and registered full street legal, that I ran at last years Xplor / BUB event at Bonneville.
Had 13 total “high speed runs” on the FIM international short course, with 9 over 155+ mph on the 06 K1200R no mods other than a full LASER exhaust system and the common air box mod and performance filters. Never had a system issue, ran event gas, bike had outstanding stability, quick run speeds and is just a great bike that is very reliable.
My top speed was 161.303 Kph / 161.160 BUT no return run on this pass due to course closure!
Pending FIM certification, this Bike has Set an FIM record for 1350cc production ‘Open Class’ per the BUB event stewards “FIM Charlie” and “AMA Ken”.
On a historic note, pending AMA certification I set a AMA record with a 1978 R100rs MotoSport owned by Bob Soracco of BMW Motorcycles of North County in Escondido, CA. I understand it has some note of interest to BMW NA as it is possibly the same bike featured in a recent BMW Book. Top speed was 109.548 Kph and 109.341 Mph, in the 1000cc Production Push Rod class on its first pass. This bike also got a lot of attention as it looked and ran great for a 30 year old bike.
Lots of BMW owners were present and were quite proud of both the number of BMWs on the salt and the way the records were falling to BMWs. Many spectators and fellow racers were impressed that a 30 year old bike was setting a record over 100mph and a few questioned my state of mind as to running one so nice, LOL!
A Special thanks to my great crew chief Rich Amiton of San Marcos and the local BMW club, who set a “unofficial” BUB record in tearing down and reassembling the R100RS, for AMA inspection for record verification with a few borrowed hand tools. Thanks to Robert Foster of the Foster Group New York, for his great advice on running the R100rs for speed and his unyielding support of the K1200R runs, and last but not least to Bob Soracco, owner of BMWNC whose support made this years runs possible, 3 BMWs went to the Salt and all 3 came back with records.
Let me know if you need anymore info, and I will be putting together a letter to the Xplor page and to Shiva’s K Bike site.
-Badsurfer
AKA Edward Bell
Badsurfer At Bonneville 2007
Messages From BUB Bonneville 2008
As we know here at the flats, “It’s not over ’till the fat lady sings”! However, congratulations to Edward Bell as he is the current record holder under the auspices of both the AMA and FIA ruling bodies! He will continue to run speed Gods willing, until he does his personal best. Semper Fi!
Messages From Bonneville 2008
Date: Sat, 30 Aug 2008 20:51:17 -0700
From: H. Edward Bell Badsurfer
WE are loaded and ready to go
The Bike came in ready at the last minute and
under the wire but she is primed to run and run fast
or as the grey beards would say “quick”
We leave at O dark thirty Sunday so this is my last
opportunity before we head out to say Thanks
to everyone who helped, donated, and above
all wished me well on this drive for a world record.
I will keep you all posted and as up to date as possible.
See you all in a week or so with Salt for the Ritas, stories
to tell, and maybe if the wind is right a record or two.
Thanks again to everyone, for everything,
-Badsurfer
AKA Edward Bell
Date: Thu, 28 Aug 2008 01:25:53 -0400
Greetings Badsurfer,
We wish you the best of luck as donated from the God of Speed.
Nice firm salt, a high degree of safety and success in all your goals!
Bring back some good memories and a few records!
-The RapidBike USA Team
Laser Exhausts
RapidBike ECU Optimizer
Date: Tue, 26 Aug 2008 11:58:29 -0700
How does that saying go “that’s racing”
A friend of mine pointed out a few things in my my last salt message and in order to make sure everyone is on the right page I will clarify, I leave for the salt in 5 days, not 5 weeks,We will begin to attack the record next Wednesday 7 days from now I will be attempting to set or break 1 AMA record and several FIM records,the other AMA records will be attacked by BMW North County rider C.J.Right now there are 3 bikes : My K1200R, BMWMNCs Modified K1200R and a classic R100RS BMW of which is if a limited run production trim.
We are still pondering the run of a BMW R 1200S, in Stock Production, for a AMA run (if BMW NA has any just sitting around, please send me one,I promise to wash it when I am done lol) The track is closed on Monday to all but pit crew, it opens Tuesday at 1200 noon and I plan to use that day to set up suspension and race the next morning Weather permitting.
My Bike is at Daves right now getting safety wired and being given the once over before we load it up, and the other bikes preparations are on track. and the clubs name is BMW Owners Club of San Diego, BMWOCSD for those who did not catch my joke, the Motorrad Club was formed so the legend says, long ago, in the time before people realized BMW actually made cars.
Like the T-shirt says:
“I did not know BMW made cars until I passed one the other day!”
The Salt calls and we will answer in true BMW Motorrad fashion.
-Badsurfer
AKA Edward Bell
Date: Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:31:20 -0700
SALT-T minus 7 days
To All It is catching, salt that is. We are 5 Weeks out from the start of an historic event this year at the BUB speed trails, at the Bonneville Salt course. Not only is it going to be historic in the attacks on the open class record with the Team America First (TAF) BMW K1200R, but it should be historic in that for the first time, in a long time, there will be not one or two bikes representing the BMW brand but several BMWs on the salt, all attacking records. This should make for a good lead up to BMWs return to World Superbike Racing in the next few years, as well as once again remind the motorcycle world that BMW Motorrad is a force to be reckoned within the world of high speed performance competition.
As many of you know I and “Team America First” (my teams name) have been planning the return to the salt this year in an attempt to set a few records (AMA and FIM x2) on my street legal BMW K1200R in the “MP,open class division” the records are well within our reach given last years bike performance on less than ideal conditions and the experience we gained running the salt last year. We plan to go faster than the current BMW speed record set by BMW factory rider Brian Parriott 2 years ago on a spec built Power Cup K1200R and we are well within reach of the current record for our class, this we will do on a non faired, almost off the show room floor model, very exciting indeed. The performance of the Mighty K1200R on the salt last year, has inspired other owners and riders to “saddle up” and attack a few records as well.
In a almost made for TV movie turn of events, it seems that a local BMW shop, BMW Motorcycles North County of Escondido, has been building a special purpose BMW K1200R, to attack the record in the (Modified Alternative Fuel and Gas division), this is exciting news, and BMWNC has offered to help in my low budget privateer record attempt by providing transportation and other assistance to get me and Team America First to the salt, also I cannot thank enough, the BMW Motorcycles Owners Club of San Diego for its help, advice, support, and occasional meals, as the club has backed this effort like true BMW race fans. In our meetings we also discovered a mutual target for setting a few records in a pushrod division and are entering a “classic” 1978 R100RS to take the records in the AMA Class (BMWNC) and the FIM Class (TAF), this will really reset the bar for all other Manufacturers, as in what other Brand has the “balls’ to take a 30 year old street legal motorbike and attack a speed record and win it, none other than BMW, talk about performance engineering. I will be attacking the F.I.M. records in the respective classes and BMW North County will be attacking the AMA records in its divisions.
Team America First and BMW Motorcycles North County are also looking into the possibility of running a R1200S in a AMA division class to show just how far the “opposed twin” has come since 1923, oohraahh!!, we will know by the time we get there, so even more news may come out of the salt To recap there will be two San Diego based teams working together, taking three maybe four bikes, with up to 12 or more possible records to be had, and this is not counting the other BMW based power plants that have long been staples at the BUB event, this year will be an historic year to remember as individual BMW riders and BMW power returns to the salt in force. for questions and information concerning Team America First and its attack on the open class record, please email me atbmwsalt@yahoo.com See you on the Salt
-Badsurfer
AKA Edward Bell
