92 KX500 Land Speed Record Attempt Production Class

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Bam!!! Unofficially Jason Tanner at JT Engine Works just went faster a Production 500cc single cylinder than anyone on the planet
With our Rev 3 top end we beat our best run by approx 4 miles an hour.
That said, it is unofficial and I believe that we still need to fine tune it.
What is possible?
I don't know but we will find out.
How fast did he go?
I'm not talking until we take the record at Bonneville...

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9-16-22 Update.

Bonneville was a bust this year as we were rained out.
It's hard to hit a Land Speed record with 4" of water covering the lake bed

Anyhow, testing and tuning continues...
Which is good.
We have picked up a few more miles an hour with changes to the crank, muffler packing, and compression changes

Back in the old KXRiders.com days Stewart Rouse built a KX500 engine that ran 125.8545 MPH at the Maxton Mile.
That was like a 1 mile long drag race.
That record stands today even though the Maxton Mile is no longer around.
Bonneville is a little different.
You have one mile to get up to speed, then your time starts and will stop at the end of the 2nd mile.

Our last setup ran .95 miles at 127.3 MPH.
I'm certain that we have that beat by a few mph.

Stewart's same engine ran 123.411 at Bonneville.
Somehow he only lost 2.5 mph.

When we tested out 127.3 setup at 4400 feet we lost 5.5 mph.
From other Land Speed record holders they tell me that you should expect 7-9 mph loss.
So I'll take a 5.5 mph loss.

Stewart's record at Bonneville will stand forever due to some rule changes.
RIP Stewart.

In 2012 Stewart's record was beat.
500 P P 125.031 Smith G. Kawasaki 2012

I wish I knew who G. Smith is as I'd love to talk to him.
Not to get any secrets but just to get advice for making sure I pass Tech

So, 125.031 mph is what we need to shoot for.
Adding 5.5 mph for altitude loss we will need to hit 130.5 mph at 400ft to tie the record.
Obviously you don't go through all this effort just to tie

I can say that Stewart and G. Smith knew what they were doing..
It's not going to be easy but I think I have the missing links to pull it off.
With weather getting worse by the day we will be lucky to get any more testing days.
But I'll take anything that I can get..

The latest project is getting the bike to the correct seat height.
Kawasaki claims 37".
Both my Land Speed Bikes measure 37.5"
From what I have been told for this class, every 1" of height looses you 1 mph.
Getting the suspension right should net us 1/2 mph.
We will see..
Before our next run I'm doing another compression change.
I'm hoping to pick up another 1/2 to 1 mph with the seat height and the fork height.
But we will see...

Looking at these forks you would think that I'm lowering much more than 1/2".
But I'm doing two things here.
1. lowing the fork height but compensating for the angle.
2. by allowing the fork tubes to be lowered into the triples more I can run the controls closer to the centerline of the bike and allowing the bars to be narrowed further.

[Brute]

Looking good! When is the next attempt?

Rebuilt one of the 2.5 Mercury V-6 2 stroke outboards fairly recently. Fractured roller bearings on a solid crank. Awesome stuff! Makes me wonder what would it have been like if development had continued with them?

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Sorry it took me so long to reply... I have not been visiting very regular 
Bonneville will be the last weekend in August 2023.
Providing the weather is good 
We are done this year for testing.
On our last test date I stripped a head stud 
I shipped it off to Tom Morgan Racing to have some cracks welded in the exhaust port, get it re-plated, and replace all the studs with CR500R studs.

Tom has finished my cylinder and it is being shipped this week so I should have it soon.
The lower end has all the ceramic bearings installed and is buttoned up excluding the top end.
I need to remove the existing bottom end and get the new one installed.
We have about 7 months left for prepping.
But all I can do is break it in and get it ready for sometime late this spring.
After break in we will go to 4200 ft, same as Bonneville, jet it, and run it and see where we are at.
If we can top 125.031 then we are ready.
If not I'll try my latest cylinder which has a few changes that I want to try anyway 
Nothing major but everything adds up.

Your right, so many companies gave up on Two strokes... Where would our KX 2T's be if the manufactures put a small fraction of money into them that they did on the 4T's.. Out of my garage I have made significant improvements... Obviously I feel that they left a lot on the table for improvements..

[Brute]

Walter Kaaden developed most of the improvements that are still in use in todays 2 strokes out of a shop that 'may' not have had the tools you have access to!
I seldom visit any of the sites I was pretty active on a few years ago. A move, retiring, just life in general keeps me busy. I have no other 2 strokes other than my boat and yard equipment at this point.
Not sure about taking on more projects than I have sitting around waiting to be finished, though I keep looking at bike projects. My shop is not done, so the only power when I need some is running a 100' extension cord from outside. It is a bit limited. I hope to have that corrected fairly soon, but it is hard to say.
Best of luck on the speed tests!

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Thanks Brute.
The KX500 you sold me is going to get some love in the near future 

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Well... Another year of testing done and Bonneville is a bust.
It rained less than a week before our event and it's all over.
Oh well...
There is always next year 
Here is what 500 miles of land speed testing looks like on a KX500