At A2 Testing in Mooresville, North Carolina
In 2007 the motorcycle named ASSALT WEAPAN Owned and built by Keith “Bandit” Ball of 5-Ball racing went 161 miles per hour at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, with an Accurate Engineering 120-inch Panhead engine.
On October 14, 2024, the builder of the engine in that motorcycle Berry Wardlaw of ACCURATE ENGINEERING in Dothan Alabama took the motorcycle to A2 WIND TUNNEL in Mooresville North Carolina -https://a2wt.com/
Berry and I met in Mooresville Sunday evening so we would be ready for testing early Monday morning.
When we got to the wind tunnel Michael Beland of A1 Racing and two of his people were there to meet us. Mike was going to be the rider for most of the testing
https://www.a1cycles.net/racing
The first thing that Geoffrey Eaker the Manager/ Operator told us was that what we were about to do that day was going to change our minds about what we thought we knew about air flow. Boy Was He Right.
The motorcycle was secured to the floor of the wind tunnel
Yellow Yarn Tattle-Tails were attached to the motorcycle, these were going to give us a visual of how the air was flowing.
Mike made this statement about being on the motorcycle in the wind tunnel (It’s Easy– Don’t Move A Muscle For Three Minutes, LOL. What A Core Workout)
While Mike was on the motorcycle multiple things were being recorded in the control room.
After each run some minor temporary changes were made to see what affect they had. The information gained by each change was all recorded and will be reviewed in the future to see what changes can be made to the motorcycle without changing the class it runs in.
I can tell you we did learn how to make the motorcycle faster, the rest is up to what Berry and Keith want to share prior to making changes and setting a new record.
The plan is to return to Bonneville and set a new record with Berry riding the motorcycle and the wind tunnel testing was going to help make it happen. Berry is going to rebuild the engine to be purpose-built for the Bonneville Motorcycle Speed Trials in 2025. He is going to add ceramic bearings in the wheels and other secret tricks. Bonneville is all about power, traction, aerodynamics and the balls to go very fast.
Berry did not have his racing leathers with him, but he did get an opportunity to do a wind tunnel test. He was Very Pleased.
There is still a lot to do, and it is going to be very interesting.
There will be a lot more to this and I am sure Keith and Berry will keep you updated, well on most of it anyway, still got to keep the racers edge, can’t give all the secrets away.
–Rogue
