Ride Like Hell and You'll Get There (5 page)

So I had my fuel, I had my bike, I needed to test it. Speed Week was less than a month away.

Over the past two years, Associate Professor Colin Kestell, the University of Adelaide and I had put a lot of effort into this event. Our objectives were straight forward:

Select an engine, capable of enough speed but not too heavy.

Test the engine airfuel maximums.

Develop the power train to integrate the engine with the chassis.

Design and build the chassis.

Design the frame and fairing including full CFD (computational fluid dynamics) analysis in 3D.

Test a scale model in a wind tunnel to verify CFD results.

Select the right gearbox.

Link the gearbox to the engine.

Combine the engine, gearbox, transmission, front triple clamp and fork geometry with rear swing arm within the frame and fairing.

Fabricate rims and select tyres.

Test electronic fuel management system and gauges, controls, linkages, seat and rider position analysis.

Dyno test.

Speed test.