Earle Nunn

8.621 sec  and  156.84 mph

BB/DB & DD/DB National Record Holder

Earle started building a Twin engine Triumph in 1969 in a little shed in the remote settlement of Manapouri. This machine was raced at motor cycle club events till 1973. Back then there was no drag racing in the southern part of New Zealand.  For a brief spell the same frame was raced with a a single supercharged engine with no success.  Then in 1973 a near new Z1 Kawasaki found its way to Manapouri were Earle built a new square tube drag frame for the motor and installed a 4 inch slick which was imported from the USA.  Back then you could not even buy a nut and bolt were he lived let alone tubing or welding rods. This bike Mk2 was campaigned all over new Zealand with great success firstly by breaking the NZ ACU standing ¼ mile record at 10.95sec.  This same bike first appeared a Ruapuna Dragstrip in 1975 to win its first drag race meeting. From then on the bug had bitten, Earle and his family traveled the 1200km round trip to every meeting for four years in Christchurch. His first appearance at the NZ Nationals in Auckland was in 1976 winning his class. While traveling the 1600km home he hatched the idea of building a new bike. Four weeks later back in Christchurch with Mk3 the new green machine to win the South Island champs.  By now the bike had cams and big bore kit but still ran on carbs. The turbo era had just started in the US so a turbo charger it had to be with some other parts from imported from American Turbo Pac. With the added power a 6 inch tyre was required which brought instant success breaking NZ records of 169 mph flying and 10.01 standing ¼ mile.  Back to Auckland for the 1977 Nationals but still not consistent enough despite his first 9.9sec run. 1978 brought Earle’s first National success. This bike ended it’s turbo life after winning the Auckland and South Island Championships with a best of 9.6 @ 142mph.  Earle sliced up a big truck Super charger and welded it together then fitted this in late 1978.   The 1979 nationals were held at Hastings for the first time where Earle won his second title beating the big twin engine Kawasaki of Wayne List in the final. The super charged Z1 was entered again at the 1980 Nationals but only managed 2^nd to Ray Petersons new Nitro Honda. Earle built a pro bike with the old Turbo motor to win his class at the 1981 nationals.  In 1982 with the small 998cc engine the old DB continued to break ACU records on public roads the last of 176 mph at two different venues and 10.5sec ¼ mile which still stands.  Both bikes were sold in 1982 to make way for a new project. The old drag bike was raced in NZ till it went to Australia where it still races.   The new bike was to be an enormous and frustrating project.  Earle and Erica went to the States to get all the good parts, like injection, Crawerglide, 2 speed B/J and brakes.  This V6 Mercury outboard motored creation had a 84 inch wheel base which weighted only 340lb and made 250hp.  This recipe looked like 8 sec flat but Earle could not get it to perform to it’s potential. 10.4 @ 134mph was the best it would do.  During this time Earle built his 5^th bike a rotary powered drag bike for a friend but it has never raced.  After the continuous frustration of the V6 he built a supercharged 500 4cyl Kawasaki to keep his interest up.  This bike, Mk6 which he still owns was raced by Earle and his son Philip with and without the blower and broke records in both classes.  Earle’s best was 10.4 @127mph. The V6 outboard bike was then split up and  sold in 1988 to make way for a new ZX10 powered dragster Mk7. This was another brand new bike with Earle, Erica and Philip traveling to the States again to obtain parts such as injection for the blower, magneto, slick and wheel, while the new 1000cc motor was coming from Japan. This A/DB (now BB/DB) first ran in January 1989 and showed enough potential to go to the 1989 national were it won it’s class and its first notional record 9.25 @ 150mph. Over the next two years the record was reduced to 8.64 @ 156mph and N.Z’s first side by side 8 second run was achieved with T Astell. This bike is still gathering dust in Earle garage with the 500.  The last of Earle’s creations was Mk8 a Suzuki powered D/DB built for a fellow racer in Blenheim which took the class record from his son Philip.  In all this time of racing and constructing bikes Earle never had even one sponsor.

1979 Nationals Final	Square tube Kawasaki	Earle & Nitro Pete 1978	Earle 1991

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