Anybody who knows me will tell you that I am never
satisfied until I have done as good as I think is possible, so from then on I
was on a mission to go faster and faster.Steve Burton
8.926 sec 149.75 mph
This National record was set in 1987
I bought my first bike when I turned 15, (A Honda XL100) and was hooked on motorcycling ever since.
Twenty or so motorcycles later I bought a GSX1100 (My second one) the year was 1983 and it was immaculate, only 5000 km. Previously owned by a traffic officer.
Some friends in the motorcycle club that I had formed suggested we go down to Meremere Drag strip (a winter meeting) and have a go! Seemed like a good idea so we set of and had a fantastic day. We ran 11.5 second runs all day and had a ball.
Anybody who knows me will tell you that I am never
satisfied until I have done as good as I think is possible, so from then on I
was on a mission to go faster and faster.
First was a road racing slick on a set of wire wheels (3.5inch rear) and struts to replace the rear shocks. This saw an instant improvement down to 11.0 @120 mph.
Some friends introduced me to Graham Crosby who at the time was importing Yoshimura performance parts so I was quick to purchase a1135 big bore kit and stage 1 cams. I went along to see Ken MacIntosh who built me an 8 inch over length swingarm and couldn’t wait to get it all together! These mods brought the time down to a respectable 10.5 at 130 mph (my first national record) and gave me the honour of being the first street bike in N.Z. to run in the 10’s.
This was all becoming very hard when we had to change
swingarms etc all the time so the decision was made to turn the bike into a
full time Pro Stock bike in 1986.
A set of forged Denco 1300 cc 13.5-1 pistons were fitted along with 33mm smoothbore Mikuni’s and my first 2427 drag race tyre, a fibreglass replica tank and air shifter, not to mention the usual heavy duty clutch basket, straight cut gears and welded crank.
First run of the trailer saw 10.2 @ 133 mph! Another record. Throughout the whole season we saw approx. 15 records fall to the bike finishing with a 9.4 sec at 139 mph.
The season was fantastic, we won the points score title for the second year running and had exceeded all expectations.
Planning started for our final year. We wanted to go faster
(surprise surprise) we also wanted to give some good competition to my good
friend Tony Astell who gave me the fearsest competition all year.
Basically we built a new bike! Frame was built / modified by (my then good friend) Ken MacIntosh to my dimensions ie. 6 degrees extra rake and 10 inch over swingarm. A special outrigger drive was made to accommodate the 8 inch wide spun alloy rear wheel and 3310 Goodyear Drag slick. The air shifter tank was incorporated in the swingarm and we used front forks from a LC250 Yamaha. Brakes were GT185 Suzuki front and GT125 rear, (not very bloody good but they were light).
The engine got a complete rebuild around a MTC Magnesium Big Block 1425cc and 14.5/1 comp ratio & 37.5mm Kehin carbs were added along with MTC Prostock cams.
Only the cylinder head was left with fairly mild mods (1mm
oversize valves and a good port and
polish) good springs from MTC of course.
Exhaust was made to my specs by Custom Chambers. The gearbox was standard but
second gear was welded and all engagement dogs were back cut by The Gearbox Factory.
We ran the bike on No.1 racing fuel and gearing was standard front and rear (ideal to run 150M.P.H. @ 9000 R.P.M.)
The big day had arrived The first meeting of the season 1986 – 1987 we took the bike off the trailer (I was very proud of the bike with its new 1 piece body and red yellow colour scheme) it looked fantastic!
We fired it up to warm it ready for the first run, the crowd gathered and my head nearly popped it got so big.
First run saw an average time of 10.3 sec but at 142 MPH
!!. A new national record. From then on the bike just kept on improving with me
learning how to handle launching making the biggest 
difference (throttle on the
stop, dump the clutch). We probably broke about ten or so E.T. and M.P.H.
records that season which I am very proud of to this day. The time and E.T. were
8.92 seconds @ 149.75 M.P.H. What makes this even more special to me is
that it stood for 10 Years. Well and truly broken by Ian Hilder.
I don’t have a clue where the bike is now, but I can only hope that whoever has got it appreciates the time and money that was invested in what I consider to be one of the best built chassis N.Z. had seen at the time.