Wayne List

10.1 sec and 145 mph or 233.35 kph  set in 1978

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Wayne had his first drag racing experience at the Auckland Motorcycle Clubs opening season day at the Pukekohe Road Racing circuit in 1971.

“ I had been practicing for the start of the Road Race season, in the afternoon they closed the track and held timed quarter mile sprints on the back straight.

I was riding my 1971 Mach 3 500cc machine. As it was road racing I had geared the bike up. Fellow competitors on 750s told me I didn’t have a chance with the gearing I was running. However they didn’t know I used to practice starts on the road. I turned in a 12.5 second run which was the fastest on the day and was very fast for a stock bike.” 

Road Racing was the preference in those early days for Wayne but the occasional trip to Champion Dragway Meremere was handy for keeping tuned for starts.

“I always found road race riders pretty bad at getting off the line, and must say they still are. I wasn’t that quick around the track but always had to hold back on the start line to avoid running up the rear of the guys at the front of the grid. It was interesting actually; the road racers who were the best starters were people who would sometime go to Meremere and drag race. Guys like Ginger Molloy, Graeme Crosby and Glen Williams all would drag race sometimes.”

Later in the 1970s Wayne got bitten by the Drag Racing bug and started Drag Racing regularly. First on production bikes then switching to a stripped down Kawasaki Z1 900.  That bike was simply a street bike with all the street gear stripped off and fitted with a Yoshimura race exhaust. It would turn mid 11 second 1/4 miles times.

The next step was to put the engine in a special frame built by Wayne’s father Colin. The engine was kitted with Yoshimura pistons, valves and camshafts and the standard rear wheel was fitted with a 4-inch wide slick.  The bike was light and easily got into the 10-second bracket. Results were also good with regular wins at Champion Dragway Meremere leading to a championship win. The Kawasaki was also raced at ACU ¼ mile sprints. The North Island championship was held on a road at Tokoroa where Wayne came second to Ray Petersons Nitro burning Triumph. The NZ championship was held at New Plymouth again on a road and the result was second to Ray again.

“I was reading a lot about the twin engine drag bikes in the States that were winning and setting records in Top Fuel. I liked the idea of these big monsters that looked and sounded so impressive. We got hold of another Kawasaki Z1000 and kitted it to the same specs as the other. Colin made a complete new frame and all of the fittings and bodywork as well as the paint job. “I looked after the engine side. We mounted the two engines into the new frame. The crankcases of both engines were left intact but only the rear engine had a gearbox and clutch. The standard gearbox and clutch were used. First time out it was fitted with a wide, toothed belt it broke the crank end so next a 1-inch wide Hy-Vo chain linked the two crankshafts.

A 6 inch wide drag slick was used for added traction.” 

The bike had a few bugs (like the broken crankshaft) at the first meet and was also getting major clutch slip caused by approximately 260 horsepower being fed through it.

Clutch slip continued to be a problem.

Barnett clutch plates and even a pack of plates from a Ford C6 Auto transmission were tried but traction and clutch slip always prevented full power being applied to the road and the bikes true potential was never realized 

“If the clutch hung together the rear tyre would spin for the whole quarter mile so the best times were limited to 10.1s at 145 mph.” 

The big double engine 2000cc machine won a lot of races but the National Championship at Thunder Park was the real goal. Unfortunately the gearbox failed during the semi final but Wayne still crossed the line first. 

“Second gear had blown and that was the gear I started in. When I lined up for the final against Earl Nunn from Christchurch on his Kawasaki Drag Bike I new it was pretty much a hopeless case. I had to take off in 3^rd gear which caused the engine to bog down and Earl took the Championship.” 

“I decided to rebuild the bike this time with a much wider rear tyre and using a slider clutch and 2-speed auto transmission. Garth Hogan loaned me his funny car Crower glide and designed a small version of it and had it made. I converted a car overdrive unit to a 2-speed auto and cut the transmission from the rear engine.

The plan was to get the bike working with the same engine tuning then fit Hilborn injection and run Nitro. The world record holder in the US was running this type of bike at the time and doing 200 mph at the end of the ¼.  However they had brought in bracket and dial your own racing at Champion Dragway Meremere and the project was soaking up a lot of money so I decided to shelve it and save for a house. Other commitment meant that it wasn’t finished. It’s now a project for some time and will be taken out for demonstrations or shows.” 

The double engine drag bike was always popular wherever it went two companies made posters of it Sanitarium used it in a breakfast serial card series and it was displayed at several Hot Rod shows and at Motat.

“ The bike was always great to ride, Dad had built a chassis that was stable and controllable. At the time it was certainly the most famous motorcycle in the country. I’m sure if it was taken out today it would still attract a lot of attention despite the fact that even Pro Stock and modified production bikes are much faster.” 

Since that time Wayne has occasionally ridden at Champion Dragway Meremere on various production bikes such as the Kawasaki 750 Turbo on which he achieved a 10.9 second ¼ and on a standard production Kawasaki ZXR750R Superbike. 

“I will probably have a play again at some stage. Drag Racing tends to be under rated by many bike riders who think it is easy but there are many subtleties with this sport and the real challenge is breaking the run down into parts of seconds and getting every tiny action exactly right to let the bike achieve what it is capable of.”

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