A Minnesota State Patrolman hovered in the sky along Highway 61 when he saw something faster than a speeding bullet - and it wasn't a bird, a plane or a superhero. It was 20-year-old Samuel Tilley on a Honda RC-51 and he was going too fast for Al Loney, the patrolman, to keep up, in a plane. "It was faster than any other vehicle I had ever seen speeding, no question, " Loney said. In the Cessna 182 that Loney was flying, he used sight, two stopwatches and painted hashmarks along the highway to measure the speed. On the road, there are one-mile stretches here and there with rectangles painted every quarter mile. That allows "eyes in the sky" like Loney to clock speeders, using the marks on the road and stopwatches, from high above the roadway. In this case Tilley was clocked over the entire distance of one quarter mile in 4.39 seconds. That is an average speed of 205 miles per hour. Some question the accuracy of a stopwatch but Loney says in ten years his watch times have never been wrong. "I believe that the speed is very true and accurate, even more than a radar." Motorcycle enthusiasts have also questioned if that Honda RC-51 can even go more than 200 miles per hour, but, the patrol says if the bike is heavily modified, it can do the speeds without question. Tilley was ticketed along with his racing partner for speeding. Neither had a motorcycle endorsement on their licenses. Neither of them were arrested and a Wabasha County Judge will decide the fine. http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=69711
BS you'd need 350 hp to push an RC51 to 205 mph. A quarter of a second off on the stop watch and you are wrong by 25 mph... which coincidentally is 180 and a lot closer to the top speed of an RC51.
This happened last year and the general consensus from cyclists and even many cops is that there's no way that bike could go that fast. He was going very fast but not 205 MPH. He was sentenced to community service and has completed his sentence but became something of a mild celebrity.
350hp? Naw. There are bikes out there that can push 200 at around 150hp, maybe more. Horespower-to-weight ratio (which is also why even moderate and less than moderate bikes can out accelerate higher end racing consumer cars.) Even 100hp is a TON of ponies pushing on just one rear tire. I'm not saying the RC51 did 200mph- I highly doubt it. You're right about the stopwatch error, in my opinion. But the kid definitely was maxed out at anywhere between 170-185mph.
"You got caught?" -Yeah, man. They charged me with three felonies. "Snakes on a plane, man. Snakes on a plane."
Horsepower to weight has nothing to do with top overall speed, only acceleration. Drag increases exponentially with speed, so while the Busa and company may be doing 186 with 160 hp, it will take 4 horsepower for every extra 1mph gained. That's on a Hayabusa which is much more aerodynamic than an RC51. Ok, so it might only take 300hp or 275 if you lower and stretch it... still not happenin.
This is exactly what I remember reading when this story came out a while back as well. Doesn't matter anyway... a Bugatti Veyron would smoke it... now I need to go pick mine up.
I'm more of a Yamaha girl myself. But back to the subject, that kid is lucky - flat out. He's lucky he's not dead. I don't care how fast it can go, you're stupid as hell to try to find out on a public highway. I hope that he at least had racing gear on.
theres no way he was doing 220 in that, his speedmeter was rigged, look at the scenery even if your doing in the 100's everythings a blur
