BIKES: Landspeed Racers Set Guinness Book Record Written by: MotorcycleUSA.com Staff Motorcycle-USA.com http://www.motorcycle-usa.com Date: 04/11/2012 - 03:31 PM Location: Charlotte, NC

Longtime Landspeed racers Andy Sills and Erin Hunter recently received the Guinness Book of World Records record for fastest motorcycle ridden with a rider and a pillion at an average two-way speed of 181.426 MPH across the Bonneville Salt Flats. Their qualification pass on the timed mile with Andy as pilot of the 2011 BMW S1000 RR and Erin in tow was 182.358mph. They then switched configurations for their return pass – Erin as pilot and Andy on pillion – which timed across the mile at 180.503.

The attempt was an expeditionary effort with an eye towards developing rules or standards for two-up Landspeed racing which could potentially become a subset of the sport. Many were also eager to see if two people racing in active partnership could produce a leverage and weight combination that would generate higher speeds than a solo rider.

While most modern bikes include a passenger seat, the pillion position is often perceived as just “along for the ride.” That is precisely why Erin and Andy contested the precepts of ‘two-up’ riding by racing together across The Salt during Mike Cook’s 2011 Top Speed Shootout, an international event officiated by the AMA and FIM. Their point was to help riders rethink the promise of “two-up” - goodbye passenger, hello active second-seat rider. So-long Lone Ranger, howdy Partner.

The two were committed to not utilizing any extraneous aids or devices to hold them to the motorcycle – no handles affixed to the tank, for example. They choose a BMW S1000 RR (from BMW San Diego) for its undeniable horsepower – but certainly not for its second-seat aerodynamics. The pillion is high and decidedly in the airstream. They were secured to the bike only by each other, the bars, the foot pegs, the race position and their grasp. Experienced racers who’ve each independently been over 200mph on solo motorcycles at Bonneville, Erin and Andy worked up to our maximum speed incrementally, respecting the envelope but pushing to find its limits. They also shared equally the responsibilities of both positions on the motorcycle. Girls don’t just ride in the back, of course!

Both concurred that the second-seat is exponentially more difficult than pilot’s seat. “We’re both strong athletes, but riding the pillion at extreme-hurricane-force 181mph is the most physically challenging thing either of us has ever done. It’s not for the weak or faint of heart,” said Andy.

The Cook Top Speed Shootout is a unique invitational meet with a limited number of entrants, many of which go over 400mph. Conditions for the 2011 event were suboptimal due to heavy rains the week before that left the course unusually hard and bumpy. Unpredictable cross- and head-winds added to the challenges.

Read details about the adventure here:

Monday morning, September 19th, The first day of the meet. Temperatures are in the 80’s, and the wind is calm. The Cook organizers had been working for days and nights to drag a suitable racecourse across the salt, but they can only do so much due to recent rains. Much of the course surface is extremely hard and uneven, the usual state of the natural salt ground. Other large sections of the course remain soft and mushy from rain. The soft will slow you down, the hard will rocket you forward, and the bumps will project you up into the raging torrent of a 180+ mph jet stream and upset your tenuous hold on things. Multiply by two, crank it up to gale force air speeds, and this is no joy ride. It’s land-speed racing at Bonneville, where the edge can become a cliff in a cosmic instant. We accept the offer for the very first run on the course, which plays to our strategy: run early, run often.

Our first pass is a sighting pass to gather data on the salt, our position, our gear, our ideas … a shakedown run as it were. We will keep the speed down and build from there. Andy is pilot and Erin is active second seat. The course is ours. Less than two minutes later we have traveled 5 miles and tucked 172 mph into our holster. We will take the return run employing the same riding configuration because it’s always different in the opposite direction. 176 is the next number called out over the loudspeaker. It’s Erin’s turn as pilot, and her controlled pass will shake down her two-up piloting skills and afford Andy his first chance in the boson’s seat at speed. We run 156 mph, and Andy’s appreciation for the challenges of the second seat is burned into his consciousness, just as it was in Erin’s minutes earlier. The second seat is incredibly difficult. You have to maintain your tight tuck, hold on to the pilot and stay relaxed in the eye of the hurricane. It’s hairy, gnarly, exhilarating and heart pounding all at the same time. It is becoming clear to both of us that at speeds over 170, every additional mile per hour brings exponentially more difficult forces to bear. By the end of the first day we have made more passes than any of our fellow racers. The last two passes net identical speeds of 178 mph. Beat, exhausted, and humbled, we call it quits for the day after nearly 12 straight hours on the salt.

At 5 a.m. on day two, we awake with every part of our bodies aching. The sunrise over ‘Floating Mountain’ is a miraculous experience. It is nearly surreal to witness the golden crush of light pushing up from a fence line of mountain peaks a dozen miles east of the pits where the dead flat of the salt meets the horizon. Soon, everyone is moving with purpose. The place is raging with serious intent. Racing starts at 7 a.m. None of us will be denied. We decide to begin with a solo pass to determine the limits of this bike as currently geared. This will be a reference speed by which we gauge our performance twoup. Again, while this is in fact the same bike that attained 196 mph solo last year, the gearing has been returned to stock, and the salt (and resulting coefficient of friction) are less favorable this year. Erin spins up the machine for a solo run. She hammers it, full throated, wide open and hooked up. Her average through the traps is 185 mph. It appears that a two-way pass in the 190’s is not in the cards this year, as we had hoped. But it’s perhaps just as well, as it’s become clear to both of us that anything approaching 185 mph two-up will be at the physical limits of our ability to keep it together on the bike. Let us explain. For an experienced racer, a top-speed run from the pilot’s seat of the production BMW S1000RR is relatively easy, regardless of how fast the bike goes. But it’s a whole different story for the second-seat rider as the speeds climb. Elbows are tight to the body, toes are pointed, knees are slammed to the horizontal axis, and even the minor folds in the second-seat rider’s leathers pull like a freight train opposite the direction of travel. For the second-seat rider, it becomes an epic battle to remain tucked and motionless, relaxed yet vigilant. At 180 mph, one wrong move by the second-seat rider can become a back flip off the tail into the jaws of a fire-breathing dragon. If the second-seat rider moves their helmet ever so slightly, the pilot’s

helmet responds like an uncontrolled bobble head. If the second-seat rider opens a knee while adjusting position, that appendage will not go back to center unless we scrub speed and slow it back down again. And then there is the connection, the relationship between the pilot trying to push forward while being circumscribed by the strength and the grasp of the second-seat rider, whose margin of safety is a function of their glove-covered hands staying locked across the pilot’s abdomen. Our next two-up run takes 150 seconds – the last mile going by in only 20. But when two-up at these speeds, twenty seconds seems an unrelenting, existential eternity. And then it is over. Roll off ever so gently, breathe again, and revel in the moment. We have made the first leg of our predesignated record pass with Andy at the handlebars and Erin doing the heavy lifting back on the tail. We ripped the measured mile at a nod under 184 mph.

For Andy the pilot, it was very smooth and steady. The S1000RR was dug in and locked on to a trajectory like a wire-guided missile. Andy’s attention was so focused, and Erin’s body position so ballet dancer perfect, that he did not know she was there until he finally got off the throttle as he pulled off the course. For Erin, it was as physically and mentally demanding as anything she has ever done, but the reward of our speed, only 2 mph off a solo best, was truly remarkable. Now it would be Andy’s turn on the back as we switch positions and make our return run. Erin has gone as fast as 200 mph on her own at Bonneville, but never over 172 with Andy’s head buried in her back. Likewise, Andy was about to be tested as never before. When people ask us, “Who went faster?” we can say with conviction that it is not about the pilot but rather all about the rider on the pillion. One, eight, one… we did it! Not quite as pretty a picture with Andy on the back, but it was as precise and accurate a trajectory as our first pass. Only 2 mph difference between the two passes. Our two-way average speed would be 181 mph. We had traveled at the limits of our abilities and achieved 98% of the best solo speed. Our two-up campaign at the Cook Top Speed Shootout seemed to confirm our initial hypothesis. We’re sure that with more passes and time to make adjustments, two active riders could achieve a speed equal to or greater than that attained by one solo rider.

Among the major governing bodies in Landspeed racing – AMA, FIM and SCTA - there is no official Landspeed record for two people on a standard motorcycle. Based on what these two learned in their pioneering attempt - It is unlikely that a class will be added to the sport. It’s just too unforgiving and dangerous – far more so than either of us imagined. Perhaps what we have done and how we have done it will resonate with some but leave many scratching their heads. However, we will tell anyone who wants to listen that it has been a supreme honor to have achieved this together, and given the chance to do it again, we wouldn’t hesitate.

“To Pioneer” – Verb – Develop or be the first to use or apply a new method, area of knowledge or activity.

“Partner” – Noun – A person who takes part in an undertaking with another involving shared risks and rewards.

Bios:

Erin Hunter and Andy Sills are avid high-speed riders with a combined 15 years of Landspeed Racing (“LSR”) competition. Together, Erin and Andy have achieved 15 world and national landspeed records with streamliner motorcycles as well as “traditional” race bikes. They also hold two Guinness World Records and have each reached the 200mph milestone as landspeed racers. This Fall, they became the only pair ever to race “two-up” at

a sanctioned landspeed racing event, serving as pioneers for this new style of high-speed racing. They raced a production BMW S1000 RR to a two-way average of 183 mph which was within two miles-per-hour of the bike’s top speed solo as geared (185 mph.) An important part of the attempt was the switching of “pilot” and “second-seat-rider” (a.k.a passenger) for the two required record attempts on the Bonneville Salt Flats.

Early Racing In 2003, Andy and Erin began working with Jack Costella to develop “Nebulous Theorem IV” which was purpose built around Andy to produce a radically- designed vehicle where the rider races prone, their nose ½ inch off the ground. With Erin as Crew Chief, Andy took the streamliner to a top speed of 141mph, breaking a 25-year-old record. With Andy’s help, Erin broke Andy’s record two years later, setting the new mark at 143mph with only an 80cc motor. This earned Erin an FIM World and AMA National record in the 100cc class and a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the fastest woman with a World Record on a streamlined motorcycle.

Andy Sills o 50cc streamlined gas SCTA record: 47 mph (Nebulous Theorem IV) o 50cc FIM world and AMA national record: 77 mph (Aprilla 50) o 100cc streamlined fuel SCTA record: 141 mph (Nebulous Theorem IV) o 1350cc 2-cylinder World FIM and AMA national records: 159 mph (BMW HP2 Sport) o 1350cc FIM world and AMA national records: 173 mph (BMW K1200 S) o 1000cc MPS-P AMA national record: 184 mph (Suzuki GSX-R 1000) o 1000cc Production SCTA record: 196 mph (BMW S1000 RR) o Top speed to-date: 201 mph o Guinness Book of World Records fastest speed on a motorcycle ridden by two people simultaneously

Erin Hunter o 100cc streamlined gas SCTA record: 143.124 (Nebulous Theorem IV) o 1350cc Production Pushrod AMA: 146.351 mph (Buell Thunderbolt) o 1350cc Production Pushrod AMA: 150.951 mph (Buell Thunderbolt) o 750cc 2-cylinder FIM world record: 151.351 (Ducati 749) o 1000cc MPS-AF AMA national record: 184.426 mph (Suzuki GSX-R 1000) o 2009 AMA Female Racer of the Year nominee o Guinness Book of World Records fastest female with a World Record in a streamliner motorcycle o Guinness Book of World Records fastest speed on a motorcycle ridden by two people simultaneously o Founder: sheEmoto Award for Female Landspeed Racers o Top speed to-date: 200 mph

Erin & Andy o 181 mph “two-up” (BMW S1000 RR) o Guinness Book of World Records Fastest Two People on a Motorcycle

When not riding in triple-digits across the open roads of Nevada, Utah and California, Erin and Andy reside in San Francisco where Erin is Executive Vice President of comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR.)