New Land Speed Record Set at Bonneville
AP News-Wendover, Utah, Monday June 14th, 2010.
Mark Kratz poses by his 2005, Honda ST-1300 ABS with Uni-go Trailer at the Bonneville Salt Flats. Mark was returning from a 31 day long ride from Austin, TX to Hyder, Alaska when he decided to make the World Record Attempt.
Mark Kratz of Georgetown, Texas set a groundbreaking land speed record at the Bonneville Motor Speedway in the “Heavily Laden, 1,000 CC and Up Sport Touring Motorcycle, Towing a Single Wheeled Trailer, Class”. This Official Unofficial Record was for the highest speed attained while towing a Uni-go Trailer. Mark was able to reach an indicated top speed of 110 MPH with a corrected speed of 102.5 MPH after factoring the factory speedometer error factor of 6%.
The record attempt was hampered by the recent heavy rains which have flooded the normally dry salt beds which form the famous Speedway’s surface. All other Speed record attempts were canceled due to the flooded conditions.
When asked why he would attempt such a record Mark exclaimed: “To my knowledge, no one else has published an attempt or attempted a Uni-go Trailer Land Speed Record Attempt at the Salt Flats”. “I just wanted to be the first and I was!”
Bonneville Salt Flats Motor Speedway, Wendover, Utah. You can see Mark’s ST-1300 in the distance. 1/2 to 3 inches of standing water just floats upon the surface of the dry lake bed forming a slimy sludge.
Unable to run on the lake bed surface, Mark used the entrance road for the miraculous world record run. The entrance road is perfectly straight and runs for 3 miles to the entrance of the lake bed.
The speed run was terminated due to a high speed wobble which occurred when Mark reached the 110 MPH mark on his speedometer. “I was literally quite shaken as the trailer induced a high speed wobble, causing oscillations of high frequency.” “I was able to roll off the throttle and the motorcycle and trailer began to stabilize as I decelerated to a speed of 85 MPH”. “I didn’t want to push it”. “Since it was the first published attempt, I was just happy to exceed the 100 MPH mark”.
Mark’s attempt was witnessed by Retired Police Officer Dennis Madsen of Salt Lake City, Utah. Dennis was following Mark and observed the attempt and the subsequent wobble which ended further attempts to exceed the established mark.
Mark Kratz of Georgetown, Texas after his successful run.
The salt got every where. Icky sodium chloride residue got stuck on the brake rotors and hampered the braking ability of the motorcycle until it could be washed off.
Ethan Fitzgerald of Salt Lake City looks on as Mark exits the normally dry lake bed. Photos courtesy of Dennis Madsen.
Mark returns to dry land after testing the integrity of the Lake Bed’s surface. “I caution other riders not to attempt to ride on the Lake Bed during these freaky type of conditions”. “It would have killed a normal man”.
nice… funny too.
Looks like a holy man riding on water!!!!
Ride safe Mark!
Way to go on the salt flat run. Welcome back to Texas early since I will be gone on my short ride. I enjoyed reading the blog and spiritually being with you on the trip.
Mark, Sorry I missed you while I was in California. Hoping to get to ride with you in the near future. Mark
Thanks Brad, I will see you soon!
Hi Mark,
Having been involved with Uni-Go Trailers since early 2003, and having done quite a lot of R & D and testing with them….to eliminate such things as the wobble you encountered, I’m pretty sure I can help you eliminate that issue.
Out of curiosity….are you using the nylon capped, finger tightened tensioner, supplied by Uni-Go ? If so, my advice is that you throw that in the rubbish, and replace it with the same sized, hex-head stainless steel bolt, to enable you to do the tensioner up with an allen key….as finger-tight simply does not eliminate all possible movement from the coupling itself. Also, fit a locknut to the replacement bolt, to enable you to lock it in place and prevent it working loose during riding.
Alternately, drill and tap yourself a second tensioner hole, above or below the existing one….to achieve an even better result.
Other potential sources of the wobble problem are:
(1) insufficient rigidity in the rear (flatplate) swingarm mounts on the trailer. * The offset suspension system results in the uneven transfer of load forces, and combined with flex in those rear flatplate siderails, may induce such ocsillation / wobble.
(2) Worn universal joint. I choose to use a conventional universal joint, rather than the nylon type bushes they are supplied with. Slop is not a factor in the joint itself…if it is in good condition. Slop generally comes from movement within the couplings, which are almost without exception, not done up tightly enough.
(3) Worn swingarm pivot point bushes.
Anyway, if I can be of assistance, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
- David
(Brisbane, Australia)
David, Send me an email, I would like to go into more detail with you. kratzmark@kratzmc.com