The twin taillights incorporated...
The twin taillights incorporated into the HotBodies' undertail give Big Shot a custom look from the rear, replacing the stock single taillight. Turn signals are incorporated into the taillights, and the HotBodies pieces are available painted to match the OEM colors.
And, finally, to add a little bling (and shave a surprising amount of weight), we outfitted our 'Busa with "Tasty Nutz." Tasty Nutz come from the British company called Pro Bolt that makes a wide variety of nuts, bolts and other trick bits that can be ordered in a rainbow of colors. Our Tasty Nutz selection includes brake reservoir covers, rear axle adjusters and a full complement of blue anodized replacement nuts and bolts fitted all over the bike. When asked for his expert opinion on these parts, Shierts replied, "Frankly, these are some of the best looking nuts I have ever seen." We tried (and failed) not to laugh.
Results
As mentioned earlier, our benchmark comparison for the Big Shot project would be a Velocity Racing turbo 'Busa that we had ran at Maxton back in 2003. That bike went 209 mph in the standing-start mile in spite of a very strong 12-mph head wind. Keep in mind that with better wind conditions that bike likely could have gone a few mph faster.
Before we got into the nitrous bottle, we had Lee make several one-mile, engine-only passes on Big Shot to see just how much the motor mods alone were worth. On the first few runs Shierts had trouble getting the bike to pull redline in sixth gear, a problem that was soon traced to a bad TRE (Timing Retard Eliminator, to override the factory sixth-gear speed limiter) that was allowing the stock rev limiter to hold the engine back. A quick trip down pit row to Tiger Racing to score one of Caputo's TREs, and we were good to go. Shierts' next attempt pulled hard all the way to the rev limiter in sixth gear, and he was rewarded with a 205 mph pass. Some more tweaking on the fuel curves with the Wideband Commander and Shierts was able to coax a few more mph out of his creation. The final best speed on the engine alone was 208.89910 mph-pretty much right on top of the turbo bike's best number, and that was without the nitrous system even armed yet.
A Zero Gravity Double Bubble...
A Zero Gravity Double Bubble windscreen pushes more air up and over the rider to improve aerodynamics at speed; mirror block-off plates from Schnitz Racing look sharp and further smooth out airflow over the front of the bike by allowing the mirrors to be removed.
Then it was time for the Big Shot. First we dumped the fuel tank and refilled it with VP Racing's C-12 race fuel. Again we checked the Wideband Commander; the first pass showed it to be a little lean on the spray, so the high RPM circuit was richened up a few bars and off Shierts went again. This time the air-fuel was almost perfect for a nitrous bike at 12.8:1.
Feeling confident that any nitrous-lean conditions were cleared up, Shierts made another pass and sprayed in fourth, fifth and sixth gears. With the additional 70hp in effect, the bike was able to pick up an additional five mph. The final top speed was an enviable 213.26509 mph, on a street-legal, 1397cc 'Busa that can be ridden every day. Very impressive, if you ask us.
Star Racing makes this cool...
Star Racing makes this cool kill switch that fits into the stock Suzuki steering stem, requiring no space on the handlebars. A tethered kill switch is another safety requirement for land-speed racing.
So which is better bang for the buck-turbo or nitrous? To be honest, both are very similar in the end. The turbo made 247hp on a low (street) boost setting, while the 1397cc motor made 228hp before nitrous. With the turbo set to a higher, race-condition boost level, it made 299.9hp; on the bottle, the Lee's Performance nitrous bike made 295hp. Torque was also very similar throughout the rev range between the two bikes, with the turbo taking a slight edge.
If you want to hide your horsepower and rake in grudge racing dollars, the built engine/nitrous 'Busa is clearly the way to go. You can hide the NOS bottle in the trunk, as we did, and nobody will be the wiser. The turbo, on the other hand, can't be hidden. The sound alone is a dead giveaway, making it the better choice for all you attention whores reading along. It boils down to your personal preference and budget. Another big advantage to the nitrous/engine route is that you can sneak up on the near $8000 budget a piece at a time (a turbo kit makes one big swat at your wallet). But if going fast is your only goal, you can't really go wrong with either, as long as you've got a first-class engine builder like Lee Shierts at your side.
Never mind the PCIII-USB in...
Never mind the PCIII-USB in the background, Dynojet's Wide Band Commander was used with Big Shot to allow Shierts to fine-tune the air-fuel mixture. The Wide Band utilizes an on-board sensor that installs in the exhaust header to allow monitoring of the actual air/fuel ratio out in the field, without having to return to the dyno.
Unlike more common three-hole...
Unlike more common three-hole lowering links, these turnbuckle-style links from Lee's Performance allow almost infinite adjustability of the rear ride height on the bike. With these links installed you can go back and forth from street to strip setups in a matter of minutes.
If there is a better-made...
If there is a better-made or better-looking exhaust than the TiForce Sumo, we haven't seen it yet. The welds are so smooth they look like they are painted on, and the full system made monster power on the dyno to boot.