4th Annual
Hitting max velocity ain't easy, particularly at North Carolina's Maxton Mile. The course is a 10,000-foot runway, but that's the total length to get up to speed and then slow back down. And at wide-open throttle that space seems a lot shorter. Furthermore, many riders don't understand that speedometer readings are often considerably different than actual speed, and they think they're going a lot faster than the true speed.
The SSB party bus served as...
The SSB party bus served as the max and relax station for riders.
It seems that anyone with a liter bike, Hayabusa or ZX-14 has plenty of tall tales about how fast they have been on their bike. With references to devices such as a GPS or a cop buddy with a radar, the number '200' gets tossed around quite a bit. Even worse are the riders who simply point to the speedometer and show that it registers 200 or even 220 mph, apparently indicating that's how fast they've ridden. The truth came knocking for these characters at the Monster Mile.
According to land speed racing legend Scott Guthrie: "Everyone that owns a Hayabusa believes that they can go 200 mph. Then they show up at Maxton where there are certified timing lights, and they find out how difficult it really is."
The fact is, very few people will ever go 200 mph on a streetbike, and these events are yet another nail in the coffin for the wannabe 200 mph club members.
In addition to the normal safety rules, the Maxton event also has a few extra restrictions to give the event some street cred. All entered motorcycles must be ridden by the owner, and the bikes are required to display a current registration, tag and lights.
The course measures the riders' speed over the last 132 feet of a one-mile distance. Some racers refer to it as a "standing mile," meaning the racer starts from a standstill and accelerates to the highest speed possible at the end of the mile. Sounds easy right? That's what a lot of competitors think until they actually line up and the nerves start ticking. Getting a perfect holeshot and keeping completely tucked are key factors, but many riders blow one or both aspects and hurt their ultimate trap speed.
The classes are based on popular streetbike models, though the 600cc class has been modified to 650cc. Additional classes are 1000cc, 1000cc with one power adder (nitrous or turbo), Unlimited cc, Unlimited plus nitrous, Unlimited plus turbo, and a 150.000 mph index class.
Each class winner receives a Speed and Strength jacket as well as a winner's patch to show their homies who the top speed king truly is.
Records fell and surprise winners took the top spots for the fourth consecutive year, proving anybody has a chance to win at Maxton. So leave your stories at home and put your money where your mouth is for Maxton 2010.