For over a century, gearheads across the world have lived and died by the number 200. Many a rider has put it all on the line in hopes of besting the fabled figure, be it in miles per hour or horsepower.
The connection with this ever-elusive integer can be traced back to its octane-induced roots at the Bonneville Salt Flats, a barren flatland that’s played home to a yearly top speed event for over 100 years. Long ago the feat of breaking the double century mark and entering the 200 MPH Club compelled folks from all walks of life to try their hand at entering this exclusive fraternity.
Although 200 is still as majestic as it once was, in recent years the magical number has gone beyond outright top speed and become the almighty mark to hit in the quarter mile, the standing mile and on the dyno. Wherever applicable, it’s the figure one must achieve in order to command serious respect.
During random happy hour banter after work one night we found ourselves on the topic of chasing the mythical unicorn we call 200except this time we were going to try and hit the mark on the dyno. Sure, we could easily spin it with forced induction, nitrous or even a built motor, but where’s the challenge in that? We decided a proper goal would be scoring 200 HP in one day using only basic bolt-ons. A tall order indeed, but that never stopped us before.
Taking the old adage that there’s no replacement for displacement, we deduced that a large displacement bike like a Hayabusa was the perfect bike for the job since it’s immensely choked up from the factory and stands to benefit from a little uncorking.
21.68 Horsepower Gained In One Day
The Bike
With all the hype about the latest literbikes it’s no wonder many people have lost sight of the original king of speedthe Suzuki Hayabusa. In case you forgot, when the big bird was introduced it helped push sportbikes to the next level with 9-second ETs, near 200 MPH top speed (when unrestricted) and blinding acceleration so fierce it redefined the term fast.
But with all the recent banter about the S1000RR this and ZX-10R that, we thought it was about time we shine the spotlight back on the number one stunnah.
An M4 full system cut 33-pounds...
An M4 full system cut 33-pounds off the bike and gave it another 11 HP.
Blessed with slippery bodywork, a long and stable chassis and propelled by a massive 1340cc motor, the Suzuki Hayabusa is the recipe for high-speed success.
While dyno numbers for the ’Busa aren’t much higher than the literbikes, it’s the gobs of torque that makes it the real king on the street. Overlay the dyno graphs on top of its 1000cc competition and you’ll see it has a 20+ LB-FT advantage. This is the kind of torque that shortens freeway onramps and makes first and second gears nothing more than tire shredders.
The Build
Before making any mods we needed to establish a baseline. When the smoke cleared we were left with 173.52 HP and 103.28 LB-FT at the tireboth impressive, but there was definitely room for improvement.
The Montgomery Motorsports...
The Montgomery Motorsports carbon fiber airbox is a thing of beauty. It also added a few ponies and saved almost three-pounds over the stock box.
Like all motors, our 1340cc mill is essentially an air pump, and relieving restrictions on both the inlet and outlet are always a good bet to make more power. On the dyno the stock bike was whisper quiet thanks to the bulbous pair of stock mufflers, and that was priority number oneditching the stock exhaust system.
In place of the heavy stock pipes we opted for an M4 stainless steel full system with a titanium muffler. This piped dream shaved 33-pounds over the stock exhaust system and boosted power by 11 HP and 6 LB-FT at the rear wheel. It’s not often you can bolt on that kind of power and reduce weight so drastically, but the M4 pipe exceeded our expectations and even pushed midrange grunt up another 10+ HP and 10 LB-FT. If you’re limited to just one mod this season, start here.