A WHANGAREI man is about to find out whether his is the world's fastest ... Kawasaki. Every two years on Lake Gairdner, a vast Australian salt flat, teams of motorcycle enthusiasts gather to challenge and defend the land speed record for production motorbikes. This month, Whangarei coach builder John Howe will learnwhether he has officially broken the land speed record for production motorcycles on his Kawasaki ZX14, by clocking 358.9km/h on January 27 - beating the previous record by 1.8km/h. The record is unofficial until a Swiss company, commissioned at large expense to carry out the time-keeping, sends Howe his certificates this month. Bikes on the two-way run take 5-6km to achieve full speed before reaching the 1.6km stretch where the Swiss time recorders had their equipment at the ready - then a further 3km to slow down. The motorcycles competing have to be street legal, which means they can be improved only with standard production parts. This is the third time Howe and his team have had a crack at the speed record. He attributed some of the team's success to reducing weight, and not just of the motorbike. "I got my own weight down to 77kg, which really helped." The motorcycle team spent 22 hours testing to perfect the motorcycle for conditions in Australia, matching air density and amount of water in the air. Howe's motorcycle team is a group of motorcycle mechanics from Wellington who have been riding together for 30 years. "One man couldn't do this - a good team with excellent back-up makes it all happen," Howe said. Another tip is timing the run for early in the morning, because the intake of a Kawasaki functions best in cold, dense air. Howe's team was up against seven teams from UK, US, Australia and New Zealand, On the perfectly flat Lake Gairdner, about the size of lake Taupo but without the water, it was all over very quickly - the race took a year to plan, but just 10 minutes of waiting, then 10 minutes of full throttle. "Waiting was the anxious period," Mr Howe said. "But during the run there's no fear, just doing the job. No traffic officers to ruin your day."
