News

History was made on Monday 11th November 2024 when The “Force of Nature” Steam Rocket bike ran at Elvington.

The bike couldn’t run at Santa Pod Flame and Thunder due to delays because of the British weather but Graham Sykes and the team needed to know what the latest changes to the Rocket nozzles were going to make in improved times and speeds so they hired Elvington along with Straightliners and UK&ITA official timekeepers to run the bike against the clocks.

The Straightliners team set the track up on surveyed points that are used for world speed record verification.  The points used at Elvington on runway 26 were set at the following increments:  60.0 ft, 330.0 ft (1/16th mile), 660.0 ft (1/8th mile) and 1320.0 ft (1/4 mile).  Tag Heuer timing equipment was used for timing each distance with an individual clock used for each increment.  Timing beams once set up, were tested and confirmed as working correctly.

The Force of Nature team planned to run twice during the day, with the aim of testing and collating data on the performance of the new nozzle configuration.  To ensure this could be achieved during the daylight hours available, it meant starting the heating process early, at 5.00 am to run at 10.30 am.  All went to plan, and the sun was soon up turning the early morning gloom into a beautiful day with not a cloud in the sky and no wind.  – Perfect conditions.

With Phil Wood riding as Graham had damaged his shoulder previously, the bike was taken up to the start line and removed from the mother ship transportation trolley.  With Phil on the bike and the front wheel positioned up against the timing jig, Graham armed the bike and removed the safety pins.  Phil gave Graham a nod followed by a short count down from 5 to 1.  The button was pressed!

The bike left the line and seconds later history was made, with the clocks stopping at:  60 ft 0.723 seconds  330 ft 1.968 seconds 660 ft 3.284 seconds and 1320 ft 6.165 seconds.

The speeds were taken from their data logging and were:  60 ft 98 mph, 330 ft 173 mph, 660 ft 164 mph and 1320 ft 149 mph

The bike powered for 1.902 seconds and coasted the rest of the 1/4 track.

As far as we are aware, these are the fastest ever incremental times to the 1/8th mile by a 2 wheeler.

With the bike back in the awning, at 11.00 am everyone observed the minutes silence for the fallen, then work started to get a second run in before dark. A change of nozzle inserts to test, and the super pure deionised water filled into the bike and the burner was set off again to start the heating process for its second run of the day.

By 4.15 pm the bike was taken up to the start line and as the sun was setting, the bike again launched hard off the line to another fantastic run. Although not as fast as the first run, Phil still managed a 0.759 60 ft 1.981 seconds 330 ft 3.313 second 660 ft and a 6.243 1320 ft

A great end to an amazing day.

We have been told that the design and building of a new larger pressure vessel and valve assembly has started, which will increase the duration by around 1 second.

Lets wish Graham and the team well for 2025.