This past September, a team of Drexel Engineering students and alumni successfully broke the world land speed record for a 100cc 2-stroke motorcycle, reaching 100.3MPH at the East Coast Timing Association (ECTA) in Ohio. The previous record had been 99.8MPH. To accomplish this feat, two teams were required; a team focused on the frame of the motorcycle and a team focused on the motorcycle’s engine. The frame team members included Edd Lalo, Franklin Saillot, Kaya Hontz, Rylan Treffinger, and Skylar Olson. The engine team consisted of Barry Bucther, Anthony D’Ambrosio, Christopher Silva, Josh Bryant, and Alex Nauman. The team also received help from Drexel Mechanical Engineering Alumni (class of 2002), Ryan Miller.
Miller contacted the Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics (MEM) department seeking students interested in developing a land speed motorcycle. Their goal was simple, take a KX100 2-stroke dirt bike and make it break 100 MPH, a task much more difficult than it sounds. The KX100 engine has only 100cc of displacement, which is roughly half a cup of engine displacement. The KX100 engine is the second smallest engine displacement recorded at land speed record venues, and compared to normal the 1000cc motorcycles, they were 1/10 the engine displacement.
There were three teams each building their own motorcycle around the original KX100 engine. Drexel Mechanical Engineering students from the class of 2012 provided the groundwork for the class of 2013, who then provided improved groundwork for the record holder’s class of 2014.
The class of 2014 was able to pull everything together, and with help from Eric Watt, a local motorcycle expert and mechanic from the Bike Works in Glenside, PA, produced a motorcycle capable 100MPH. Faculty from Drexel also helped out over the years; machine shop technicians Mark Shiber, Earl Bolling, and Scott Eichmann provided a great deal knowledge to the teams. Drexel University associate research professor, John Lacontora, from the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics, acted as Official Internal Advisor to the team.
Until the September ECTA event, the team was still unsure if it would be physically possible to break 100MPH. Theoretically, the 2014 Engine Team calculated a terminal velocity of 107MPH based on gearing, engine HP, coefficient of friction, and road surface properties. Comparing the 100.3MPH record run to the theoretical 107MPH projection, their calculations were less than 10% off, which is very accurate for engineering students with minimal engine, aerodynamics, and frame design knowledge.
Currently, a Drexel Mechanical Engineering class of 2015 team is rebuilding the motorcycle, based off of the 2014 design, and is preparing the motorcycle for the long trip to Speed Week on Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats in August 2015. Speed Week is often referred to as the Engineering Olympics, where mechanics, engineers and hobbyists race their outlandish creations. Even though the 2014 team was successful in Ohio at the ECTA event, which was on a closed airport runway, the Salt Flats have their own challenges. Salt is an unstable surface with more surface-rolling friction. It is also at a higher altitude with less oxygen to support combustion, and the timing calculations are extremely different. Instead of making one run, the SCTA (Southern California Timing Association), Speed Weeks sanctioning organization, requires 2 passes, in opposite directions, within a certain time period.
As it stands, the Drexel Mechanical Engineering class of 2014 team built the world’s fastest 100cc 2-stroke custom built motorcycle, which beats the current record of 99.8MPH. However, the 99.8MPH record was set on the Salt Flats in Utah at a different venue, so the new goal that the students are focusing on is to again break the 100MPH barrier at the Salt Flats and be in the SCTA record book, as well.