[RideApart] - Setting A Motorcycle World Speed Record On Sand

[Ninjette Newsbot]

Setting A Motorcycle World Speed Record On Sand

Zef Eisenberg is now the fastest motorcycle rider on sand in the world after a recent 201.5mph run on Pendine Sands, South Wales

Chasing a world speed record is a seriously ballsy endeavor, but the activity becomes that much more dicey when a land speed record is attempted on sand. One brave rider—45-year-old Zef Eisenberg—recently set a new sand world speed record of just over 200 miles per hour on a modified, super-charged motorcycle less than two years after suffering a bone-shattering 230 mile per hour crash.

MORE WEIRD LAND SPEED RECORDS: Chasing land speed records on a steam-powered Hayabusa

The record was recently set at a natural strip along a beach known as Pendine Sands in South Wales. Eisenberg explained how racing on a natural track along a beach means you never know what the sand will look like when you get there in the morning—depending on what the tide may have dragged in and how it affected the surface of the beach. At times the waves will leave the sand rippled and at other times the swells will create a smooth, more ideal surface. Eisenberg also says he’s seen everything from giant jellyfish to unexploded ordinance washed up on the beach, neither of which you want to collide with at 200 miles per hour.


Eisenberg's Kawasaki-colored "Green Meanie" HayabusaPushing a motorcycle to near 200 mile per hour speeds invites a lot of potential problems, and these issues are greatly exacerbated when riding on sand. Eisenberg says paddle tires don’t work, and getting up to hair-raising speeds can’t be achieved through the traditional drag racing methods such as turbo charging an engine as the forced induction system will leave the rear-wheel spinning in the sand sans traction. Slowing down is another area that is markedly different from normal riding. Eisenberg says you “never touch the front brake” and that many riders remove it entirely to avoid the reactionary impulse of grabbing the level when things go awry. Essentially you just lay off the throttle and wait for the bike to slow to a stop.

Racing on sand presents another major issue and that is crashing. Unlike riding on a paved surface, when you go down on sand, you don’t slide. Like, at all. This, for obvious reasons, presents a serious danger to riders. When Eisenberg goes on speed runs, he straps into an elaborate harness system connected to the bike.

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