Brooks Motor Works

Bonneville 2010 Speed Records - photos & video below

Here we are back from the October session at Bonneville- World Speed Finals- and what an adventure!! We drove onto the salt, but actually it was a sea of water. We got rained out one day, lanes were closed due to weather. Overall, it was lovely temperature. Many less people, so we got tons of runs in with little trouble. Seth and Dave were incredibly helpful. Both eager and talented, they used this race even to prep themselves for next year when they race their own bikes on the salt. We came home with another record, and our fastest time ever on the salt of over 104 mph. We are addicted to the collective adventure of getting several people involved and trying to achieve things in such a challenging environment. Kevin's designs held up to rigorous, vigorous and near constant testing at maximum capacity. We ran the bikes as hard as they could go over and over and nothing broke, so we came back really excited and satisfied. We are looking forward to taking the R68 onto the salt, as that has not been done.

Thanks again to South Sound BMW, Olympia Powder Coating, Tenzing Momo, & North Hollywood Speedometers!! Your generosity helped us break records and test valve trains and cylinder modifications.

Evening, October 9, 2010

Olympia WA
BY cos

Kevin and Barbara are on their way home. They are eating in a funky roadside diner.

The Mule was putting in runs at around 95mph so they decided to concentrate on the P-PV (production frame, pushrod vintage engine).

Kevin put in a quick run that was record capable, and then Barbara rode the motorcycle for an even quicker 102.3mph qualifying run followed by a sizzling 104.28mph record.

The 2 runs average into a new record of 103.3. Nothing but the finest!

Morning, October 8, 2010

Olympia WA
BY cos

Yesterday evening it started to rain, and all of the officials closed up the Timing Shack and hurried away before Kevin and Barbara could confirm their times. Later, they found a happy, dry Official who was able to look up their time in his hotel room.

Barb rode The Mule a stock 69RS BMW at 103.6mph in a qualifying run in the P-PP class. That is P (for production frame) - PP (for a pushrod production engine).

That means that today Brooks Motor Works has 2 motorcycles that are out for their record runs. Go team!

And Sammy is running around carrying the end of his red leash in his mouth looking so good that everyone exclaims:"My what a nice dog he is!"

Evening, October 7, 2010

Olympia WA
BY cos

It's the evening of the 7th, and Barbara has phoned in a report.

They were able to make 10 runs today, which is absolutely amazing! Kevin rode Bonita for an approximately 85mph run and is in impound. Tomorrow he takes it for a record run.

Kevin rode The Mule at 96.7mph. For a last run of the day, Barb got on and took it for a spin. The last run felt as if it was faster, but by the time they got to the Timing Shack, it was closed. So no confirmation on a higher speed until tomorrow morning. It may be eligible for a record run, it may not...

Now the crew is off to secure nourishment at a secret hamburger shack that is hidden deep within a mysterious trailer park.

Morning, October 7, 2010

Olympia WA
BY cos

Yesterday was not the best of days in Bonneville. The stewards had only one lane open, so the opportunity to race was reduced. High winds and rain made the track dangerous. The conditions caused accidents and spinouts on the course. Fortunately, no one was hurt, although the surface of the lane was damaged.

Barbara was able to make one run in the 650 P-PV class putting in a lackluster 68.6mph due to the motorcycle having some technical problems.

Last night Dave and Seth rode down on their motorcycles from Oregon and Seattle to join Kevin and Barbara at the races. Mexican food! Dave and Seth are crewing for the Brooks, loving the racing, and thinking about coming back next year to do some vintage racing of their own.

This morning the weather is perfect, the track has been groomed and looks fast, and the motorcycles are running better. Kevin will be riding The Mule in the 650 P-PP class, and Barbara will be running in the 650 P-PV class.

September 9, 2010

We are both suffering from salt fever. In August at Bonneville, Kevin's valve train modifications held up superbly. The vintage BMWs handled the extreme conditions of Barbara's riding techniques, strong headwinds of 15 & 16 mph and 90 degree heat and multiple full throttle sustained redline runs.

But we ran out of time to run the 600cc bike to our satisfaction. This is the R69S motor with the scaled up valve train modification that yielded such fantastic results in the 500cc motor.

We have been using these Phase Two Heads on two of our personal road machines for the last couple of years. We achieved both an increase in power and economy, and both of these engines now run more smoothly than any other BMW I have ever ridden.

Now we have hatched a plan to run at Bonneville at the October meet with our 600cc bikes in the P-PV and P-PP classes. Kevin is preparing a pair of bikes for testing our valve train as well as establishing a baseline for what a totally stock R69S will actually do in the harsh environment of Bonneville. We will arrive at Bonneville in October 2010 with two bikes: one a stone stock 1969 R69US with a fresh motor and stock dimension cylinderheads. This bike will run in the Production Pushrod 650cc class. And as soon as we are convinced that we have extracted as much speed as possible out of the standard heads we will swap to a set of the Phase Two heads and start to dial them in. These valves are lighter, larger, have a flatter tulip profile and can be controlled to 9,000plus rpm with lighter valve spring pressures. I can hardly wait to push them to their limit.

We will also be running a second bike in the 650cc P-PV class using Bonita’s chassis. The engine in this bike will be running the Phase Two heads right from the start. But here we will have played with things a little in the way of a little more cam, some carb modifications and maybe a hidden secret or two.

Our wonderful friends are thinking of joining us. AD and Dave, and our other Dave, and Uncle Phred, Seth and his gal... It's going to be a party. Come to Bonneville with us and watch what the bikes can do, or follow us online at brooksmotorworks.com.

Saturday, August 21

We are headed home, ecstatic with the bikes' performance. Kevin's valve train modifications held up superbly. The vintage BMWs handled extreme conditions of Barbara's riding techniques, strong winds of 15 & 16 mph and cross winds and 90 degrees heat and multiple consecutive runs. We are proud and confident about the motors.

Barb did not do a record run with the 650cc motorcycle because the inspectors suddenly required some changes and we lacked the wherewithall to do them on the spot. So we decided to wrap things up with the sidecar records, the fastest run ever on Bonita as a 500cc of 101.5, and some solid runs the 650cc over 100 mph.

Our friends were DELIGHTFUL, helpful, made the experience that much more complete. Thank all of you guys for your helping hands, wonderful participation and clear enjoyment of all the great gearhead stuff all around. We look forward to next time with you!!

Thursday August 19

Kevin took Gugnir, the sidecar rig, out onto the salt for another spin which put him in impound again. He bumped up the record to 87.032!!! Really exciting, as the original record was 81.5 mph.

Spent the rest of the day slamming through an engine change in the blistering heat to bump Bonita up into a different class. She did a great run of 101.5 but we were having trouble replicating the conditions and running out of time for the 650cc. First runs were 79.26 mph and 86.76. The 86mph run landed us in impound, as the PPV 650 is an open class.

But Bonita (650 PPV class) was in impound and the sidecar rig- and we only had one truck to haul them. So we scrapped the impound ticket on the 650 because we knew we could do better.

This morning we hauled out Gugnir and Kevin did his record run. Then we waited an interminable time in the hot sun while rookies ran off the course, people dropped junk off their vehicles and spun out, rookies rode off and dumped thier motorcycles over on the return run etc. Also, wind was gusting hard from the side and the race stewards held up the runs. Finally I was on the line with the 650 and really ready to ride. So I rode 100.45 and we went off to impound. Great ride, great fun.

Came back to the camp. All a huge jumbled mess because the wind took down all the pop ups and sun tarps. Quite theatrical looking. So we sweltered and folded up and hauled off to the dumpster most of our gear.

Now kevin is getting into his leathers and Steve is helping him with some helmet cams to video a sidecar run. I am done for today, and will ride my record run on the 650 in the am.

Tuesday August 17

Kevin has set a record on the 1955 vintage BMW 500cc sidecar Gugnir with a speed of 85.8mph. Way to go!

Bonita is in impound after Barbara put in a 101.255mph qualifying run. Tomorrow she will make a confirming run at a new record.

Feverish work is happening on the single, it has an electrical problem that needs to be taken care of, and then it hits the salt.

Saturday August 14

Arrived on Friday, brought the motorcycles through tech inspection which took a long time. Lots of paperwork.

Today the weather is wonderful, cool for Bonneville, it is in the 80's. All of our friends are working really hard helping us. Everyone is having a great time.

Right now the efforts are going into working out the rear drive combination on Bonita. With a 9mph NE wind, the quickest run of the day was 92.63mph. It's shaping up to be a great week.

Welcome, Friends!

We are running our vintage BMW solo bikes and racing sidecar rig at Bonneville for Speedweek. We will post times and runs daily, here on our homepage. Hope you join us, either here or on the salt! Come by and say hello if you are there...

We are headed to Bonneville Salt Flats. The big excitement is our 1955 500cc R50 BMW with a racing sidecar attached. This will compete in the Vintage Pushrod 500cc Sidecar class. This class allows farings and We got a great front fender that fits perfectly. Junior of Nelson Painting and Pin striping did a fantastic job on the paint and stripes, and freehanded a great gnome logo on the side.

We brought it over to the BMW rally in Menlo, Washington. People were excited to see it and very interested in hearing it run. It really sounds wonderful when Kevin starts it up. The man is a genius when it comes to getting a BMW motor race worthy.

Rob Billington's Video

Rob took a short film of a test run of the side car.