Brooks Motor Works

At Brooks Motor Works our motto is 'The Past is not what it used to be'. But what do we mean by that?

The perspective of history can give us a different perception of events passed. Our beloved BMW motorcycles are an appropriate example. Once shiny new cherished possessions, they became with the passage of years and miles just another old motorcycle. More years pass and they become 'interesting old bikes' but slow and outdated; morphing in more recent times into 'Vintage and collectible classics' and once again becoming cherished possessions.

I refurbish BMW's, repair BMW's, and Restore them to their former glory. But why stop there? They can be made much better than new in so many ways, and still retain the exact same appearance externally. A Vintage BMW that accelerates harder, stops better, has better roadholding, 12volt electronic digitally controlled ignition and 150watt alternator to power REAl lights AND an electric vest to keep you warm on those brisk Fall and Spring rides! And the only external indicator that all these attributes are hidden inside waiting for you is the 12 volt battery. What's NOT to like?!

So what has this got to do with Racing at the Bonneville Salt Flats? A Lot!

We use our Bonneville excursions to test a host of improvements to all aspects of our machines that they can be shown to be reliable and rideable. The Bonneville Salt Flat is known as the Great White Dyno; and serves well as our engine proving grounds and for the bikes in general as well.

And in August 2011 they did quite well indeed!

We dove right in with our Record Holding Sidecar rig running in the Vintage Sidecar Gas (SC-VG 500cc) Class. This year we added a fabulous Dustbin Fairing fabricated by Dean Paulus and painted by Bob Clark of Puget Sound Autobody (phone: 360 943-3142). We are back this year with different carbeuretion, and a new exhaust system to boost upper end breathing.

A quick run to check the jetting and we are back in line for a speed run. The lines are blissfully short this year and the motor is still warm when we hit the salt with a Speed Run of 94.528mph! We had the sidecar rig into impound within 6 hours of our arrival!

The next morning we are out bright and early, too amped-up to sleep and excited about the potential the sidecar had demonstrated the previous afternoon. Record Return Runs are all conducted first thing on the morning following the qualifying run. And we are well up in the line and waiting impatiently for our shot at the record. When we are two contestants back we start the motor to warm her up. She starts a little reluctantly in the cool morning air, but once spun up, sounds positively awesome!

When our turn comes we launch with a little push from Bruce and Barb, and slipping the clutch out to 6,000rpm she finally hooks up and we are flying toward 9,000rpm. After making the shift to 2nd I get a little sideways, but soon have her straightened back up and headed for the timing lights. The shift to 3rd is crisp as always and we tuck in behind the windscreen to minimize drag. I have the throttle to the stop now and watch the tach climb quickly to 8,000 then 8,100. The two mile marker flashes past; I am into the timing zone; then the quarter mile markers have all gone by and the 3 mile marker and the end of the lights and almost before I am settled into the ride, all is done…

I sit up and slow quickly, making the turn toward the recovery road. It feels really good; and I know the record is in the bag. We get the timing slip from the timing shack and do a quick computation. We have blasted thru the old record by over 7 mph to set a new SC-VG 500cc record at 94.333mph! With a VINTAGE 1955 R50 BMW!

The past is Definitely NOT what it used to be! ( The factory claimed 87mph top speed for a SOLO R50 back in the day. Probably at Sea-level and certainly ON ASPHALT! )

But we are not done with the Flying Egg yet. I believe that a little additional development will nudge us up over the 100mph mark!

We had two objectives on our Bonneville trip this August : Bump the sidecar Record if we could (and do so while testing our third generation valve train refinements ); and try to improve the record in the 650cc P-PV class which Barb set in October 2010. Bonita Rapida was sittng this one out.One down and one to go!

This year I had installed the R69S motor from last years 650cc P-PV record into a 1953 plunger chassis to create an R68 Replica. Barb was very excited to ride this bike in recognition of Marianne Weber, the motorcyclist and moto-journalist from the 1950s. She had hopes of increasing her last years 103.046 mph record with this motor, now that it was in a lighter and narrower chassis.

But this objective proved to be as elusive as the Sidecar Record was accessible. The motor, virtually unchanged from last Oct, was flat thru the mid-range and failed to develop significant power if and when we were able to coax it over 6,000 rpm. In the search to isolate the variable we changed jetting more times than I’ve got fingers and toes, went to a lower ratio rear drive to help the motor spin up quicker, and in frustration/desperation I even re-indexed the plug height to get into higher and perhaps a fatter part of the incoming stream. All to no avail.

But we were doing something right, since our speeds were going up throughout the week; but the problem was we had too little week left and too much more speed to find. I felt that there was something actually wrong, as opposed to something out of tune. But by Thursday afternoon, hot tired and more than a little frustrated, I was encouraging Barb just to ride it for the fun of it. After all there is always next year.

And in the final measure that is actually what we are there for. Racing at Bonneville IS a lot of fun. The records are great when they come our way, but our real objective is the testing of the machines; specifically in the case of Bonneville the valve train design, and to have a Great Time doing so!

By weeks end we had made 24 full power passes, ( more than any other entrant for Speed Week ), and the 2nd generation Bonneville valve train which has now been scaled up to fit the R69S cylinder head design had performed flawlessly. Initially installed mid-week at World–of-Speed last October, and setting a record at that event; and this year at Speedweek being hammered in the heat with multiple back to back runs, this valve train required not so much as a valve adjustment.

So while we did not set a record for the books, was it a success?
You decide.

Kevin Brooks, Brooks Motor Works, Bonneville 2011

Postscript –
In the aftermath of the excitement and frenzied activity of Speedweek we realized something which should have been obvious to us at the beginning. Last Oct when this motor was in Bonita Rapida’s chassis and ran 103+ she was also sporting the electronic ignition system that Barb and I use in all of our regular street bikes. This ignition system has several components which hang on Bonita’s chassis backbone and would not fit under the narrow /3 fuel tank. So a regular mag coil was used.

Those of you who have followed our racing efforts from the beginning may recall that a magneto failure almost prevented me from setting our first ever record at Bonneville in August of 2008. Could this have been the culprit? We’ll do a little checking you can be sure. Stay tuned…

None of this would be possible if we did not have the generous and enthusiastic support of our Sponsors and the local BMW Community, as well as BMW Riders and Enthusiasts at large who have written in and contributed in countless ways:

South Sound BMW of Fife

at www.southsoundbmw.com who help by organizing a Fundraiser - Greet and Meet for Barb and I where we present a multimedia show of our Bonneville Adventures and answer questions about racing on the salt

Tenzing Momo

A great shop at 93 Pike Place Market in Seattle

Puget Sound Autobody –

Contributes fabulous paintwork and graphics as seen on our ‘Dustbin’

Jr. Nelson’s Stripe-N’

Donates his considerable talent at Hand Pinstriping!

Motorworks Inc & Sergio

The artist behind my valve train. The man who actually makes all my designs Work! They do standard dimension valve train work as well. Give them a call at 619 327-0200.

Olympia Powdercoating

Specializing in perfection. Their powdercoatings rival real paint! Ph 360 570-9100

And VERY special thanks to our team of volunteers who helped us every step of the way:

Dave Daneman, Dave Lawrence, Seth Jaramus, Richard Bold, Bruce and Kathi Frey, and Uncle P***d ( who is always a special treat to have along! )