World's Fastest Motorcycle: It's the most prestigious title in motorcycledom, and an accolade that Mike Akatiff has been obsessed with since 2006. That was the year he and rider Rocky Robinson held that honor for two days before losing it to Denis Manning and Chris Carr. The World's Fastest title has been regained by Akatiff, however, following last September's Top Oil World Land Speed Shootout at the Bonneville Salt Flats. There, Robinson rode the Ack Attack streamliner to an amazing 360.913-mph average speed, crushing Carr's 350.884-mph mark by more than 10 mph. Covering nearly the length of two football fields per second, that's very fast indeed.
The cigar-shaped, carbon-fiber-bodied machine is built on a tubular chromoly space frame measuring 20 feet end-to-end and holding two turbocharged Suzuki Hayabusa motors mounted in tandem, and tuned to produce in excess of 900 bhp. Rolling stock consists of 7-inch front and 9-inch rear Mickey Thompson automotive slicks-no motorcycle tire can withstand the heat generated at those speeds, and there are no curves on Bonneville's 11-mile-long race course anyway. A pair of midship-mounted retractable outriggers let the 'liner remain upright at rest.
Such big speed doesn't come cheap. Akatiff reckons he has more than $125,000 tied up in his machine, which works out to about $350 per mph. That's a lot, but a bargain compared to the $600-per-mph of Hogan's Top Fuel bike!