![]() ![]() ![]() See the green light, pin the throttle, and Bob’s the uncle you never had, right? And in theory, and outside the pub after closing time, that’s all there is to it. In the hands of a professional drag racer, the Destroyer can post mid nine-second passes with an exit speed of 146mph.Ī Top Fuel bike, on the other hand, is an even scarier monster that lives at the very top of the drag-racing food chain and it exits the traps at a touch over 210mph in about six seconds.ġ. If you can persuade one of these dealers to part with his, he’ll want you to hand him about 50 grand. Be encouraged knowing that only 600 Destroyers have been built and about 20 have found their way to Oz for Harley dealers to race. It’s the ultimate naked power trip and a fitting addition to any family garage. Relentless, seething power propels you down the strip faster than your body and brain can cope with. The Destroyer accelerates with the single-minded wilfulness of homicidal maniac. And you’ll be grateful for them the second you dump the clutch and the rubber digs deep, firing you forward with a force in excess of 2Gs, while your brain struggles to cope with the noise and acceleration and the clutchless, don’t-back-off-the-throttle-ya-girl gear-changes that are the life-force of professional drag-racing. The foot-pegs are either side of the monstrous drag-racing slick, which you’ll find just in front of the factory-supplied wheelie bars. There are no foot-pegs anywhere near the gear lever. The explosions begin immediately after you’ve pressed the electric start button, lain down on top of it like an Aztec sacrifice, and made your peace with God. You could no more register it and ride it to work than you could punt Schumacher’s Ferrari through traffic.įor starters, the Destroyer doesn’t idle. It is a purpose-built comp-monster designed to do nothing but go dak-crappingly fast in a straight line. Because while it is technically a motorcycle (in that it’s got two wheels, a motor and a set of handlebars), it behaves more like an artillery round. It would like that.Īfter all, it is incontestably the most brutal and intimidating two-wheeler ever to don a set of handlebars and pretend it’s a motorcycle. ![]() You can call it “The Destroyer” for short, or if you’ve ridden it like I have, you may prefer to address it as “Master”. It’s full name is the VRXSC Sreamin’ Eagle V-Rod Destroyer. Incredibly, this is just what Harley had built – an out-of-the-box pro-drag bike complete with slicks, wheelie bars, a hissing air-shifter and a proper multi-stage clutch set-up specifically for the drag strip. And not one of those soft-bellied, marshmallow-engined FPVs – but a proper rompin’, stompin’ bag-smokin’ quarter-mile missile that accelerates like a fighter jet and sounds like the carpet-bombing of Tora Bora. To put this incredible beast into perspective, imagine if Ford suddenly decided to build a production drag car. One can only gasp in awe at what Harley-Davidson has done by building the world’s first production drag bike. I have never seen one.īut I did ride one when it came out, and this is what I wrote at the time…. I have heard of people hauling out the amazing engine and putting in a street bike (you could not street-register a Destroyer), but I think that was just wishful thinking. It was campaigned here by the blokes from Morgan & Wacker in Queensland with some success.and then nothing. The thing worked, it worked well and it even won some titles in the US. ![]() Initial demand was very high, and then it just tapered off for reasons no-one can understand to this day. Legend has it Harley built 635 of them, after initially stating it would only build 150. De-crate it, put it on a trailer, pour in some high-octane, and head on down to the nearest dragstrip. The idea was drag-racers and assorted other psychopaths could go to a Harley dealer and buy a ready-to-go drag-bike. In 2006, Harley-Davidson decided it would produce a drag bike out of the box. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |