Jerry
inventor of the jerryvalve, the jerryjoint, and the jerrybike.

Bonneville Salt Flats, August, 2008
We finished the number 8111 APS – G 1000cc bike two days before we left for Bonneville Speed Week. Rider is Mark Seeley. The weather and condition of the salt was the best I have seen in ten years. Morning temperatures were in the 60s and daytime temps in the low 90s. Salt was hard and flat. First time down the track was a sighting run to see if everything worked and I wanted a speed of 175 – 180 mph. Mark’s speed on the sighting run was 197.9 mph with the record being 199.9 mph. Mark’s comments after the run was the bike felt good and willing to run and that there was more speed available – maybe 10+ mph. I was somewhat off on the gearing since Mark was in forth gear during the run. I changed the primary gear drive and the transmission gear ratios when modifying the engine and apparently got mixed up when calculating the final drive ratio – the bike was geared for 270 mph in sixth gear.
The next day we changed engine and rear wheel sprockets and made a second pass. The engine stopped at about the 2 mile mark in third gear. It didn’t sputter or run poorly, it stopped immediately as if the ignition was shut off. When the engine lost power the front end nose-dived and the back end of the bike wanted to become the front end. Vehicles in the event can only be under power on the course and must be returned using a tow vehicle. By the time I reached Mark with the return trailer the bike the engine started and ran. We took the bike to the pits and the engine ran without a problem.
Over the next two days the same thing happened three more times at about the two mile mark. There was clearly an electrical problem killing the ignition or the fuel injection pump.

The bike has a complicated electrical system involving two engine control computers, many relays, circuit breakers and a pneumatic shift system with an instantaneous engine kill system to allow for full throttle shifting. We worked on the bike for three days, could not find the problem and put the bike on the trailer for the trip back to Austin. Continuing with the possibility of the engine shutting off at +200 mph was too dangerous.
It was disappointing the bike did not go as fast as it could but frankly not unexpected since we had not tested the machine prior to going to Bonneville. Overall, I am very pleased with the machine. The engine is powerful, the bike very stable when under power and the aerodynamics are good. There is an abandoned air field near Austin with an 8,000 foot runway we can use for testing to resolve the engine problem. Wait until next year.

Proud Grandpa
Dr. Jerry sent me this - look how young and beautiful we all are!

Self Portrait in the New Office / Inventor at Rest . . . 4/05
Dr. JEROME J. KLAWITTER
RESEARCH SCIENTIST, BODY-PART INVENTOR/MANUFACTURER, SPEED FREAK
one of my trips was to the bonneville salt flats to run a land speed record motorcycle i built. a good friend, drew lippolt, rode the silly thing. it was the first time for this bike and we were looking for +200mph and hand some handling problems that limited the speed to the 186mph - fear of crashing was the spped governor. attached are some pics of the bike. i have two videos but am affraid they may be too large to attach.

jerry