Lightning-fast sand-speed world record for Zef

Monday 14 May 2018

Zef Eisenberg and his MADMAX race team achieved a new speed record on Sunday, as he is now the fastest ever human on the Pendine sands, having reached 201.5mph on his super charged Hayabusa.

Referred to as the Holy Grail of speed, no other bike or car has ever gone faster at the Pendine Sands in Wales, and it is thought that no other motorbike in history has ever reached that speed on sands at all.

This huge success for the local racer comes just 18 months after a near death crash he had in September 2017, where when trying to break another record, he came off a turbine bike going 230mph. 

Mr Eisenberg went into the challenge on the weekend confident of his bikes 350 horsepower, but also aware of the difficulties driving on sand came with.

"Saturday was a day of frustration with the 350hp motorbike fighting for traction and grip, coupled with wet sand, intense aquaplaning and dangerous speed wobbles at 180mph plus," he said.

"I started to think that the magic 200mph was not possible and just a fantasy. The weather on Sunday however was looking good and the sand felt firmer than Saturday.  I decided there was no time to lose and the best option was to just nail it, ignore the speed wobbles, rear wheel slip and hold on tight, before the sand dried out and lost grip.

"The run felt fast, but I never thought it was beyond 200mph. Riding back to the finish line, they were waving frantically at me. I thought, oh no, did I miss the finish line, did I muck up. What did I do wrong? When they shook my hand and told me I'd set history at 201.572mph, I was shocked and amazed."

Mr Eisenberg's bike was a specially built MADMAX supercharged 'Green Monster' Hayabusa, which has 350 rear wheel horsepower and a "a very smooth power curve, without the spike of power from a turbo, which would not be effective on sand, as you would lose traction easily."

The bike is also road legal, and capable of much more than 200mph on tarmac, but sand has much higher levels of friction, which draws power from the engine. 

Mr Eisenberg is no stranger to the thrill of speed racing, having achieved a production bike record of 184mph in 1.5miles in May 2016, on his Kawasaki ZX-14. That was before the "big Elvington, 230mph Sept 16 accident" which resulted in his crash.

That incident saw him spending three months in hospital, three months in a wheel chair and one year away from racing, but he said intense commitment to his physical and mental recovery, gym work and physiology allowed him to come back.

"Back at the start line, it all began to sink in. It was history in the making, for over a 100 years, people have been trying to reach 200mph at Pendine sands, even the great gods of speeds, Sir Malcolm Campbell, Parry Thomas – all have tried and failed… until today. I am back in the saddle now fully and could not feel happier."