PICS: STEVE MCDONALD

WE'VE BEEN following the Big CC Racing/Steelheart/BTC road-legal Hayabusa for a while now - and the team hit another massive high at the weekend. At the Straightliners top speed event at Elvington in Yorkshire, rider Phil Wood hit nearly 272mph on a flying quarter mile, smashing the record, with a fully road-legal Hayabusa.

The bike was set up to make around 670bhp for the run: the 1,000bhp turbocharged engine had its boost limited to help traction and 'ridability' on the runs. The engine is based on a 1,547cc drag racing setup, with a silenced road exhaust, and a variable boost controller. It's taxed, insured and MOT'd, and is regularly ridden on the street by Phil and Sean Mills from Big CC. And since the 271.8mph figure is an average, it probably topped that figure momentarily...

"Thanks a million to Sean for giving me the chance to ride the bike." said Phil. "So far to date the bike has made four full passes and four aborted passes. I'm pretty happy with how the bike is going. We now have a little more data to work with and a book of ideas to discuss over winter. For 2018 that's it for top speeds for the bike. Roll on 2019."