Landspeed Dreaming: A Turbo Harley & ’80s Vibes

Any build that’s based around a succinct combination of concepts always seems to turn out the best. Seek inspiration, and stick to it. The foundation for Royal-T Racing’s Landspeed Dyna was born when Luke DiCiurio and Patrick Tilbury asked themselves, ‘What would it look like if Harley built a competitor for the Suzuki Hayabusa… in the 1980s?’

The answer is what you see here, and it’s everything you’d expect and more. To me, what makes this bike particularly interesting isn’t just the mash-up of aesthetic and ideological concepts that came to rest on the Landspeed Dyna, as it’s been dubbed, but rather the fact that this bike will soon be making a proper land speed run at the Texas Mile. Ideally, at the end of this month.

The goal? Two hundred all-American miles per hour from a standing start.

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The build was completed in New Orleans, Louisiana at Royal-T Racing and, naturally, the first thing you notice when you lay eyes on the Dyna are its unique aesthetics that were born from an ’07 Harley-Davidson Street Bob. From there, an FXRP fairing was used to create a buck to shape the aluminum bodywork found on the final product. Zoom in on the above images to see the welds hidden inside.

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More fabrication magic — also known as hard work by Patrick, shown above, not on his phone — took place from around the middle of the bike back, and ultimately the only remaining H-D components are the neck and down-tube so that the factory VIN could be retained.

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The idea was to combine racing styling cues and functionality with a coach-built quality level, and this ethos is continued when you dig deeper.

Power comes from a 124ci twin-cam engine that was built specifically for a turbocharged application by S&S Cycle out of Wisconsin. Of course, more fabrication would be necessary to reach the ultimate goal, and roughly 300hp is expected. This is in part thanks to a Comp Turbo CT3 turbocharger and a handmade intercooler assembly, as well as a stainless steel header and aluminum down-pipe. I love the details that are fully on display but can’t be seen in their entirety until you spend some time with the machine.

While it looks stunning and fired up for the first time just days before the The One Moto Show in Portland, Oregon some weeks back, it wasn’t all smooth sailing. In fact, the build started a few years ago, and Patrick explains that making the standalone Haltech engine management system work with the unusual application seemed to be a never-ending headache, but it was worth it in the end. The custom harness was completed by GK Finish Line.

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Zooming back out, it’s hard not to appreciate the wheels, which were designed in-house at Royal-T. Inspiration is said to have come from early Le Mans-spec Porsche turbo-fan wheels, thus keeping the ’80s vibe very much alive. I really enjoy the result here, and the wheels pair nicely with the front brake rotors and sprockets, which were made specifically for this build by Chopper Hauss. Meanwhile, the rear brakes and linkage were more one-off parts made in-house.

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It really would be easy to go on and on with the details, but the fact of the matter is that Royal-T Racing has succeeded in their goal to create an ’80s-inspired Hayabusa-hunter. Just one question remains: how fast will it actually go?

Trevor Yale Ryan
Instagram: trevornotryan

Additional Photos by Sara Ryan
Instagram: pockowokosara

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1

what a machine! .. but would anyone else not be worried about the turbo placement.. and essentially sucking your pants off every time you ride it!

2

Usually sucking your pants off every time doesn't sound like a bad idea, but...in this case it, it sounds sucky. Prolly gonna need asbestos pantalones. Burt Munro would be proud.

3

Also your other leg is going to get pretty hot from the downpipe.

4

That thing is gonna suck your balls the moment you fold it at the wrong leg though.

5

All I heard was suck your balls. Thumbs up.

6

they’re dreaming if they think it’ll get through any kinda land speed tech without a chain guard

7

stunning machine. nice and encouraging to see some genuine mechanical art coming out of Louisiana; sometimes it can feel like a creative wasteland down here.

8

A turbo Harley?
Someone here is a man of taste

9

Not the best application of a turbo to a V-twin I've seen. It's hardly a new concept, but this one is fraught with rider "comfort" issues. This string notes my concerns as well....

10
Chris Colouryum

Damn there's a lot of crotch going on there!

11

Don't intercoolers have to be in the airflow? Or is there ducting removed to show off all the pretty welding?

12

The air flows in through the fairing, gets ducted under the tank and out the inter cooler. Not ideal but not the most questionable part of the build. Like the massively overbraked rear wheel.

13

I see a VERY uncomfortable seat and high probabity of singed inner thighs. No thanks.

14

He ain't riding the thing to Sturgis.

15
Matthew M. Applin III

Beautiful craftsmanship, and I'm guessing by the hardware and electronics, it WILL go fast. Horrible rider ergos, sure. A full leather race suit and only being on it 5 minutes at a time should solve that. Oh, and a rider with some serious balls. That are also somehow small? LOL

16

Pretty serious looking bike, which will burn your left leg and suck your right. Please someone take a video when its on the move.

17

Excellent story and lovely detail photos.

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