Hi Sam, No never got raced I looked into it at the time but they would not let Turbo bikes race at the time, not circuit racing any way. I fitted a big turbo on it, it did not make boost until 8500rpm and dropped out of boost at 8000 so if you needed power at 80mph you had to cog it down two gears, it revved to 15000+rpm, there were lots of engine mod's,welded crank, modified c/head, camshaft timings, pistons, con rods etc, 8.25 to 1 comp, 416 cc, I ran 5 psi boost most of the time but would turn it up to 8psi now and again but the clutch just could not take it, tried to fix it but with out going to a dry setup there was no easy way.
I built it to thrash and not brake and it go plenty of thrashing I can tell you, top speed was 145+ and it ran lower gearing because it was built to rev to 15000rpm , plus 4 teeth on the back sprocket 1 of the front. Some frame mod's were mono shock fully adjustable A frame to the STD swing arm, triple disk's, 3 hollow spoke mag wheels, reshaped P/tank etc.
It did not cost that much to build after getting the turbo and wheels as all the mod's and building I did my self, but it cost me £380 for new nuts, bolts, axles etc. the hardest thing was fitting a full size battery to it because of the R/shock.
I only broke it once when it ran out of petrol at 135 just as I was going to change into top gear, ( forgot to put it on reserve ) it holed two pistons damaged both others, blown head gasket, bottom barrel totally out, turned all the oil seals inside out, and smoked out the M1 for 1/2 a mile. And after buying a gallon of oil I smoked out Nottingham and rode it home from the M1. I rebuilt it in a couple of days and it was back to thrashing it for braking.
I sold it after about 3 years (35,000 miles) with the intention of building another 400/4 turbo even better but never did, I replaced the Cyc Head, Camshaft, and pistons before I sold it, I kept them for about ten years before dumping them when moving house.
It was hard to get the turbo to boost in 1st gear but once in 2nd it was on it's way, the more it revved the better it felt and the faster you went the better it got. it stopped good, handled OK, and looked OKish. At 90mph in top it had zero boost and would do 60+mpg.
Dave
