The 50 CC Highly Streamlined Motorcycle.

Via: sonicwind

"This 50 cc streamliner design is a concept for a motorcycle to pursue one of the most difficult land speed records ever set. It stands at 121.7 miles per hour and legend has it that this same 50cc streamlined motorcycle made a one way pass at 130 plus mph Many small displacement streamliners have tried to get this record but it has stood since 1956. Most motorcycle records fall in a few years but that tiny NSU bike record stands the test of time. The engine technology is better now so why can't anyone break that record? One word " Efficiency" that NSU bike driven by the tiny road race rider, Hans Muller, was not only powerful but aerodynamically efficient beyond words .I propose a new design for a tiny light rider, most likely a woman. This design would use a modern 50cc super charged rotary engine running on tolulene mounted through a slipper clutch directly to the front wheel. No power would be wasted through a chain or shaft drive to the rear wheel. The rider would lie over the engine which would have a ballistic fiber glass shield over it to section it if from the rider.The rider would be in a similar position to a drag bike rider allowing body english to be applied to the bike. The fuel would be carried in a boom that would extend back to where the rear wheel and disk brake would mount. The rear wheel and tire would be very thin and also serve as a vertical stabilizer to keep the bike going straight. A 3.5 to1 streamlined thin sheet carbon fiber body would drop over the whole ensemble and the rider would literally wear the body-helmet in the event of a crash.

People would argue that the drag would be less if the body were off the ground but I say that the turbulence and drag from the front wheel can never be eliminated so hide it from the airstream altogether and go with the slightly larger frontal area. A tinted windshield in the body-helmet will allow forward vision The body -helmet would be covered with the low drag tape sold by 3M company and developed from research done at Langley on drag reduction by incorporating tiny grooves in the skin that vacuum boundary layer air.The bike would be towed up to 100 mph because it has only one speed "HIGH" and this is allowed by the rules. A .05 Cd. a frontal area of 2 square feet and a over all weight of 300 lbs. and 1956 is history."