Zef Eisenberg hoping to become the first person to achieve a British land speed record on bike and car within a year this April as he heads to Pendine Sands in South Wales with a 1200hp road-legal Porsche 911 Turbo S.
Eisenberg set the record on two wheels at 201.572mph last year on his supercharged Suzuki Hayabusa to become the ‘fastest motorbike on sand’ in the world, just 20 months after surviving Britains fastest-ever motorcycle crash (at 230mph!).
Following the crash he spent three months in hospital and a further three months in a wheelchair before setting the new record.
Since then he set further records including an ACU sanctioned flying quarter-mile, flying kilometre and flying mile, on his MADMAX road legal supercharged Suzuki Hayabusa.
“I’m well known for setting records on bikes,” said Eisenberg, “so people started asking me why not cars?”
Eisenberg got thinking and after months of research settled on a 2015 550hp Porsche 911 Turbo S, and while the car was fast in its standard configuration, it could only manage 175mph, this is where the MADMAX race team stepped in.
“To achieve 200mph on tarmac within a mile would, the car would need 750bhp at the wheels. Sand creates a lot of resistance and tyre slip, so we worked out that we’d need at least 1000 bhp at the rear wheels, which equates to a crazy 1200hp at the engine, compared to just 550hp from the factory.”
With a bespoke 4.2-litre Porsche motorsport engine with stronger internals, upgraded turbos, a new E85 fuel system, an advance cooling set up and more, the team are confident they have built a machine to produce the power needed.
While power is one thing there was more work carried out to deal with the output, an upgraded gearbox and clutch was needed along with modified brakes and suspension to allow for different wheels and tyres.
An addition of a full FIA roll cage, competition seats and safety harness were added to the interior, but that was as much that was changed on the inside.
“Weight is actually your friend on sand,” said Eisenberg. “It’s about stability – putting enough weight on the tyres to increase traction.
“Even though, we have accidentally made the car 140kg lighter than standard, we have no need to strip weight out.
“The car is actually road legal, so we will drive it from the hotel onto the beach and to the restaurant after, hopefully to celebrate.”
“I’ve well and truly caught the speed addiction,” added Eisenberg. “It’s in my blood. Each run itself might only be between 25 and 40 seconds, but a new record is just the icing on the cake, after years of research and experimentation.
“Those who are addicted to speed, will understand – “it’s all about the quest to overcome the challenge and battle the laws of physics.”
