How a humble university project evolved into a turbocharged land-speed contender
AMCN reader Adam Howe, a 56-year-old Mechanical Engineering student at Geelong’s Deakin University with a penchant for bold ideas, faced a pivotal decision when selecting his final thesis project. Rather than opting for something conventional, he sought a challenge that would push his engineering skills to the limit. His ambitious vision? To transform a Yamaha YZF-R3, a modest learner bike, into a record-breaking machine capable of competing on the salt flats.
This unconventional pursuit of a land-speed record was anything but straightforward. The YZF-R3, widely regarded as a beginner-friendly motorcycle, seemed an unlikely candidate. However, with the addition of a turbocharger and a meticulous engineering approach, Adam believed he could elevate the bike from its humble origins to a formidable contender in the 350cc MPS-BG class.
Hold on tight as Adam shares with AMCN the intricate process, the engineering challenges and the ultimate journey towards Lake Gairdner…
Shooting for the stars
When I sat down to choose my final Mechanical Engineering project, I didn’t want to play it safe. Building a bird feeder or fiddling with an app wasn’t going to cut it. Instead, I thought: Why not try to set a land-speed record on a learner bike?
It sounded ridiculous enough to be perfect. Equal parts challenge, chaos and just the right amount of mechanical madness to keep me busy for half a year.
The bike? A Yamaha YZF-R3, known for being a friendly little learner bike, not exactly the stuff of speed records. But with some turbocharged persuasion, I reckoned it could graduate out of the kiddie pool and start swimming with the big fish. What followed was a journey of late nights, blown budgets, and a few moments where I seriously questioned my sanity.
The Dream Team: Brains, Beards and Posties
No great project happens alone and I was lucky to rope in the best crew a uni student could ask for.
First up, Dr Ali Zare at Deakin University. Ali has an unmatched passion for engineering and this uncanny ability to explain things in ways that actually make sense – critical when I was drowning in turbo diagrams and compressor maps.
Then came Ben Shaw from Extreme Creations, part guru, part mad scientist, and 100 per cent the bloke you want on speed dial when you’re trying to strap a turbo to a bike it was never meant for.
Ben patiently answered my endless questions, built a bespoke fuel pump and rising-rate regulator, and offered the kind of reassurance that kept the whole project from imploding when things went pear-shaped.
Family chipped in too. My dad, from Lake Macquarie, took on machining jobs – and express-posted parts back to me like a one-man pit crew. Oh, and my wife deserves a medal for swinging off long levers with me late at night, helping bend aluminium into the shape of a plenum.
The Build: From Donuts to Dyno Drama
It all kicked off when I picked up the R3 from Trooper Lu’s Garage in Liverpool, about an hour southwest of the Sydney CBD. We benchmarked it on Ben’s dyno over coffee and donuts (as all great builds start) and squeezed out a humble 36.1hp (26.5kW) at the rear wheel. Nothing to brag about.
Back in the garage, the real work began. Drafting plenum and exhaust designs, prototyping them, scrapping them and starting all over again. Fabricating the plenum out of 3mm aluminium was no joke; each bend felt like arm day at the gym.
I found the tiniest turbo I could get my hands on: a VZ21. The compressor map looked promising and I figured this little thing could punch well above its weight. I swapped the wastegate actuator for a 7.5psi unit and ported the wastegate to stop it from turning into a boost volcano.
By now, the shopping list was getting longer than my thesis references. Chain guard? Check. Metal battery strap? Check. Steering damper and lanyard kill switch? Check. HEL braided brake lines? Yep, though I doubt they’ll see much action out on the salt.
Setbacks, Sleepless Nights and Burt Munro Moments
I hit a low point when everything was bolted together, the turbo, plenum, blow-off valve, boost gauge and the bike fired up… but didn’t make a scrap of boost. Nothing.
Cue a couple of sleepless nights where I stared at the ceiling thinking: Well, that’s it. I’ll never graduate. And the bike’s about as useful as a two-wheeled hairdryer.
But then I remembered Kiwi speed legend Burt Munro, racing the young lads on their Triumphs down the beach and losing the £100 bet, only to come back swinging. I gave Ben a call, and he told me not to stress: “We’ll fix it on the dyno.” If Burt Munro had Ben Shaw on speed dial, I reckon he’d have broken a few more records.
The Breakthrough: Dyno Day
Rolling onto Ben’s dyno, we quickly found the culprit, the wastegate was opening at high revs and dumping all the precious boost. A bit of fettling here, a tweak there and suddenly the turbo was spooling properly. We started at 6psi, then pushed it to 9psi with some careful tuning. The result? 59.7hp (44kW) at the rear wheel and 98 per cent more torque.
That’s a near-doubling of power on what started as a little learner bike.
This wasn’t just good news for the bike, it was the exact result I needed to finish my thesis.
What’s Next: Salt and Speed
The bike’s ready, but there’s still work to do. I need to gear it up correctly and make the final preparations for DLRA Speed Week 2025 at Lake Gairdner on 8 March. It’s a long way from where this all began, an idea scribbled down after a few other plans fell flat, but it’s been worth every late night and busted knuckle.
This little R3 has graduated from the beginner leagues, and now it’s ready to make its mark on the salt in the 350cc MPS-BG class.
If you’re at Speed Week, come say g’day. I’ll be the one with the turbocharged R3, a big grin and a lifelong dream within reach.
MAKE IT TO THE LAKE
The 35th annual DLRA Speed Week 2025 from 3-8 March on Lake Gairdner in South Australia features straight-line speed racing on the salt lake’s surface, affectionately known as “the big white dyno”.
Australia’s fourth-largest salt lake, Lake Gairdner is around 160km long and 48km wide, with a salt surface over 1.2m thick in some spots – making it ideal for land-speed record attempts. Famously, back in 2021, first-time salt racer Charlie Hallam (right) broke the class record on ‘Sabre’, a heavily-modified Royal Enfield Interceptor 650, clocking up 212.514km/h in the 650cc unstreamlined motorcycle class running commercial unleaded fuel.
Speed Week spectators are welcome, but you should be prepared to be largely self-sufficient due to the stunningly remote location. The nearest town, Iron Knob, is roughly 121 klicks from the turn-off to Mt Ive Station, the access point for the lake. Since it’s part of a national park, all motorised vehicles must be registered and drivers must be licensed.
