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Video: This was Widowmaker 7: the world's fastest 500-hp Chevrolet V8 dragster in 1973
2024 Author: Nicholas Abramson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-10 16:43
Since man invented the wheel he has always tried to go faster and faster. The fever to get the fastest vehicle has been the general trend in any scenario, and the United States has been the favorite place for those who suffer from speed to develop monsters with which to travel the quarter mile in the shortest possible time.
E. J. Potter It is the clear example of this fever for speed and took advantage of the principle of technology transfer from motor racing to motorcycling in a tortuous way. Thus, 1973 managed to take the title of the fastest motorcycle in the world with a creation of his own with which he earned the nickname of "Michigan Madman" ("The Madman of Michigan"): the Widowmaker.
Widowmaker 7: 8, 68 seconds and 276, 8 km / h in the quarter mile
Born in Ithaca, Michigan, into a family whose father was a scientist, Potter was equally fond of racing and experimenting. He began competing on the dirt track like most Americans, and in 1960 he began experimenting with a very crazy idea That had been haunting him for a long time.
He had always been fascinated by the large eight-cylinder vee engines of Chevrolet origin, so he began to shape how to adapt that powerplant to a motorcycle. Obviously, it wouldn't be any offroad bike that could handle such a setup so he started to take his first steps on the road. dragster racing.
He spent more than 10 years building prototypes, putting them on the track, learning and rebuilding each fiasco, and his passion for the idea led him to race not only in the United States, but also in Australia, England and Canada.
Of all the prototypes created by E. J. Potter, the smallest engine used was a 4,637cc V8
Initially, Potter was paid a dollar for every mile per hour that exceeded 100 mph (160, 93 km / h) and the homemade clutch developed by himself from a Harley-Davidson drum brake it limited the top speed to 115 mph (185 km / h). The solution was as drastic as it was effective: it removed the clutch and got the speed up to 136 mph (almost 220 km / h).
The first engine used by Potter was a 4,637cc Chevrolet V8 mounted on a Trellis tubular chassis of the hard tail type (without rear suspension) that used the engine itself as a structural part. Over the years and as he accumulated experience with the Bloody Mary and the Widowmaker, he improved his designs.
The motorcycle that concerns us today is the Widowmaker 7, a motorcycle as strange as it is fascinating propelled by an engine 5,735cc small-block Chevrolet with 12.5: 1 compression, forged pistons, adapted 1960 Vertex magneto and Hilborn fuel injection. All this placed on a little more than bare chassis, a "minimalist" front suspension and a steering supported on two massive steering dampers to digest the shocks of the handlebars.
That beast with more than 500 hp of raw power transmitted all its ire to the rear tire via a wire chain set over a crown as large as the rear tire. The result was what you would expect: infinite burnouts on the asphalt straights.
It was impossible that a single wheel could effectively digest all the power coming from the muscular American engine, which made the Widowmaker 7 on a spectacular motorcycle more than effective. Potter's challenge seemed to become more about how to be the fastest bike to cross the room on fire.
"Michigan Madman" himself was the last man to pilot the Widowmaker 7 in 1999.
It is clear that Potter never tried to make simply a motorcycle, his showman soul prevented him from considering the idea of using a smaller motor that could more digestively transfer the force to the asphalt and, therefore, be faster against the clock.
The counterpart of this was that it carved out an impressive popularity in which the happiness of the public counts more than an overwhelming speed. Even so she managed to be named by the Guinness Book of Records in 1973 as the fastest motorcycle in the world stopping the clock in the quarter mile with 8, 68 seconds and 172 mph (276, 8 km / h).
Since 1974 when Randy Newell purchased the Widowmaker 7 from Potter, the bike has undergone three owners and was restored in the '90s before being on display at the Don Garlit museum. The The last man to fly it was E. J. Potter, almost by way of farewell, in 1999. In 2012 Potter passed away after a long battle with Alzheimer's.
Now this piece of history has changed hands again and has been auctioned at Bonhams to an anonymous buyer for an unknown price. between 61,000 and 80,000 euros. In exchange, he has brought a fully functional book motorcycle that roars up to 7,500 revolutions, with an original E. J. Potter and an easel.
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