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Everything Eddie Hall does is larger than life. As the former 2017 World’s Strongest Man, he has little choice. When it comes to motorcycles, the super-sized strongman is partial to Suzuki’s super-sized sport bike — the Hayabusa. One tricked-out ‘Busa already takes up residence in his garage. So, when afforded the opportunity to drag race TTS Performance’s souped-up SuperBusa, "The Beast" couldn’t pass it up.
The U.K.-based shop unveiled the supercharged Suzuki to commemorate its 40th anniversary. Rotobox Bullet carbon-fiber wheels, 330 mm front discs, and a custom single-sided swingarm speak to the SuperBusa’s straight-line pedigree, but the Rotrex supercharger is the real star of the show. Churning out 370 horsepower and 190 foot-pounds of torque at the business end of the Bridgestone tires, the hot-rodded Hayabusa is the epitome of excess.
A perfect match for the retired strongman — or so he thought.
Taking to the Turweston airfield in Buckinghamshire, England, TTS founder Richard Albans had more than the SuperBusa in tow. He also had a ringer, 2014 Superbike World Champion Sylvain Guintoli and his GSX-R1000R, waiting in the wings.
Weighing in at a combined 450 kg (992 pounds), Eddy and the SuperBusa tower over Guintoli and the Gixxer at 250 kg (551 pounds). All that heft is a drag on the drag strip, though. The strongman’s saving grace: 370 ponies. Still, Guintoli’s GSX-R1000R isn’t a slow-poke by any means, with 200 horses to its name.
As Guintoli surmises, the race “should be interesting because you’ve got double the weight but also double the power.”
In power-to-weight terms, Eddie still benefits from a slight advantage at 2.68 pounds per horsepower versus Guintoli’s 2.75 pounds per horsepower. Even so, drag races aren’t won on paper. They require skill, experience, and most importantly, in this case anyway, aerodynamics. All things The Beast lacks. The strongman certainly improves his own personal record — but as the viewer and Eddie Hall learn — sometimes, bigger isn’t always better.
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