Whispering Lightning History
In the fall of 2002 a friendly gentlemen’s bet was made between Raymond Knight and a close friend of his, about how powerful a starter actually was. This was the beginning of what has become a deep passion by Raymond for electric racing.
A bare bones rolling chassis was purchased in February of 2003, and the project begun. The bike was first lowered and raked to add stability. Two Delco 50mt starter motors were chosen for the power plants.
The starters were converted to simpler single shaft motors. This was done by removing the center and front housings. Then having special end plates machined to convert over to bearings. The armatures and fields were rewound to produce more torque than the stock motors.
The drives from the original motors were stripped to their shafts, and special sprockets were welded in place. They were then fitted to a custom motor plate in the bike. Bearing blocks were then added to prevent shaft twisting with the tremendous amount of torque produced by the motors. The first motor direct drives the rear sprocket, the second motor then direct drives the first motor at a gear ratio of 3.5 to 1. The idea was to come off the line using only the first motor, then turn shut it off and turn on the second motor. Effectively giving the motorcycle two speeds.
The bike made its debut at the Canadian Fastest Street Car Shoot Out, at Grand Bend Motorplex, July 13th, 2003. At this point the motorcycle was named Silent Thunder. Raymond ran a 15.5 ET in the 1/8 mile. Blowing up all three Optima Blue Tops, and he had to be towed from track. Not a very encouraging first run. This was possibly the first pass ever made by a Canadian owned and ridden electric motorcycle.
Later in the day Raymond replaced himself with Eric “Hairbag” of Pure Lunacy fame, opting for the power to weight ratio formula. Eric ran a 14.6 ET and he also melted the Optima Blue Tops. This was very encouraging as it was just shy of Brian Hall’s 2-year-old record of 14.567 ET. But it was an end for racing that weekend, as they had no more batteries.
The bike then when through a major lightening process, and the final drive ratio was increased. The results were very disappointing, as it appeared they went the wrong way with the gear ratio. The results were best times in the 16.5 ET range.
The bike’s final gear ratio was again changed, this time going down to a 4.5 to 1 rear ratio. Raymond and Silent Thunder made there way to the DaSilva Racing Shoot Out for the Labor Day long weekend. The results were impressive with Raymond running 2/10’s off the world record. Again Raymond looked for a lighter rider. Unfortunately the only person willing took the bike for a test ride and dropped it. Breaking the motor terminals and ending the weekend’s racing.
Later that evening Raymond was introduced to Heather Anderson, who had expressed an interest in riding Silent Thunder, if given a chance to practice launching it first. Raymond agreed, and the pair made arrangements for some practice time. Then Motor Nature took over and it would be a month before Heather could get any seat time.
Finally on Oct 11th, 2003 Heather Anderson made her drag racing debut at St. Thomas Dragway. Her first ever pass was a 14.095 at 41.74mph. Breaking Brian Hall’s record by almost a half a second. She would back this up with 14.099 at 41.86mph. She too melted the Optima batteries. Later that day however the bike would be run using free acid batteries. Heather turned in a 13.524 ET. Making her unofficially the fastest 24volt vehicle in the world.
Because the record was broken on a nonsanctioned track, NEDRA officials had to discuss the validity of the record at their next board meeting. At this time Raymond also found out that Silent Thunder was already the name of a famous record holding electric car. So to elevate any confusion he opted to change the motorcycle’s name to Whispering Lightning.
In late November Brian Hall informed Raymond that NEDRA officials had opted to accept the 14.095 ET time as their new record. This made Whispering Lightning and Heather Anderson the first Canadians to break a NEDRA record.
Articles on Whispering Lightning have appeared in the following publications:
November Can Rebuild News
December RPM Classifieds
Electrifying Times
Brantford Expositor
Whispering Lightning Tech Sheet
Frame: 1987 Kawasaki ZX-10 Ninja
Weight: Approximately 465lbs with batteries and no rider.
Motor(s): 2- 24vt DC 10kw Delco Remy Direct Drive motors, modified. Both the armature and fields have been custom wound to produce approximately 13kw’s of power each. That is about 17hp each. The motors each produce approximately 100 ftlbs of initial torque.
Batteries: 3 Optima Blue Tops-2 parallel and then series for 24volts
(Official world record of 14.095 ET)
2 East Penn 1231’s (Unofficial world record of 13.524 ET)
Drive Line: The first Motor direct drives the rear wheel during launch. The second motor then direct drives the first motor after bike is up to speed.The second motor is geared 1 to 3.5, thereby increasing the top speed.
Controller(s): Two Prestolite style solenoids operate two converted Delco solenoids. Both sets of solenoids have silver inserts and are rated continuous duty.
Brakes: Stock Kawasaki dual disc in the front, single disc in the rear.
Tires: Front: 120/80vb16 Dunlop K591F, Rear: 150/80v16 Dunlop K591F
Final Gear Ratio: 6 to 1 (600ftlbs at the rear wheel during launch)
-created too high of wheelies and no top end
5 to 1 (500ftlbs at the rear wheel during launch)
-created good all around performance
4.5 to 1 (450ftlbs at the rear wheel during launch)
-created the best times, but severe wheel spin
Design Time: Initial engineering and fabrication was approximately 100 hours, further refinement was another 65 hours.
Performance: Best 60ft: 2.176 sec.
Best 330ft: 8.087 sec.
Best 1/8 mile: 14.095 (AGM Batteries), 13.524 (sealed f/a
batteries)
Best MPH: 41.86 (1/8 mile) 48.38 (1/4 mile)
Best Ľ mile: 23.091 sec.
Whispering Lightning now has a permanent home in the Canadian Motorsports Hall of Fame