Team Flying Duck
Andrew Langdon's mission-
Could a VFR
be much faster
than it was designed to be??
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Intro...
We first met up with Andrew Langdon at the NEC - he was on the stand with his bike all week - he's not your average Honda Owners Club member
A couple of weeks later our paths crossed again at The Kempton Park Bike show where he won a highly commended for his supercharged/nitrous oxide assisted VFR750.
So we invited him to tell us more of his story...For those interested in the technical aspects Andrew has gone into a lot of detail - as you click on the links you will have to use the 'Back' button and then scroll on to pick up the story - which takes about 0.05 seconds 😉
If you don't have 0.05 seconds - just look at the pictures 😏
The Flying Duck Theory, a Journey.
"The flying duck theory is all very well, but it's hard to keep your head in a disposable world."
Never in my wildest dreams did I ever envisage that these words, taken from the song of a Punk band in the late 70's (''The flying duck theory'' ) would become the title of an achievement that at the time didn't even exist. It wasn't until around 30 years later that the idea was born out of a frustration caused by my perception of a major motorcycle manufacturer's refusal to give my favourite bike, the engine it really deserved....
One day whilst at the Bulldog Bash, I saw a VFR750 take to the strip. Seeing it return something around 12 seconds at 115mph over the quarter mile, I was so disappointed that I thought the guy was being 'less than enthusiastic' about his run and that I could have done so much better. Years later after building a VFR up from an engine, I took it to Westonzoyland in Somerset to put it up an old airfield with the National Sprint Association to find out exactly how fast it was. Except that it wasn't. Fast that is. It transpires that the guy at the Bulldog really did have it flat out. To say I was devastated is an understatement. Gutted is a closer description. My Wife happened to be stood beside me at the time I received the news and at the end of the day, I asked her if she would mind if I built a bike for the sole purpose of proving that a VFR could, in theory, be much faster than it was designed to be.
She agreed and the mission9 was born.
Could a VFR be much faster than it was designed to be??
I already had a spare engine under the bench in the garage so after ordering a frame from Evilbay, I set to creating something wicked fast. The frame arrived and came with the original number plate which had the last three letters, DUC. I already had the thought that I was going to be serious about this so we needed a team name because, you know, all the best racers had team names. Well, the bike was obviously going to be called the Duck and being able to make it fly (go faster) was only a theory so the name kind of wrote itself. Team Flying Duck Theory was born.
Then the hard work started.
Flying Duck Engine
Duck Front Brake Brackets
Duck Rear suspension fitted
“You scare me!”
When it came to bodywork, it had to be Honda. Of course, it wasn’t going to look standard so after much research, the VFR800 Vtech front fairings, a CBR1000 tank cover and an SP1 tail piece were selected. A sales lady (who I knew) in our local Honda dealer saw me eyeing up the tank on a brand new CBR1000 and misunderstood my interest. She informed me that I could book a test ride on that particular model to which I told her that I was just eyeing up the tank cover for my project. She asked me how did I know it would fit to which I replied that I could ‘see it’. She walked away declaring “You scare me!”. It did make me chuckle to myself.
Of course I wanted the bike to look good in the paint department as well. The colours are reflective of a Mallard, the green from the head, the white from the neck and the blue from the flashes on the wings. It was applied by Nationwide body repairs in Yeovil to my design and a damned good job they did of it too.
Hel in his eyes
This project was bound to be a big learning curve - but setbacks were overcome
''Something felt different, like it wanted to go but wasn’t being allowed to''
. Adjustments were made to the jetting
click here to see what a bit of Nitrous Oxide and a Supercharger can do
and ... holeeeecrap!
Westonzoyland first time out
Rear View
The Duck Flies !
On the Limit
The bike was like a missile and when it gripped, very low tens were the order of the day. The rest of the time it spun the rear tyre hard enough to make Pete Burns dizzy.
Eventually, I accepted Pete Ford’s advice to fit an airshift system for more reliable gearchanges. Two meetings later, the Duck smashed through the nine second barrier with a 9.83s run. We had done it! The first ever nine second run by a VFR750. I was one happy person, I can tell you and a bottle of mead was annihilated in celebration. Six weeks later, we destroyed that time with a 9.51s run on the same track.
The Flying Duck was no longer a theory. It had taken ten years from the first outing to achieve it but we finally did it - Mission9 was accomplished
Duck at Ramsay IOM
Now we are just looking at what we can get out of it and hope to try for the fastest outright speed for a VFR750 as well. The bike has come a long way over the years and achieved things a lot of people thought impossible. I never believed that it wouldn’t. Andrew Langdon
An amazing testimony to vision, determination, skill ... and a little bit of Nitrous Oxide
Jon Stone
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