The Red Baron Land Speed Racing

The first race of the 2022 season is complete! The sidecar alignment was refined over several runs, increasing speed up to 96.1 mph. More aero refinement and speed to come 🏁

The Red Baron race day highlights from El Mirage, Mojave, and Bonneville.

The Red Baron motorcycle sounds like an airplane, and that's no coincidence! Smitty was instrumental to the development of the Red Baron RB-51 air racer in the 1970s, and has created the Moto Morini Red Baron land speed racer as a homage to the machine that set the world record for the fastest piston-powered airplane at 499.018 mph in 1979.

Homage to the RB-51 “Red Baron” The Red Baron motorcycle sounds like an airplane, and that's no coincidence! Smitty was instrumental to the development of the Red Baron RB-51 air racer in the 1970s, and has created the Moto Morini Red Baron land speed racer as a homage.

Amy and The Red Baron end the racing season with another land speed record, 108.645 mph in the unstreamlined class. It's been a strong rookie season for Amy, many thanks to Smitty!

Nov. 2021: El Mirage *New Record* Amy and The Red Baron end the racing season with another land speed record, 108.645 mph in the unstreamlined class. It's been a strong rookie season for Amy, many thanks to Smitty!

Amy and The Red Baron set a new land speed record of 126.009 mph at El Mirage with perfect weather conditions and a perfect engine tune!

El Mirage: Oct. 2021 – New Record Amy and The Red Baron Moto Morini set a new land speed record at El Mirage dry lake with perfect conditions and a perfect engine tune.

The seat has gone through several iterations over the seasons and is now redesigned for new (taller) rider ergonomics.

New Seat Complete! The seat has gone through several iterations over the seasons and is now redesigned for new (taller) rider ergonomics.

The El Mirage July race event was cancelled last weekend due to excessive heat, but we made lemonade out of that lemon by still having our own testing day. We still woke up early like it was a race to leave by 4:30 AM, getting to the lakebed by 7:00 AM to get as much done as we could before the temperature reached 100 oF....

A season of mileage in a day The El Mirage July race event was cancelled last weekend due to excessive heat, but we made lemonade out of that lemon by still having our own testing day.

Rookie Report from El Mirage!

Rookie Run at El Mirage Last weekend was my rookie event as a rider at El Mirage Dry Lake, after 7 seasons as crew chief! The goal for the day was not top speed, but rather (1) break in the engine after getting the cylind…

The Red Baron comparison to my new Yamaha R3

The Red Baron Comparison: Yamaha R3 I got myself a new Yamaha R3! It feels very similar in some ways, and very different in other ways to The Red Baron. The Yamaha has similar power, but delivered at much higher RPM, and less torque …

We've been keeping busy in the off-season with a long-term project. Here's a quick read with some pictures from unpacking and discovering our "new to us" Moto Morini 125H engine!

Shots from The Red Baron engine during the off-season changes and maintenance.

"Looking Into the Eyes" of The Red Baron

Looking Into the Eyes of The Red Baron The Red Baron instruments tell the story of a land speed racing run from start to finish, if you know what you’re looking for. Here’s my first video introducing the different instrument…