The TTS Performance supercharged Suzuki Hayabusa—more commonly called the SuperBusa—is the gift that keeps on giving. Making an astonishing 370 brake horsepower as tested on the TTS Performance dynamometer, it also looks every inch the business thanks to a slick graphic design from Kar Lee’s Kardesign Koncepts. In short, it’s the kind of bike where you can sense that it’s a serious contender just seeing it, even if you don’t know exactly what you’re seeing.
While we’ve seen the TTS SuperBusa in action both at the Santa Pod drag strip and also in a drag race against a Koenigsegg Agera RST and a Tesla Model S Plaid, the latest video posted on the TTS YouTube channel gives a different view than we’ve seen before. If you want to see the real difference that power to weight ratios can make, then you’ll want to see 2017 World’s Strongest Man winner Eddie “The Beast” Hall (not to be confused with Mr. Beast) take on 2014 World Superbike champion Sylvain Guintoli in a series of drag and speed competitions with the SuperBusa at an English airstrip.
To make things extra interesting, they’ve also brought in British Superstock racer and test rider Ricky Elder to also have a go on the bikes. If that's not enough, TTS Performance head honcho Richard Albans (who’s been drag racing the SuperBusa since its inception) also gives his insights along the way. If you’re interested in how variables like weight and experience play with sheer, unbridled power, then you’ll want to watch this video.
At the beginning, they discuss rider weight differences almost immediately. Eddie Hall says that he weighs about 195 kilograms with his race leathers on, which is just a hair under 430 pounds. Former world champion superbike racer Sylvain Guintoli, on the other hand, weighs about 75 kg (or close to 165 pounds) in his leathers.
If you’re keeping track at home, that’s a difference of 265 pounds—or 120 kg. Just for the record, TTS Performance’s Richard Albans later says that he weighs around 25 or 30 kg more than Sylvain—or about 55 to 66 pounds more. Ricky Elder weighs about the same as Sylvain, which isn’t surprising since they’ve both been professional racers (and more importantly trained as professional racers) for a long time.
The drag race at the airstrip will see various riders switching off between two bikes: The TTS SuperBusa, which makes 370 brake horsepower, and Sylvain’s Suzuki GSXR1000, which makes 200 bhp. The first run features Eddie Hall on the SuperBusa, and together, bike and rider weigh 450 kg, or just over 992 pounds. Meanwhile, Sylvain Guintoli mounts up on his GSXR1000, and he and the bike together weigh 250kg, or just over 551 pounds.
It’s Suzuki versus Suzuki. On paper, the GSXR1000 certainly seems down on power. Of course, Guintoli has a clear weight advantage, as well as a lifetime of racing experience, knowledge, and muscle memory about riding bikes fast on his side. Eddie Hall made history after he became the first man to ever deadlift a half ton, setting a world record with a 500-kilogram (1,102 pound) deadlift in 2016, but that skill and strength won’t really help him here.
Sure enough, on his first SuperBusa run, Eddie manages an 11.7 second quarter mile. Sylvain wins this drag race on his GSXR1000, setting a 10.01-second quarter mile right from the drop. After the first run, Eddie says that if he can get his SuperBusa time down into the 10-second range by the end of the day, he’ll be pleased with himself.
Sylvain, meanwhile, reckons that his first GSXR1000 quarter-mile run is so close to getting into the 9-second range, he has to try it. Sure enough, on his second run, he cracks a 9.7-second quarter mile and is very happy with that result.
Then, it’s time for Sylvain to try his hand at racing the TTS SuperBusa down the quarter mile. While he comes away at the end seeing various points where he could improve in the future, he still does well enough to manage a 9.23-second quarter mile. Ricky Elder has a go on the SuperBusa next, and he manages a 9.44-second quarter mile time.
As the rider with the most experience on the TTS SuperBusa, TTS Performance head Richard Albans shares that the best time he’s managed to set so far on a quarter mile has been 9.33 seconds—but that’s with a bunch of practice and development riding under his belt. As we’ve noted, Albans says that he weighs about 25 to 30 kg (or 55 to 66 pounds) more than the two professional racers in this group, so it’s not difficult to see that lighter-weight riders with skill will go faster, and that power-to-weight ratios matter.
