Dave Rendall's Turbo R1 keeps his other R1's company
If you regularly find riding your 1000cc superbike with nigh on 150hp lacking somewhat in the “oomph” department, surely the only answer is to find a turbocharged R1 prepared by none other than Holeshot racing, boosting power to near double the original output? We spoke to Dave to find out more about this ludicrous creation.
Q. Name?
A. Dave Rendall
Q. Age?
A. 43
Q. Occupation?
A. Wind turbine tech
Q. Where do you live?
A. Orkney Isles
Q. What is the bike you have?
A. 1999 Holeshot Racing R1
Q. How long have you owned the bike?
A. I have owned it for 3 years now
Q. What is it like to ride where you are?
A. It's a bit of an animal! 275bhp, @ 12psi of boost takes some management. It pulled 213mph at Elvington with Jack Frost piloting it. Really it needs to see high numbers on the dial in 6th before you can open the taps fully. Even then it will wheelie over any little lump in the road. Until it goes on boost though, it's like any other normal litre bike.
Q. How does it compare to its peers?
A. There is very little comparison if I’m honest. Not a lot is left stock, clip-ons are stock, that's about the only ergonomic that's unchanged. Engine and chassis wise, it's all different.
Q. What other bikes do you have to compare to?
A. 18. Some of them are, 2 x standard 4xv R1’s, a 5jj R1, a 5pw R1, a TL1000s, a Speed Triple, 2 x ZX12-R’s, a ZX10R (C model), a ZX9-R, a KTM 450 SX. I also have in the garage my Dad’s Royal Enfield, a couple of the wife’s bikes and kids quads and mini-motos.
Q. Please tell us, what are the list of modifications?
A. This bike was built from new by Holeshot racing, for a customer and afterwards sold back to them. I suppose the most obvious change is the R7 front cowl and headlight, then the td04 turbo. The engine was fully rebuilt using Carrillo rods and low compression pistons, the bores were re-nikasil coated and the head was ported and polished. It has a custom plenum, carbs re-jetted and vented, Barnet clutch, custom titanium exhaust with shorty Akrapovic can. Extra bracing has been added to the swing arm couple with magnesium Marchesini wheels. The brakes came from a 500GP race bike! They are ap 6 pots with iron narrow track discs, (I recently had to source a couple of sets from the states as 1 was warped). The rear is a fully floating vented disc, it squeals like a pig when hot which reminds me, I must change it. Ohlins rear shock, with Ohlins look alike forks, Ohlins steering damper, gillies rearsets, and a lot of nice little touches like the rear light bracket having been made up from stainless steel.
Q. What are your future plans with the bike?
A. I have a yellow full carbon R7 body kit to fit sometime. I'd like to modernise the brakes, to do so I have a set of R1 Marchesini wheels. Unlike the ones on it, these are 6 hole for the discs, so will accept original pattern R1 discs, giving me so much more choice of discs. A variable boost controller would be on the list too, would be nice to dial it back a little for more relaxed rides. The Gilles rearsets are nasty, I’ve never liked them much. I have a nice set of Harris ones to fit at some point. Getting the paintwork tidied up a little would be nice too, it's starting to show its age a little.
As a direct extract from the Holeshot website “Jarrod “Jack” Frost has been tuning his own bikes since 1985 and set up Holeshot racing in 1995 and since then have fitted turbos to thousands of bikes”. It stands to reason then, that Holeshot may have an idea or two about how to make forced induction bikes properly. As can been seen from the photos and Dave’s answers, the original customer certainly didn’t spare any expense.
If you are reading this and fancy more power than a Kawasaki H2 combined with iconic Yamaha looks then make sure you have a large bank balance ready, from my limited online research the parts list for a 2004 R1 and only 240hp @ 7psi boost gets on for a near eye-watering £10k! Plus, with the rarity of the Yamaha R7 then good luck finding a genuine headlight assembly. The number of R7/1 machines now out there with a combination of R7 looks and chassis geometry, combined with the frame and engine of the R1 means many parts that were floating around have now been eaten up in the process.
Left to right. The big 6 pot AP brakes gripping those 500GP discs. The top yoke and dash look relatively original... until you see the boost gauge. No mistaking the Holeshot turbo motor here.
The output of this machine is phenomenal.
A big thanks to Dave for taking the time to share some details on his fantastically bonkers machine, we hope you have many happy miles together!
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Information sourced at https://www.holeshotracing.online/