Track Test: Harley-Davidson VRXSE V-Rod Destroyer

There's an old saying, "when the flag drops the bullshit stops". Usually that's true, unless the flag is dropping on a motley collection of bike journos lining up to ride a selection of Harley-Davidson V-Rods, and more specifically a very special V-Rod drag bike comfortingly named the Destroyer.

In just such a situation the dropping of the flag signals open season on bullshit, which is really just one exaggerated fib removed from open warfare.

The last time I stared down a drag strip would have been the early '80s. The Suzuki GS1000G had just been launched and a friend had lent me his for the day. Britain's Santa Pod raceway was running a 'Run what ya Brung' event and it seemed God wanted the two events to coincide.

Anyway, the upshot was that I left later that day with a small certificate showing an elapsed time of 12.8 seconds, which wasn't too shabby for a touring bike back then.

THE TIME IS NIGH
Peering down the strip across the handlebars of the Destroyer for the first time, my heart thumping louder than the bike's truncated exhaust, I couldn't help but indulge myself.

It'd have to be an 11-second run for sure. After all, a production built pro-level drag bike even with a lazy tune, an air shifter and a humungous wheelie bar couldn't possibly be slower than an '80s tourer - could it?

In an incandescent piece of left field brilliance, Harley has taken the concept of 'race replica' and turned it on its head. Manufacturers have been turning out race-ready versions of sportsbikes for years, from bikes like the BSA Gold Star to Honda's RC30.

Today's off-the-floor sportsbikes will allegedly "Own the Racetrack". Harley has looked at what people do with their machines in their own time and done the exact same thing - only this time with a view to owning the drag strip. Like I said - brilliant!

Starting out with the already proven liquid-cooled, DOHC, eight-valve, 60-degree, V-twin V-Rod, Harley has stirred in some Street Rod chassis components to achieve a wheelbase of 1699mm, while a swingarm from CVO allows the fitting of the rear slick.

Up front things are modified from stock fork components to shorten the length and achieve less rake, while just to make sure things stay relatively controlled there's a steering damper and a seemingly endless wheelie bar hanging off the back.

PACKING A PUNCH
That's all very interesting, but what you really want to know are the engine stats and how they've been achieved. Well, there's a special stroker crank whirling inside the cases that increases the stroke by 3mm and pushes bigger pistons up the 105mm bores.

Fuel gets dumped via the 58mm fuel injectors through the 42mm inlet valves that are themselves smacked repeatedly by hi-lift cams. Compression is a heady 14.5:1, with the gases being spat into the utterly anti-social exhaust via 34.5mm exhaust valves.

What this adds up to is a very decent 165hp and 13.3kg-m of torque, all accessed via the usual throttle assembly and an air shifter operated by your left hand thumb.

Which like I said, should all guarantee an easy 11-second pass - unless 20-plus years of sedentary living, injury, reaction times measured by the passing of the sun and rank cowardice are your drag racing partners.

Willowbank itself, Queensland's premier drag strip, was jammed full of proper drag racers who were there for the Winternationals. We, on the other hand, were there for the Wankernationals - and we were primed and ready.

The genial Mark Wacker, of Harley's importers Morgan and Wacker, gave us some guidelines to ensure we didn't do anything injuriously stupid, as opposed to just plain old run-of-the-mill stupid.

He explained that the track was made sticky with VHT, a substance that would provide mucho traction, and mentioned a bunch of other tactics employed to keep us safe.

Not that I was listening much, being preoccupied with the usual pre-bike launch thoughts like "God I hope I don't crash and die or even worse stall and live."

All I heard was 'blah blah blah' every time the shift light comes on; don't back off and punch the button. Simple eh?

MEET YOUR MAKER
I'd already made several runs on the stock V-Rods, so by the time I had my first go on the Destroyer I was starting to feel a bit more at home.

I suppose I was surprised that the neither the V-Rod nor the Street Rod weren't quicker. One journo had managed to scrape an 11-second run on the Street Rod, and my best for the day on that bike was a 12.02.

Quick enough to maintain some degree of self respect, but still nowhere near as quick as I'd expected. None the less, I was sure that once aboard the Destroyer things would improve.

The truth is that undoing years of inbuilt riding technique coupled with a high level of mechanical sympathy - well at least a bit - does not come easily. By the time it was my first turn on the Destroyer a few of the other blokes had been down the strip with just one run in the 11s - there had to be something wrong with the timing lights...

Feeding in the clutch to smoke the rear slick prior to launch I have to say I wasn't as nervous as I thought I'd be. Sure there was plenty of noise and there certainly felt like there was a lot of controlled violence contained within those engine cases.

Yet despite my calm, I couldn't prevent the moment of raw fear as the lights flicked green and the clutch slipped home. Much as I'd like to say the first run was awesome, it wasn't. It was crap.

Rolling off the throttle between shifts, I vaguely recall hitting the shift button about 15 times - which would have been perfect if the Destroyer had 15 gears, and the strip was 10 miles long.

USE AND ABUSE
Naturally the time was rubbish. Barely faster than the GS1000 of all those years ago at about 12.6 seconds, but still faster than some of the others (hah!).

Over the next couple of goes things improved, with times dropping each run until the fourth and final attempt. By now the abuse of the road Rods had reached something verging upon complete disdain.

Throttle wound against the stop, exhaust banging off the rev limiter and tyre rending wheelspin (despite the VHT) had resulted in low 12s for everyone, with just the one 11 for the day.

A couple of the blokes had dropped the Destroyer into the 10s, although there was some question mark over the legitimacy over one of the claims. Then it was my turn to ride the Destroyer for the fourth and final time.

Sometimes things come together and you just know it. The launch felt right, and with each shift the engine just felt sweeter and stronger.

I cannot find words to explain just how utterly damned sexy it is, but when it happens you realise just how good this whole motorcycling thing truly is. It lifts you out of the day to day and just for a few sublime moments makes you God on a very special day in heaven.

That is, until you try and brake - and the whole bike starts to shake its head at over 160km/h, and being thrown to the ground and pounded to a smear seems highly likely.

I'd been warned - although I would have known better if I'd been listening properly. Even so, the thing sorted itself out and as I passed the timing board I saw it register a fraction over 11 seconds. Close enough to 10 to make me want one more go, and close enough to make me realise just what the Harley-Davidson Destroyer is all about.

With a bit of practice the man in the street can buy a Destroyer for around $50,000 and go drag racing. He may never get down to the 6.991 seconds set by Andrew Hines in the US, but for that money, the thrills per dollar factor really is very good.

The bike is fundamentally as tough as anything on the market from anywhere in the world, and with skill it can be indecently fast. Do I want one? You betcha!