Highway Star

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Surface Craft
Highway Star
Vehicle Characteristics
Base chassisCustom designed motorcycle
Length2.5 meters
Mass527kG
Drive Type2600cc twin-turbocharged 4-rotor Wankel rotary engine.
Drive Rating>650kW
Primary ManufacturerTeam Stingray
OwnerTeam Stingray
Flag of RecordSouth Australia
FactionGearheads
Registry NumberB1G SPD
PurposeLand Speed attempt.
Primary Crew1 Rider
Operational StatusActive
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Faster, faster, faster, until the thrill of speed overcomes the fear of death.

— Hunter S. Thompson

History

The first Highway Star replica was designed jointly by Ford Sierra and Jet Jaguar, based off of the eponymous motorcycle from Bubblegum Crisis,. It was intended as both a break for Jet from her Panzer Kunst duties, and to be something that they could both do together. Over the course of three months, they designed, constructed and tested the Highway Star at Ford's Garage at Marsbase Sara. They aimed to make an attempt at the motorcycle land speed record, calling themselves Team Stingray

The Highway Star is powered by a custom built twin-turbocharged 4-chamber rotary engine built out of a pair of Mazda RE-13b engines, which is easily capable of outputting more than 650kW through a 12 speed gearbox, driving the rear wheel. The front wheel is driven by a hydraulic pump mounted to the rear driveshaft. If the back wheel begins to slip, power is shifted to the front wheel to stabilise the bike.

Over the course of two weeks, the Highway Star was tested at Lake Gairdner in South Australia before the final record attempt. The day before Jet was due to make the attempt, a representative of the FIM informed her that her hardsuit armour would violate the handwavium prohibition. Fortunately, an alternate rider[1] was found to make the attempt.

After their successful attempt at the record, Team Stingray were invited to compete at Bonneville later in the year [2]. Lacking the necessary money to race, but having far more spare parts left over than they expected, they sold parts enough to construct a second Highway Star to Lebia Maverick. [3]

The second Highway Star was lovingly assembled on Prometheus Forge, where it went on to take pride of place at the start of Lebia's Classic vehicle collection.

The first Highway Star is usually on display at Ford's Garage on Marsbase Sara, where it has become a minor tourist attraction. Entry is free, though prospective visitors are advised to make an appointment by phone or mail first, as the Highway Star is occasionally called out to sponsors events and shows.

It has earned itself a small place in history for itself as the last full hardtech Record holder. The rules were changed a few months afterwards to permit partially-waved entries for safety reasons.

Sidebar: Elegant Brutality.
If you ask me who's one of the more under-recognised engineers in this verse it'd have to be Jet Jaguar. No, really. Hear me out. I can explain why in two words:

Highway Star.

If you've seen it in person and know anything about machines, you'll understand where I'm coming from. This is a true engineer's machine, not a Madgirls. It's such a beautifully thought out thing, of utter single minded purpose, and it all works together to achieve that purpose with real elegance. Brute force, precisely applied, like a finely machined battleaxe. There's no extrenuity, no thought to fashion. Everything that's on that frame has a reason to be there, has a thought behind its execution and none of them are in any way conventional thoughts.

Jet's own description on the Star's website is a little dry, only giving the base technical specs, some photographs and a reprinted account of the original record run and not much else.

Lebia Maverick goes into a lot more detail on the Second Star in her collection, dissecting the design rationale surrounding each component and the compromises made between material cost, practicality and capability, along with photographs taken as she built it from spare parts. Reading her description, you realise just how much of the machine was deeply thought about. There's a synergy of machinery in there that goes far beyond simply picking what components came to hand.

So when complete, what you have is a machine that is extremely stable at the speed it is designed to reach, manages to reject prodigious amounts of waste heat in the worst of conditions, will not seize its engine and throw the rider at 600kph, actively generates additional mechanical grip on the worst of surfaces, and with a few careful setup changes was able to be run by an ordinary unmodified human being with no prior training, practice or experience to world record speed.

Tellingly, when both Highway Star and Lunatic Fringe were displayed to the public at Goodwood that year, Lunatic Fringe was the most popular with the Press, while Highway Star was popular with F1 engineers - and I saw Jet have long conversations with some of them with neither seeming bored.

So yeah, feel free to disagree - but I stand by my point.[4]

Attributes

  • Good old fashioned engineering: As per the requirements of the FIM, the Star is 100% pure all-natural hardtech. Traditional tuning methods used throughout. Requires an Earth-standard atmosphere to run, and runs best on high octane leaded petrol. The higher the octane, the better it will run.
  • A redefinition of the meaning of speed: Motorcycle Land Speed Record holder, May 2015.
  • Human friendly: Although originally designed specifically around Jet Jaguar, with a little practice any experienced motorcyclist can handle it. Controls are basically 'Go', 'Go Faster', 'Stop'. Instruments are designed only to highlight important faults.
  • Road Ready: Passed South Australia Single Vehicle Assessment[5]. Is legal for use on Public roads in Australia, provided the boost is turned down to a minimum, the turbo wastegates are plumbed back into the silencers, sound deadening baffles are mounted and a set of road tyres are fitted.

Quirks

  • Money Pit: Hardtech motorsport is an expensive business. To keep the Highway Star running, Jet and Ford signed up a number of sponsors. While some are satisfied with a sticker on the tank, others required them to attend shows or events in exchange for support.
  • WHAT?!: Loud. Dangerously loud. Will cause hearing damage to anyone with unprotected ears. Loud enough to be officially banned from being started within the confines of Many settlements.
  • Spitfire: At big throttle openings, the Star blows hot flames through open wastegates. These are genuine non-slapstick burn-the-garage-down flames. Be careful.

Trivia

  • A Third Highway Star replica was constructed by Eddie from on Prometheus Forge, copying the second. The third machine was then waved to make an attempt at an absolute Fenspace speed record[6], with Jet Jaguar invited to ride it.
  • Benjamin Rhodes challenged Jet to a drag race between the Highway Star and his Lunatic Fringe. The race was held at BubbleCon, where it proved an order of magnitude more popular that Gramme's Panel on Water Reclamation and Recycling in Lunar habitats.
  • Currently holds the world unnoficial road-speed record. The Star was tracked at a speed "Exceeding 457kph" on the Stuart Highway by an Australian Police radar gun. The speed exceeded the limits of the radar's microcontroller to represent. The official holder is a Bugatti Veyron SS from the same event, at 430.4kph. [7]
  • Banned from Kandor City. Classified as a lethal weapon requiring special permission to own. [8]
  1. A local motorcycle journalist
  2. With KJ DuPree as their rider since Jet didn't believe she would get a US Visa
  3. A few modifications over the original were also included, based on experience, notably improved heat shielding for the rider.
  4. And fail to realise that Ford built the engine
  5. It is suspected a little handwaving was involved in the silencers
  6. Currently approximately 511c
  7. The Stuart Highway, at the time, having no upper speed limit.
  8. Chemical:4. Sonic:8