BI: Tell us something about your mean machines and the team that helped you break the world record.
LP: I have a great team and sponsors that help me prepare the bikes. Sir Speedy Printing and Marketing and Foremost Insurance have been a great help as sponsors. My fastest bike is a turbocharged machine with over 500 horsepower (507 PS). We have done much work on developing bodywork that is aerodynamic and fabrication of parts. It is truly a custom machine. It also has the best electronics from Apex Speed Technologies. It logs so much data, it is truly overwhelming! It helps us tune for the ever-changing elements at Bonneville and helps me be a better rider. It is great having so much information about everything that the bike is doing at high speed.
BI: Do you like to get your hands dirty at the workshop?
LP: I have a wonderful team and I also work on my own bikes. I often change tyres, tear down motors and do work on them. I try not to work on them during the events, though. I am too busy competing! I have a great team that works on the bikes if I tear them up.
BI: Racing is a physical and mental sport. How do you prepare for a race?
LP: I make sure I am mentally and physically prepared. I go over the motorcycle and am confident that it is ready. I then picture what I need to do to make the perfect run and get the record. I make sure my gear is ready to go fast, also. My Shoei helmet and Fieldsheer leathers are a very important part of keeping me safe.
BI: Which other motor sport events do you follow?
LP: I love MotoGP.
BI: You know, India might host a round of MotoGP soon?
LP: Yes, and I will definitely come to watch a race in India when MotoGP comes there!
BI: Do you have a motorcycle that you use for your daily commute?
LP: Yes, a CBR1000RR. I also own dirt bikes.
BI: Tell us something that we don’t know about you…
LP: I spend time with my four rescued dogs and volunteer to help homeless children. I also like scuba diving, racing cars (road racing), riding horses, flying aeroplanes and running my motorcycle dealership, High Five Cycles, in Dallas.
[…] The returning favourites will be augmented with a film festival revolving round everything two-wheels, food festivals, Strong Man and Women of Biking Competitions, and a huge meet ‘n’ greet involving India’s top two-wheeler YouTube personalities, called the Moto Vlogger Meet Up, and a whole lot more. What’s IBW without music, though? And as usual, the festival will have some hot bands and artistes strutting their stuff on dedicated music stages. The big guest at IBW 2017 is none other than Bonneville veteran Leslie Porterfield, popularly known as ‘the fastest woman on two wheels.’ (want to know more about her? We had an in-depth chat with her which you can read here.) […]