Englishman and two-wheeled innovator Graham Sykes has begun the 2026 season on a high note, setting personal bests in the debut of his trick new steam-propelled, rocket motorcycle — and if the past is any indication, there’s much more to come.
Last fall, Sykes, from Bedale, North Yorkshire, England saddles up and rode his “Force of Nature” motorcycle to incredible early numbers while competing at the FIA/FIM European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway that surpassed the acceleration of even the world’s quickest Top Fuel dragsters. There, Sykes clocked a mind-numbing .738-second 60-foot time (registering a whopping 6.8G’s at launch), 1.968-second 330-foot, and a 3.197-second 1/8-mile at a coasting 179.93 mph.
Sykes wasn’t satisfied, though.
With less than 2 seconds of fuel capacity onboard, he knew he’d need further innovate the bike to improve control and the longevity of the propulsion system to go quicker and faster yet. To do that, he went back to the drawing board and developed an entirely new motorcycle from the front wheel back in the offseason.
This version sports a longer chassis and revised riding position that lets Sykes brace himself under extreme load. Despite added weight, similar high-6G launches are expected with the higher power output, despite a heavier curb weight overall.
The carbon bodywork was extended and reshaped, making room for a redesigned pressure vessel holding 120 liters of heated water. The new vessel has innovative designs inside the tank to create better exit flow of the water into the thruster tubes, while upgraded valves, now nitrogen-actuated, deliver more consistent release.
A new heating system centers on a 44-kilowatt burner with revised manifolds and repositioned tubes, cutting the time needed to reach the target temperatures and pressures of 250–260°C and 40–50 bar.
Testing at Elvington Airfield came in poor weather. The first run netted a 7.30 at 148 mph. The second, at full pressure with 120 liters onboard, produced the personal-best 5.51-second best to the 1/4-mile, despite a 20-mph head-crosswind and a brief lift to correct.
“We ran a small amount of water and pressure and with the lowest settings we could get and ran the 7.30. Everything looked good, so after a good check of the bike, we filled it for the second run with 120 litres, and took the pressure to the working pressure and the bike took three hours to heat 120 litres to 260 degrees Celsius. We kept the same small inserts in the nozzles to keep the speed and time down and into a 20 mph head/side wind, we ran the 5.51 with a 0.5 second lift off the power to correct,” Sykes explains.
Data showed the bike was traveling 206 mph at 549 feet. The run wasn’t clean, as Sykes was pushed off line, leaning hard enough to wear through part of the carbon undertray and his boot. But the number stood. That 5.51 places the bike as the third quickest ever, behind Eric Teboul’s rocket motorcycle at 4.97 and Larry McBride’s wheel-driven Top Fuel Motorcycle at 5.50.
Incrementals included a 0.81-second 60-foot at 89 mph, 2.02-second 330-foot at 180 mph, and a 3.11-second 1/8-mile, all quick but not even the best short times Sykes has recorded.
The original goal, to take a self-built machine and run fives and 200 mph has certainly been met. “To say we were happy is an understatement,” he told us. Sykes’ next targets are now a 2-second 1/8-mile and fours to the quarter. Sykes returns to Santa Pod Raceway over this Easter weekend aiming to improve on the 5.51.
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