Hayabusa Designer to Attend Santa Pod Anniversary Event

Original Hayabusa designer, Koji Yoshiura, will be the special guest star of the bike’s forthcoming tenth anniversary celebrations at Santa Pod Raceway on October 10-11 2009. As we previously reported, Suzuki’s fastest production hyper sport bike, the GSX1300R, turns 10 this year.

Responsible for designing one of the world’s most iconic motorcycles, Yoshiura will join the fans who will attend the Northamptonshire drag strip or who will test ride numerous Suzuki models, including B-King, the ‘naked Hayabusa’.

"We showed the head of marketing the final clay prototype," says Yoshiura on the birth of the Busa, "and he was stunned. Totally speechless! He didn't know what to say, which is a little like the reaction we got at the Paris show. The bike was a bit polarizing-people didn't know quite what to think of it."

Koji Yoshiura will be present both days of the events, joined on Saturday by three times British Superbike Champion, John Reynolds, who will be in action on the drag strip on Saturday morning.

“We are delighted to welcome Yoshiura-san to our Hayabusa celebrations. As we all know motorcycling is a passionate subject, but only a very small number of machines ever achieve cult status. The Hayabusa is a hugely distinctive machine, which it is fair to say has achieved this status. To be able to welcome the man that designed such a legendary machine to a UK event is a real honor,” said Suzuki GB director of sales and marketing, David Taylor.

Suzuki announced the admission fee was set for £10 per day, with children under 16 getting in for free. A weekend ticket costs £25 with camping from Friday evening provided free of charge. Unlimited track action costs £30 per day. However, participants to the test ride must bring both parts of their driving license to qualify.