The full-circle project
Builders: Gary Phillpot Bike: 1989 GSX-R1100K Build time so far: 15 years (on and off )
This has had eight owners, all within a five mile radius of my house,’ says Gary Phillpot. ‘I’ve owned it twice, another chap has had it twice and I know most of the other owners. I first bought it in 2005
– it had been streetfightered and painted a hideous yellow colour. But I knew it from when it was new – it was the black and silver one with the graphite wheels.’
Now he’s got it back again, Gary is restoring his GSX-R to that original condition. The bike has had a tough life – drag raced, tuned, butchered and forgotten – and you get the impression Gary sees it as a faithful old dog that went missing and has now returned. There’s a mix of nostalgia for old times and determination to set things straight. ‘I originally bought it to drag race,’ he says, ‘and got the motor sorted so it was putting out 145bhp at the rear wheel (the standard bike made 130bhp). I put an 8in-over swingarm on it too. It was a clever bit of kit and would run 10.2sec [for the ¼ mile] all day long.’
After swapping to a GSX-R1000 for drag racing, Gary retired the 11 to his shed until 2015 when he decided to get it back on the road. ‘With the 8in-over swingarm it didn’t handle very well but it looked quite good so I left that in and went to the TT on it. The Ks handled hideously anyway, so it was never that good with the shorter arm in. I did the Ramsey Sprint and came second – it was only beaten by a turbo Busa. I beat nitrous Busas and all sorts.’
After that Gary sold it, and – via a few other owners – it ended up with a mate who stuck it in a shed. ‘He called me a few months ago and said he was having a clear out and asked if I wanted it. I didn’t really want another one – I’ve got a GS1000 project bike too – but I couldn’t refuse the GSX-R.
I knew its history and it’s only done 22,000 miles, so now I’m putting it back to how it was.’
The first job was to remove the straight bar conversion kit. ‘Someone had butchered the top yoke so I extracted the studs and put proper bars on it,’ says Gary. ‘Paul from PRP Engineering in Lincoln has done the carburettors for me so they can run pods [air filters] properly, and it’s got a 1980s Cobra pipe but I’ll keep that – it’s more my style than the standard one.
‘It was missing a bellypan, and I’ve just managed to find one. When I get that painted it’ll be like new, except with 145bhp. It’s got some weird gearing on it too from its drag racing days so I’ll have to sort that out and the mirrors aren’t standard. You can buy original ones, but they cost £300 a side. It’s mad. A lot of the stuff you can get from Classic Suzuki, but plenty is discontinued, like rear seats. This one had an M pillion seat which is slightly wider, but I’ve managed to get hold of a K one off a mate for £15, even though they’re like rocking horse shit.’
The fact that it’s got an original 1127cc engine – albeit a tuned one – adds to the cache of the bike too. ‘These days 60 percent of GSX-R1100S have got Bandit engines in because so many people used to bang turbos on the 1127 engines and blow them to pieces. And Bandit motors fit straight in.’ So with the GSX-R almost finished, will Paul call it a day on project bikes? Unlikely. ‘I was brought up tinkering with bikes, and I’ve always done it. My old man has just turned 79 and I went in his shed the other day and he’s got 15 bikes in there. He’s just bought another Triumph. So there’s not much hope for me.’