Royal Enfield racer on the road to vintage speed event

The Badger is on the road, from Trenton, N.J. to Lexington, Ohio.

UPDATE: "We just finished our first race. The Badger did it. 2:11 fastest lap time, Stu Carter did a great job piloting, we have one more race to go. What a ride. Videos and pics soon. We didn't come even close to a win, but the Badger finished its first race! Nobody got hurt, and lap times came down by 2.5 seconds for each lap of the race. Progress." — 1:30 p.m. Sunday

UPDATE: "We arrived at the track at 1:07 p.m. Saturday and Leon triumphantly rode the bike into the park gates. We quickly went to work setting up the garage and preparing for tech check. What a crazy 24 hours. Big day tomorrow and the journey has proven to be a pretty incredible experience so far." — 6:59 p.m. Saturday

UPDATE: "4:30 a.m., motor buttoned back up, and back on the road. Getting through Pennsey is starting to feel like driving across Texas. Long. Badgering on." — 4:30 a.m. Saturday

UPDATE: "We are in PA making it along in 105 degree heat. This is one hell of a test for the bike and team." —Peter E. Raymond, 6:06 p.m. Friday

The effort to ride a powerful, reliable Royal Enfield Bullet from New Jersey to Ohio and then race it there is on the road. That is, if everything is still going according to plan.

Project Badger builder-in-chief Leon Stanley wrote in his on-line Diary that "the road part of the Mission begins this morning. Can't wait. But man, it is going to be Hot! What a great day for a 450-mile bike ride!"

Leon Stanley watches as the Badger goes for a run.

He advises that "We had a long ass day(s) in the shop yesterday; but the Team was focused and the energy in the shop was fantastic, with everyone hanging in, and despite whatever the bike threw at us we were never going to take no for an answer. Though at times the Badger was a harsh taskmaster, we finally beat it into submission.

"The bike looks and sounds absolutely fantastic."

Also on the way to the Mid-Ohio track is Tom Lyons of Ace Performance Bullets, which created the Badger's Ace Fireball motor.

Lyons explained on Ace's Yahoo message group that the Badger "will ride to the track (about 10-12 hours) on the Interstate highways, pass tech inspection and race in the 500GP class in the AMA Vintage Race Days event, and then ride back home again (10-12 more hours) on the Interstate highways back to New Jersey home base.

"Clubman Style.

"To our knowledge, this is the most grueling test ever undertaken by an Enfield, because it includes both long-term riding on highways and hard all-out racing on the track against trailered-in race bikes in competition."

The Badger takes shape at Stanley's Cycle Icons shop in Trenton, N.J.

Going to Mid-Ohio too is Peter E. Raymond and his Project Badger-The Movie crew. Filming is going ahead, Raymond said, although an attempt to raise money for the film through the Kickstarter web site is stalled at only about 10 percent of what was needed with just a day left for pledges to come in.

It's worth taking a look at Badger's Kickstarter video clip to see how exciting this film could be once completed.

Updates on the Badger's racing results should appear on the Bulletproof Badger site.