Written by Marlon Slack
Insanity comes in many forms. It can be the drooling, yelping, crud-caked guy shouting at street lamps outside your 7/11 at three in the morning. It can be cruel megalomania, bright static head noise or political psychopathy. But the best kind of crazy is Tom Th̦rig from Schlachtwerk, who corralled some of Germany?s finest craftsmen into helping him produce this Рan amazing Kawasaki W650 dubbed ?Wasabi? that?s built to tackle our favourite short-distance drag race series, the Sultans of Sprint.

You should know about the Sultans by now. But if you don?t, here?s a quick rundown. A mad bunch of Europeans get together for a race series across Europe every few months. While the ? mile sprint is the centre of the action, extra points are awarded for bike presentation, elan and scaring the hell out of the race marshals. There are two classes, and this W650 is destined for the air-cooled twin series up to 1600cc. And if you rack your brains for what the competition could looks like, you?ll start to realise what a feat it is for Schlachtwerk to put together a competitive Kawasaki W650.
The mild W650 is the equivalent of bringing a knife to a gunfight. ?A 1100cc Ducati 2 valve engine is going to be a lot stronger,? Tom says, ?And with a lot more potential for tuning. 130HP without nitrous and 200HP with it is not an issue with that?. But, dear readers, Tom has a plan. ?Power isn?t everything. There?s also weight,? he declares. And he?s also a sucker...