Track Stories 08

[GER144]

Holy crap Lecroy! A car racer actually said that they'd run over a biker!?! Thats pretty scary. What track is that at?

I'm off to my first 'official' race of the '08 season this coming weekend. About a 12-14 hour drive to get there. It's an all-bike event in Ashcroft, B.C. Should be interesting, I'll be on my old Katana in the street class, and looks like I will be on my buddies turbo-Hayabusa in the pro-street class. My first time competing on this Hayabusa. It should be very interesting to say the least!

Good luck to everyone racing this year!

 

[lecroy]

Knoll Gas Motorsports Park AKA Martin AKA 131

Yep, that's the way I heard it. I guess he said it serious enough that they reported it to the track management.

Don't grab those front breaks on that Busa too hard....

5's at 130++

 

[rapidray]

KRIS, is this story about what happened at Bakersfield with Chris Bacon true? If it is I hope to meet the guy someday to tell him what a loser i think he is. Ray.

 

[GER144]

Knoll Gas Motorsports Park AKA Martin AKA 131

Yep, that's the way I heard it. I guess he said it serious enough that they reported it to the track management.

Don't grab those front breaks on that Busa too hard....

5's at 130++

Good to hear it was reported to the track management, hopefully the track management feels that this was completely out of order as well. There are still some really crazy people out there!
Any of the tracks I race at in my area all seem pretty bike friendly. I only ever ran into one jerk at the track who seemed bitter at bikes/bikers. "bikes should not be allowed on the dragstrip" he told me. He was trying to get me off my game, as I had to race his buddy next round. His buddy was driving a Ford Lightning truck.

Ya, I'll watch them brakes too! I made that mistake once. A few years ago we were having a rain delay at an all-bike race for a couple hours so I got bored and changed/bled the brake fluid on my 'Busa. First round I got a Harley Sportster who got a huge head start on me. I went by him just feet from the line and grabbed a mitt-full of brake so I wouldn't break out. Well with them freshly bled brakes and the cold track, I locked up the brakes and went right across the line with the bars cranked and the tire smoking! My dad got it on video too. Boy did I get hell from the top end guy!
It's funny because I sometimes work the top end at my home track, and I give guys hell for getting too hard on the brakes at the finish line! Lesson learned.

 

[Kris V]

Ray...there are always two sides to the story. Tank was LATE! Chris did his burn out because he was told to. I saw the whole thing,the track has a pa system and the transmitter on the am/fm radio and it worked in my trailer fine. Tank was pitted next to me. The tower told the starter to send him down. Tank finally showed with no helmet on or gloves and was trying to put them on in the water box when Chris got the light. End of story,I was there.

 

[lecroy]

I have never met anyone negative at the track, besides me and my buds. LOL. I have never had anyone say anything like that to me directly. I'm guessing that's what it was. It was directed to one of our top riders.

I have a good friend who tried to ride one. It bit him hard when he grabbed the brakes. I think his body went through at 140, after the bike.... The down side of E/T....

Can you rip that video your dad took? That would be a good one to watch.

 

[lecroy]

I keep looking at this picture. What is that thing that looks like it has a little T handle on it? Maybe a cuttoff switch?

 

[RacingJake]

Good eyes Mark

That's my battery disconnect switch that grounds my battery neg post to the frame and engine. You can see a small piece of metal going from the switch to the oem clutch cable mount.

Since I don't really have a ON/OFF switch I wired everything up to the Pos post of the battery and just use the disconnect switch on the Neg side of the battery as my main power switch.

Works good .......... plus I have to be alittle different :-k

Since the clutch is starting to get with the program I'd like to put my longer swingarm back on and change my WB from 60" to 65" and try a few more runs without the bars.

 

[lecroy]

I would have never came up with cutting the ground. Can't see a plus one way or the other and would think it would be fine. I have a monster solenoid that I use to supply power to everything. It gets turned on with the tether and main power switch. Works fine, but I always have unfused power going to the switches this way. Its a death trap.

I wish I knew/understood the chassis better. I am thinking to get one of the programs just to try. The one was a demo that he pointed out. I know from two chassis that my friends have that just the motor position can have a huge impact.

I called Jim Koenig about the molested junker bike after I bought it to get his input before I started repairs. I guess they build these to the rider. He needed my weight and height. Then he wanted to know the distance from the crank center to the axle center. He did ask about my plans for the bike. Once he knew I was not out to set any records (like I could with my weight) he gave me a target for seat position from the neck. Was over my head. Would like to talk to these guys more to see how they figure this stuff out.

My friends all try to stay at the magic 68". When I got the flag bike, it was 68". I ran it without the bars when I first started to ride it. Once I started making more power it was real clear that this was a mistake!

 

[RacingJake]

What I like about using it is when the bike is running and the NOS system is armed and at the last moument the starter tells me to shut it off due to a track problem all I do is turn the lever and everything is off. It's nice only having one switch to turn back on.

Thoses chassis guys have alot of good secrets don't they ??

 

[lecroy]

Ok Jake, your a fellow old Sportster owner. I have an old 83 (tail end of AMF). I am the second owner and bought it in the late 80s. This bike has never given me any troubles. Just lube, tires, chains, sprokets and batteries. Really!

A couple of weeks ago it almost left me at work with a dead battery. Charged it at work but was almost dead by the time I got home. Finished it up tonight. Some how the generator had lost its magnetism and the regulator took a crap. My bike has a stupid light on it to tell you something about the charging. It was always on at idle and would dim as I rev'ed the motor. It has done this from the day I bought it. With the new regulator (OEM) the light goes off as soon as it starts.

Ever have to remagnetise your rotor?

 

[RacingJake]

Yeap the generator sure is old school, now days we have an alternator and the only problem I've heard of is a magnet sometimes coming loose on the rotor.

Where the generator is on the older bike's now days that's where the oil filter is located.

Besides a dead battery the only thing that comes to mind is replacing the Pos and Neg leads due to vibration. That seems to be the biggest problem now days. The cable can still look great but wiggle them around and a open can develop.

By chance do you have the Harley service manual for that year bike cause they have alot of good info.

 

[lecroy]

I was actually thinking it was going to be the generator when I started looking at it. Never would have guessed on zapping it to remagnetize it. How long can those brushes last?

When I bought the bike I bought the OEM service manual for it. This was one of the rare times I had to pull it out. Your right, that book has tons of info. I was using it when I was cutting up my harley carbs trying to get them to work with my turbo bike.

What year is yours?

 

[RacingJake]

Mines alittle newer, it's 2001 custom with forward controls and it doesn't leak any oil.

You just can't pass up that classic feeling of a solid mounted motor. It's not the fastest bike around but it's alot of fun just cruising around. You get the rpm above 6 grand and you know it, don't need a tach do you

 

[DreamRyder]

Still, a shame to cut it. I bet Doug could put it back then reform it. You would need to check.

Did you check the junk yards? If you going to have it painted, it's not going to matter a whole lot if the colors don't match.

Anything free is a good thing when it comes to race parts.

a blast from the past... sorry been gone for a bit... just gettin around to visiting the boards again... missed seeing you last friday night.. we had to bug out right after our event.. my race partner was having issues with his bike and had to be back to chicago area to go to work at 6 am...

as for the paint... just went with a quickie white job again to tie me over till winter when I can possibly afford some fancy stuff to be done.. if need be I'll pick up some used rashed or not so perfect looking side panels to have the full fairing look again.. although the 3/4 is kinda growing on me LOL

well here are my first time ever passes on the new RCC Turbo build... \\/

First Pass: 11.8 (couldn't find drag pegs too far back, AMS was not turned on which meant no boost, Missed my shift points due to tire spinning and shift light on entire time - total botched run LOL)

Second Pass: 8.4 (still couldnt' find pegs, short shifted a couple times, and went from side to side entire length of track LOL)

Third Pass: 8.03 (changed AMS setting - track was not holding the larger amount of boost and moved my drag pegs up closer to me and removed toe sliders to give me better traction at the line to steady the bike while leaning forward)

Forth Pass: 8.20 (lot's of tire spin off the line and down the track and discovered my throttle housing kept spinning on me keeping me from getting to full throttle on my runs)

Fifth Pass: 8.27 (better 60 foot time than any other pass but wheelied mid track and somehow lost my windscreen ?? )

Ended the day with the 2nd Fasted ET out of about 40 bikes I think?


After changing out my throttle tube and kill switch housing and checking my clutch for possible adjustments I know I should be in the 7's next time out... especially lookin at my crappy 60 foot times... way slower than when I had the stock clutch with stock motor

E.

only pic I have so far is this one... and tried to post video from a freind's link and didn't work so I'll have to wait till she sends me the CD so I can upload it then...

 

[lecroy]

"Third Pass: 8.03"

So close! Next time for sure! You would blow the doors off me, if I had any. Post your short times. The body looks fine cut off. Flows with the rest of the bike. I find that the track prep is not real good on T&T days. You have two problems. It starts late so you have the dew and cold. Then they won't prep for the street cars. Once we get closer to Summer, it will improve. I think what you need to do is come on a race day. The last event would have been perfect for you. They were running a T/F and some T/A, so the track was there.

We should be shooting paint next month. Once they are done I will post a couple of pics for you.

This weekend is a 3 day event. We will be staying at the track. I wish they had put some showers in that place.

 

[DreamRyder]

"Third Pass: 8.03"

So close! Next time for sure! You would blow the doors off me, if I had any. Post your short times. The body looks fine cut off. Flows with the rest of the bike. I find that the track prep is not real good on T&T days. You have two problems. It starts late so you have the dew and cold. Then they won't prep for the street cars. Once we get closer to Summer, it will improve. I think what you need to do is come on a race day. The last event would have been perfect for you. They were running a T/F and some T/A, so the track was there.

We should be shooting paint next month. Once they are done I will post a couple of pics for you.

This weekend is a 3 day event. We will be staying at the track. I wish they had put some showers in that place.

oh yeah.. lot's of room for improvement both me and bike... track didn't hook well for alot of us that day even the stock bikes were spinnin some.. last years traction was way better for the org event... but oh well it was good enough to get my feet wet and adjust some of the riding comfort items ..

I wish 131 was closer I'd def come out more often .. Byron should hook decent enough that I'll be in those 7's there next time out \\/

look forward to seein your paint jobs..

yup cant believe they did those nice bathrooms with no showers :-s

gotta dig up my time slips for the short times.. will post up tonight if I can get the signal again at home. All I know off my memory was 60's were in the 1.55's (SUCKED) ain't pulled the clutch cover off yet to check my stack height to see if my clutch is at fault for that or my spinning throttle housing.. but I hope it's one or the other cuz they use to be low 1.4's before

E.

 

[Baatfam]

Ok Jake, your a fellow old Sportster owner. I have an old 83 (tail end of AMF). I am the second owner and bought it in the late 80s. This bike has never given me any troubles. Just lube, tires, chains, sprokets and batteries. Really!

Well now....We've got one too!
Ours is a '78 that I've had since '88.....rode that thing to Sturgis in '89.

Good little bike....Wife and I put a lot of miles on it during the years.

Haven't used it for a couple of years and as soon as I clean it up, we are putting it up for sale. I'll be sorry to see it go, but I need to whittle down the stable.

Later,
Bob T.

 

[lecroy]

I used to ride mine all the time before I got married. I would take trips with my brother. Always wished it had a bigger tank. I have thought about selling mine from time to time. Seems like every time I kink my spine, it's the only bike I can ride. It's about the only time it gets used anymore. But it always starts right up and runs great. My new regulator is holding up with no problems so it's back to a daily rider.

Yes, thats the normal for Fridays. Wed. seems a little better. The street kids don't normally come and the people that show seem to be really there for testing and tune. Not too surprized about the stock bikes not hooking. Hard street tires on a drag strip are always a fun time to watch. Anytime I run my old GS, I had to deflate the rear to 18-20 PSI before it starts to hold the little bit of power it makes.

Dang, 1.50s and running close to 7's. That's some major power your putting out now. 7.60s are in your future very soon. Post those short times! And the video too!!!

 

[lecroy]

Weekends long story....

It was supposed to be a three day event at Martin this weekend, but they cancelled Monday's race because of storms moving in.

It was not one of our better weeks. The kid went out first round, bought back in and went out again. Dad went ourt first tround, bought back in and made it one round. I had been trying to explain that the clutch in the kids bike was the problem. They had wanted to try OEM plates and took the gap up.

e got a fair nights sleep and talked them into going back to the old clutch settings. The electronics need a 500RPM dip to reset the shifter. I think we make enough power that we just slip too much between shifts. Friends don't buy into the idea of a logger but it sure would save us a lot of time. We also took the timing back out. If that was not enough change, we put a brand new tire on it. What a way to start out the day. We at least took a break for breakfast. What happens, the bike starts grouping again and the auto starts working. Imagine that.

It takes about 5 passes on the kids bike to set a tire and while he did much better, he still only made it a round. Next weekend, things should be back to normal.

Remember the car guy that was going to run over a bike if one lined up with him? We lined right up with him in the first round, another bike on his other side. We figured one of us would get him. Praying we would draw him and as luck would have it, we did. It was great. Dad tree'ed him hard, blew past him, then slowly backed up to him at the very end. The guy was PO'ed. Hi flipped dad off in the traps and floored his car. Then in the turn around spot, he flipped him off again. Classic racer. I was at the ticket booth when he got there and once he had his ticket he tore out of there about 2 feet from me. LOL. He buys back in. The track champ was in line with him. Again, luck pairs the two of them up. News had spread quick and most of the bikers came up to watch this loud mouth get sent packing. Team green asked the track champ to kick his azz, and we got the no problem...
I'm sure the guy loved seeing all these bike riders standing along the fence watching him. In a few seconds it was over and he was done for the day.

From here on out, if we can line up with him, we will. One thing is sure, the cars are not going to be a push over to take down. All of us will need to step up our game.


Ok, some GS story stuff... Knowing it would be pretty boring to do nothing but wrench and push bikes for the weekend, I got my old GS ESD out. The battery was shot (I had left it in over winter and it was near dead then) so I brought a new one with me and some fuel. Had not ran it for at least a year. First thing I notice when I get to the track is that I took the wrong battery. This was the new one I bought for the GSXR with is a little longer than the GS. I unbolted the ignition and put it in upside down. This gave me some slack in the wires. Then layed the battery in on an angle and tied it in place. Still had the water bottle tied in from the last time. A little chain adjustment, some oil, chain lube and set the tire pressure and I was ready.

First time trial, I am leaning over the bike. I have a full tank of fuel to help balast the bike but it did the unthinkable. When I dropped the hammer it was verticle and I mean vertical.
Keep in mind this is with a narrow street tires. Stock rims.... My feet were still on the ground and I could feel them dragging as I tried to ease it down. Then I was off. The bike normally runs low 12's is all. I'm a pretty bike guy so its about all that little 1100 can do to get me down the track.. It ends up running a 12.9 something. Not bad for as high as she was. I'm sure it looked funny. So we had this bright idea to strap the front end down. It seems like a good idea at first. I took the bike out in the back 40 to get a feel for it before the next time run.. Hard to tell on payment what it will do on the track, so I gave up and waited to be called. Next time trial was down right the worst I have ever had. The front end stayed down, but the tire spun. I mean spun all the way in first and again in second. It was sideways and all over the place. 13+ seconds. Back to the back 40 for some more testing before my first run. We get the idea we will bring it out slow and feather the clutch this time. If that was not enough, I took more air out. I dial at 13 flat to sand bag to the max and try and do something. What happens, spun again, .491 red to a .511. I bought back in and tried again. Now with 10PSI in the back tire. Spun hard again. I was done for the day.

Today I got up, took that stupid strap off, put 28 in the back tire and gave her hell. The problem with the strap is that if the front end does not come off the ground, just like a regular drag bike, the weight never transfers to the back tire and spin city. We had tried to adjust the strap but I was tired of that game. This time the tire grabbed hard and I played with the clutch to just keep the tire off the ground. This time, 11.96. The cut off is 12 flat. Time trial 2 I shift just a little lower, hover the the front end and it runs a 12.08.

Problem is I can't hit it on the third bulb. First light was a .40 something. Second time I tried to launch on when the amber goes out, nope .70.

The second time run was great. I ran one of the local bike guys and it was a head up race the to end. We had about the same crappy lights and was ran within a few hundreths. Had I shifted higher, I think I may have taken him.

First race, did not want to loose by a red. Sand bagged at 12.10 and tried to lauch after the third had been on for a long time. Full amber. I tore after the car and could not catch him. By the 1000' I knew I had been tree'ed bad so I let her rip. Another high 11 pass and I never caught him with that 7 light I had to his .560 Oh well, bike ran good. Smoked real bad but still made some good power. Never miss shifted. My guess is it would have repeated pretty good if I could have rode it out and not had to think about every movement. This is racing. No slider, 2-step, air shift, auto, bars, slick.... I may have to do it again. Had a lot of fun just getting on a bike again.

I have a picture of it I will scan. No one had the verticle shot, but they got that second time run. I looked like a noob racer.

One last note, again, dad is not my dad and kid is not my kid. Just names I use.