what is going on at the tracks???

[RacingJake]

Hate to hear that lecroy , but i think it's safe to say we've all been there before. Besides I get alittle bored after 4 months and it gives me something to do. Was this you turbo bike ?

Last week I was racing against a 6.70 and 7.00 bike and I was around the 330 mark before they left the line. I'd get 5 feet from the finish line and hit the front brake hard and the front would drive hard too. They thought they were going to break out too and they got on the brakes too. They got a laugh out of it even after I started talking about sandbagging with the slow'est bike afterwards.

I really wanted to go up against a few of our 5's bikes. I'd probably be down around the traps before they would get the green. Most likely get banned from racing this bike if I'd start taking out the big dogs

[lecroy]

Thanks. Yep, it was the old turbo bike. I just made way too many changes at one shot. The gasoline was the biggest problem. I jetted it way rich and planned to work my way down, but it leaned out. I was running some 120+ octain fuel that may have saved my ass. I think I was getting 40HP or so out of it. I had bought much larger jets, so if nothing is damaged, I should be back out next Friday for another round.

I spent about four hours last week cutting clutch parts for the little RD project. I had a friend of mine try to grind these but they warped. I ended up using one of our grinders at work to cut them. What a pain.
Played with them over the weekend and got the bike to pick the front end up and carry it maybe 15 feet out. It was funny. I started out adding about 0.007" to the gap. The front end would pick up off the line for a few feet, drop, then the weights would kick in and the front end would bounce. At about 0.015" the amount of time the tire would drop was much less, but still not clean. I think I ended up at 0.017". This thing is damm touchy. Raced it today and started going rounds. I was sitting at the line squating right next to the bike, watching very close on every run. Things were going good and then we lost power. The bike ran the fastest it ever has at almost 114MPH. Two passes were a solid 113MPH in the 11.20s. Man, I wish my old stock GS were this quick and fast with me on it.

[lecroy]

but with so little power I think the VHT on the track slows me down

[rosco15]

Another bike class win last night. And then a lightning round win. A quick $500. Sound like busa swingarm time or maybe I should get some bigger pistons for the gs. Like a 1260 kit? hmmm

[lecroy]

ALL RIGHT BIKE 3308!!!!!

Is this right, there are only 6 bikes running at your track this year??? Next weekend is an all bike meet at the local track. I think the payout is $750 to win. You should make the trip. I may have to take my old GS to that one.

http://www.us131motorsportspark.com/

[lecroy]

Tore the thing apart and blew another gasket. I replaced it and went to a much larger main jet and back to the stock needle and seat. The fuel flow is much better now. Plan to find a road to test on tomarrow. All I need is 120 feet or so just to make one short pass to get a reading.

[rosco15]

They only list the top so many on the sheet. I'm not sure how many are signed up for points this year. Last year it was 16. This year probably 10-12. We had 13 bikes Saturday in the bike class. With buy-backs we went 5 rounds. Three more bikes showed up, but they ran trophy. Our bike class is usually pretty small. Most of the streetbike guys don't like the dragbikes. Wednesday night I've seen 40 bikes. Saturdays can be anywhere from 8-16. If only we could get the turnout they do on wednesdays.

[lecroy]

Same thing at the two local tracks. Test days has a whole different crowd. A lot more bikes show up. Sounds like you have about the same number of people running bike class for points. Too bad about it being an NHRA track. Martin is IHRA so we go to Norwalk if Doug pulls it off.


As I continue to take the bike apart I am finding more problems. The exhaust had cracked for the wastegate. Not just the gasket failed. They must have had a problem with the original design because they had welded a strap on one side. Did the same to the other. New weld is much better job than the Mr Turbo original


Glad it did not drop the wastegate anyway. All these leaks, no wonder the thing lost pressure.

New HSR carb, still running very lean..... Damm these stupid float valve designs. Increase pressure to get more flow and they leak. Smaller needle and seat and increase the pressure and the flow gets worse.....
Talking with a guy who did a lot of testing on one, he gave up at a little over 200HP. I am now getting a little over 30ml/sec with mine but this is when the valve is wide open. Should be ready to test the new jetting this friday if the new clutch pack and gaskets make it in.

So much for running my new compressor this year. EFI is in my future....

Running the methanol had its down side, it was hard on paint.....

[RacingJake]

I'd like to run a turbo but when factor'ing pistons, turbo kit and newbie tuning mistakes I feel safer going the nitrous route.

Found a crank for my ride so I should be back at the track in August with the old gal. I feel the need for speed as my other rides can't make the cut.

[lecroy]

Nightmare at a Drag Strip
Car & Driver

http://www.caranddriver.com/article.asp?section_id=29&article_id=9651

July 2005 STEVE SPENCE

Posted on 07/06/2005 1:09:44 PM PDT

It will likely go down in history as the most freakish, nightmarish accident in drag-racing history. One top drag-racing official with 40 years' experience told the media he'd never seen or heard of anything like it.
On the first Saturday in April, Michelle "Shelly" Howard, a 59-year-old registered nurse and mother of three who had been drag-racing for 27 years, took her Top Alcohol Dragster for a 10 p.m. practice run at Tulsa Raceway Park as part of a late-night event. Howard, the wife of a Tulsa physician, had huge experience-she'd won the Division 4 title twice and was a three-time national event winner. Top Alcohol is just one notch below drag racing's ferocious 8000-hp Top Fuel class, where these rails rip to 100 mph in less than a second and at least one has turned the quarter-mile at 335 mph in 4.4 seconds.
Howard got off to a good start, but what happened next will have drag-racing people shaking their heads in disbelief for years to come. About halfway down the quarter-mile course, the nose of her dragster got airborne, lifted straight up into what is called a "blowover wheelstand," and while continuing to roar down the track standing on its tail, turned 180 degrees and came down with tremendous force, now facing the starting line. It is likely Howard was knocked unconscious.
Although the dragster was pointed toward the start line and the wheels were spinning in that direction, the tremendous momentum continued to send it backward, toward the finish line, which it passed, astonishingly, at 115 mph with a time of 6.633 seconds. This rearward travel finally ended about 1500 feet past the finish line, with Howard unconscious and the dragster's throttle still at full tilt. Then the rear wheels sent the dragster headed back toward the start line, careening off the spectator and tower lanes as it gained speed, and crossing the line where it had started the race just seconds earlier, at perhaps 250 mph.
Adding an element of tragic, numbing shock, Howard's husband, Paul, was watching all of this, helplessly, from the stands, while their son, Brian, 36, was in the back of their chase vehicle about 125 feet behind the start line. The dragster next plunged into the chase vehicle, killing mother and son instantly. The force of this bizarre collision sent the dragster and chase vehicle 225 feet through a rear burnout wall and into an open field and stream, according to a report posted on the Internet.
Besides her husband, Shelly Howard is survived by two daughters.

[Hoomgar]

Remote kill switch will become a mandatory must. It could have saved her.

They do it in monster truck rallies. Why not at the strip? Is it a bad idea for some reason?

Certainly they could do it and this tragedy could have been avoided.

[lecroy]

Interesting point. I can tell you that not all of the people who use the tethers on the motorcycles have them wired and the tracks do not test anything on the bikes. And why don't people use them?? Because it is another failure point. Something else that can go bad and cost them a race.

I have a friend who drives a small altered that runs in the low 8's in the 1/4 mile. Something happened a couple of weeks ago and the throttle stuck wide open. He was trying to reach down and pull the lever up, and did get it loose before going into the sand. No one knew that anything had happened until he told everyone. I asked him about adding some kind of kill switch that he could use. These guys have a five point harness, their heads are harnessed in and their arms are strapped in. Hard to move around so it needs to be something simple.

If we did this by a remote, I am not sure that the onlooker would be glued to the kill switch and be able to save them. Even an 8 second car does not give you a lot of time to think. Before your brain decides something is wrong and you press the kill, it may be all over with.

[rosco15]

A new personal best. 9.75 @134 in the heat of the day. Got a 1.36 short time. Ran a 9.75, 9.76 and a 9.77. Lost in the semifinals.

[mike J]

Ok finally got the 1150 to the track tonight. My best run was a 7.66 at 89mph. Bike is still not running right. I would think that it should be able to run high 6's in the 1/8th. My first pass was an 7.90, didn't leave too hard. My next one had a wheelie but still got better at 7.80's. My last past the bike picked up the front tire and carried it about a foot off the ground on the 7.66 pass. Looks like I may have one cylinder running lean. Not sure why yet but I'll look into it more this week. Mike J

[lecroy]

A new personal best. 9.75 @134 in the heat of the day. Got a 1.36 short time. Ran a 9.75, 9.76 and a 9.77. Lost in the semifinals.

!!!!

Looks like your trying to attend the Prostar event. We may see you there.