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interesting "air scoop"

Agemax

Agemax

Forum Guru
not seen anything like this before, a Yoshi idea or just somebody experimenting with cooling/air flow?
(very nice leathers as well!)

kawasakiairscoop_zps2461d509.jpg
 
I've been wondering how road racers protected the engine covers. Looks like a plate has been welded to this one:cool:
 
Oddly, that being a race bike (and I suppose it would matter what class it was in) it has the stock 4into4 Z1 pipes on it.

Aldana was famous for those leathers. The governing body of the AMA threatened to ban him if he continued to wear them. I read an article in which I believe it was Kenny Roberts talking about him. Said something to the effect of the first time you ever saw him over your shoulder on the track it was a bit intimidating. It looked like death himself was chasing you.

I don't think he ever had a stellar career, bounced around from one team to another and IIRC finished out as a privateer funding his own entry's.
but he was a character in a time full of characters in motorcycle racing.
It's a damn shame it isn't more popular in the states than it is anymore..

Oh...here's a wiki on him :)

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Aldana
 
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subid said:
I've been wondering how road racers protected the engine covers. Looks like a plate has been welded to this one:cool:
Click to expand...

The plate has been welded on because they cut the cover at an angle to improve ground clearance.

Thanks,
Joe
 
akckhim said:
A stock z1 at Daytona them guys had ginormous balls
Click to expand...

Oh I doubt greatly that it was bone stock. A close look at the pic reveals what appear to be VM33 smoothbores carbs, or at least the caps look as though they are. The brake discs appear to be either aftermarket or modified and then there's that crazy air scoop which would suggest that the engine has likely been bored to the point that the cylinder walls are thin enough that they were worried about overheating whilst spinning constant high RPMs. Tough to tell but the rear shocks look as though they're upgraded to a point.
But yes, it's odd that it has stock pipes, stock seat, gauges etc. I wonder what year that pic is from? It's possible he was either racing for himself, and simply didn't have the funds to dump into such things or was racing for a smaller team.
Either way they'd likely dumped money into the Yosh bits..
 
OK I didn't mean bone stock but original forks I don't see a brace or a damper so it would be a little sketchy on the high banks
 
akckhim said:
OK I didn't mean bone stock but original forks I don't see a brace or a damper so it would be a little sketchy on the high banks
Click to expand...

Yeah I don't see one either. There looks like there might be something wrapped over the top of the fender, like maybe one of those "tweak bar" braces but I dunno. If it is it's awfully thin. Stock or not, all of those guys had humongous nutts hahaha. I love looking at these old photos. It's so cool to see how things have changed over the years, not just in the bikes but the helmets and gear etc. I mean look at his "knee puck". And the helmet. And I bet the "armor" in his leathers consisted of...more leather and MAYBE some foam.

I've got a bunch of cool photos I found on the net of the Team Hammer Suzuki endurance bikes. It starts with the old school tube double cradle frame we have on our bike with a GS1000 2V lump shoved in it, it's been monoshocked and the frame has been braced but other than that and the custom bodywork/fairing it looks pretty much like a GS, then the pics progress to the following years and you can see the developments in not so much the engine, which remained the GS1000 lump for another three or four years, but the suspension components, brakes, and most importantly the frame. Within a couple years, say 82 or 83 you could see the hints of gixxer in the race bike. Extruded aluminum twin spar frame, the *electronic* anti-dive system that was used on the first gen gsxr750 was developed out of the endurance racer (and incidentally worked quite well compared to the system used on the GSes, as it wasn't tied into the brake system, but instead used an electric servo to close the ports off in the forks when the front brake lever was activated). The bodywork became sleeker, more gixxer-esque. Then finally in '86 they had a full on GSXR based bike, engine and all. The photos continue all the way up to the 2012 GSXR1K based works racer. I have all these in 5x7 and eventually ill frame them all and hang them on the wall in order. Just a really cool "time line" of how Suzuki went from the GS we all love and a very competent race bike in its day to the king of the track in the GSXR.
 
TheCafeKid said:
Yeah I don't see one either. There looks like there might be something wrapped over the top of the fender, like maybe one of those "tweak bar" braces but I dunno. If it is it's awfully thin. Stock or not, all of those guys had humongous nutts hahaha. I love looking at these old photos. It's so cool to see how things have changed over the years, not just in the bikes but the helmets and gear etc. I mean look at his "knee puck". And the helmet. And I bet the "armor" in his leathers consisted of...more leather and MAYBE some foam.

I've got a bunch of cool photos I found on the net of the Team Hammer Suzuki endurance bikes. It starts with the old school tube double cradle frame we have on our bike with a GS1000 2V lump shoved in it, it's been monoshocked and the frame has been braced but other than that and the custom bodywork/fairing it looks pretty much like a GS, then the pics progress to the following years and you can see the developments in not so much the engine, which remained the GS1000 lump for another three or four years, but the suspension components, brakes, and most importantly the frame. Within a couple years, say 82 or 83 you could see the hints of gixxer in the race bike. Extruded aluminum twin spar frame, the *electronic* anti-dive system that was used on the first gen gsxr750 was developed out of the endurance racer (and incidentally worked quite well compared to the system used on the GSes, as it wasn't tied into the brake system, but instead used an electric servo to close the ports off in the forks when the front brake lever was activated). The bodywork became sleeker, more gixxer-esque. Then finally in '86 they had a full on GSXR based bike, engine and all. The photos continue all the way up to the 2012 GSXR1K based works racer. I have all these in 5x7 and eventually ill frame them all and hang them on the wall in order. Just a really cool "time line" of how Suzuki went from the GS we all love and a very competent race bike in its day to the king of the track in the GSXR.
Click to expand...

That twin spar frame was from Moriwaki

THe KZ had the stock pipes because that was the rules in early Superbike, the legal mods were pretty limited at first, then expanded every year (not counting all the frame mods and other cheating that went on) The mufflers are likely gutted

That scoop is probably to smooth air flow for the carbs
 
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TheCafeKid said:
Oddly, that being a race bike (and I suppose it would matter what class it was in) it has the stock 4into4 Z1 pipes on it.

Aldana was famous for those leathers. The governing body of the AMA threatened to ban him if he continued to wear them. I read an article in which I believe it was Kenny Roberts talking about him. Said something to the effect of the first time you ever saw him over your shoulder on the track it was a bit intimidating. It looked like death himself was chasing you.

I don't think he ever had a stellar career, bounced around from one team to another and IIRC finished out as a privateer funding his own entry's.
but he was a character in a time full of characters in motorcycle racing.
It's a damn shame it isn't more popular in the states than it is anymore..

Oh...here's a wiki on him :)



http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Aldana
Click to expand...
He made the AMA hall of fame. That is pretty good. I saw him race at Ascot in those leathers back in the late 78. He was racing a Ron Wood Norton in the AMA half mile National, which was won by Alex Jorgenson on his Ron Wood Norton.

http://imagecache6.allposters.com/LRG/44/4480/6OZQF00Z.jpg

http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:...kingkirkanderson/RonWoodNortonJorge-1.jpg&t=1

I went to Ron Wood Racing in Costa Mesa a couple years ago to pick up a manual for the Rotax motor in my ATK. They showed me a bunch of the old race bikes. Totally cool.
 
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As far as being sketchy on the high banks is concerned, there is a reason that the first Superbike championship was won on a BMW
 
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