Whats going on at the tracks

[rosco15]

Don't try to catch me I'm going the other way. Air was really bad with all the rain all around us. Somehow we got it in. Supposedly the only track in Ohio. Most people just stayed home. Ran 9.64 and later a head wind picked up so I dialed up. Went 69 on a 67. Couple rounds later the wind went away and it ran a 64 in the final. He red light so I ran it out. Guy on a sled had a 499 red and ran 11.315 on an 11.31. He was kicking himself. My light was only a 551. The clutch was starting to slip pretty bad and I wasn't getting that really hard snap off the line. I'm wondering if the slow light was due to the clutch. Jake anyone? I've got 1.030 in the box right now. First light of the day was a 506 and then they slowed down from there. 540, 527, 512, 529, 529, 551. I'm thinking I should ignore the first bulb of the day and set the box off the others.

The only really bad part of the night was one of the regulars crashed his dragbike. An 8.80 bike. He got into some bumps after the finish and somehow lost it. Probably went down at almost 140. The ambulance guys weren't watching and they sent me and another 8.90 bike down on top of them. I cross the finish line to see a bike in my lane and 2 people standing in the track one waving his arms. He messed his hand up bad, but other than that he was up walking around. Gonna try and give him a call later.

 

[RacingJake]

Man..... that could of been you too crashed on top of him. I thought the folks up in the tower should be on the lookout for something just like that. Glad your OK, that can be a shocker at 140 mph.

On my box I run 1.060 to 1.080

Here's my RT's from last Friday, last one was a red lite. It was T&T and I wasn't really focusing on cutting a good one. We just switched over to .000 is a prefect light, makes dial in's alot easier to figure out. We also have crosstalk too and it's alittle strange to see a faster racer sitting there waiting and waiting for that 2nd bulb to lite. But I like it cause I can just watch my tree now. We also use the LED bulbs and that took awhile to get used to them.

0.087 0.014 0.035 0.063 0.036 0.045 -0.023

I think it could be a few things like,

Thumb still asleep (pun) I wear some thick gloves and my thumb really doesn't feel the switch all that much, thinking of trying differant ones for more feel.

Oil is still cold

Clutch pack may expand due to heat and lockup better

Wheel bearings getting warmer and rotate easier

Your slick has been heat cycle and get stickier during runs

The track is starting to come around, more traction

Or if your like me, I'm just slow on the first go until I get my mind into the game. After that first run I'm awake and good to go.

 

[rosco15]

They took his pinkie at the second nuckle. I guess the handlebar smashed it into the ground when the bike went over. Other than being sore he's fine. Thinking about going to work tomorrow. Maybe thats the pain meds talking. Funny to say, but I think he was lucky. Could have been alot worse.

 

[RacingJake]

Thats to bad, I guess it could of been alot worst. At least he can say he has something incommon with Ken Schrader.

If I had to loose a body part that be the one or maybe the little toe.

Back to your clutch slipping when it get hot. Maybe you need to go up more on the static pressure.

 

[lecroy]

They took his pinkie at the second nuckle. I guess the handlebar smashed it into the ground when the bike went over.

When Greg fell off last summer he has a similar problem. When they took the glove off they found he had a pressure cut on one finger that required a few stitches. There was no damage to the glove in this area. They think it was from hitting the asphalt so hard.

Glad to hear this was all that happened to your friend. Was this at Thompson?

 

[rosco15]

Yes it was at Thompson. I wish I had my camers to get a pic of the bike. Not damaged that bad.

I added another couple pounds static and just a tad more lockup. It's working good, but could be better.

 

[rosco15]

Lucked out and got another win. Makes 2 of 3 races so far. They ran it 8th mile due to water coming up out of the track at the finish line. We've been getting over a week of almost straight rain. Ran a couple 5.99's. Got the 60' down to 1.29. They ran a stick shift race in conjunction with the regular race. I'll try to post up some new video. Actually remembered to bring the camera.

This is one of the car guys I race with. I installed his box for him this winter. http://media.putfile.com/shake-rattle-and-roll

 

[RacingJake]

Great job on another event win !! Looks like the points leader has his game face on.

Last Thursday I made a few run with 46lb springs and my best 60 was in the 1.50's. So in went the oem 57lb springs and it was back down to 1.35. Did have a problem with the bike on the 2 step as it didn't stay on the 7K or 6K chip. Sounded like the bike wanted to die but once off the 2 step it ran fine down the track???

On Thursdays it's street night and there is no track prep and I could tell as my slick felt like it was trying to spin close to the finishline. You know the feeling like a horse that's trying to buck you off.

 

[lecroy]

We struck out.

While I remembered to bring the camera, I had a tape cleaner in it. So, no video.

Damm, that crank went cheap on eBay. Wonder if it was in good shape. I may have to take the newer stock one.

 

[RacingJake]

Have you looked on stripbike.com, I saw a few lastweek.

 

[lecroy]

That knife cut Falicon looks real good!!!

My problem is that I think about it too much then someone else does the buy it now. I was thinking real hard about the new Rajay that was out there for a little over $400. I kept thinking, parts. But do I really need them, then it was gone.

Hear the weather is supposed to be nice Wednesday. I may finally get the turbo bike to the track for the first time this year.

 

[rosco15]

Took the streetbike to the track last night. Spinning all over the place. I did mount a camera to the tank. And then we tried it on a friends dragbike.

Easy pass on the Hayabusa
http://media.putfile.com/onboard-a-Hayabusa-at-the-dragstrip

Friends zx-11 dragbike running in the 9.50's shot at night.
http://media.putfile.com/onboard-a-zx11-950s-dragbike

 

[lecroy]

Are you running a street tire or a slick now on the Busa? Camera makes you guys nervious (double red)?

 

[rosco15]

It's a street tire. The oem tire still. I have a shinko street tire to put on it, but just haven't done it yet. The red light was a result of me sucking. The camera sits on the tank so I couldn't lay down on the tank like I usually do. I walked it out easy. Don't tell anyone, but that was a 10.44 @137. He wet red because he was ready to go home. he only took his dragbike out to test and only ran the first round to get one omore pass before leaving. he told the other guy what he was going to do and not to leave till he saw green.

 

[lecroy]

I have no idea where the stock Busas run. 10.44 would seem good to me. Local guy with longer swingarm (no bars), auto and slider and slick runs mid 9's.

Are you trying to wear that poor street tire out before you put the new one on?

 

[RacingJake]

I've been wanting to limit my burnout rpm's so I finally installed a switch in parallel with my clutch lever switch. All I got to do now is flip it close and it's on the low side of the 2 step (MC2) for a burnout. Right now it's a 7K chip when I launch.

 

[lecroy]

Went to a car show today. Took the turbo bike with me, but I was too late to show it. They had a few custom bikes but mostly Harley's. Mine was the only drag bike there.

Ok, I got the crank for $200. Now will it be usable or another eBay dud?

 

[RacingJake]

That's too cheap I should of bid on it too. You know the last minute bid that sends it out of this world.

If you asked a million question about an item they still say I don't know or sold as is ???

Hope it's a keeper

 

[lecroy]

There was one last week that went for 180. I got a notice on this one saying the seller lowered the reserve. Not sure what he was asking for it before this. There seems to be a lot more newer bikes at the track this year, so maybe people will start dumping their old GS parts soon.

 

[lecroy]

The eBay crank made it in. Looks in good condition. One bearing has a chip out of it and the starter end needs to be replaced. Looks like a factory weld job. Crank has 492 rods with no dimples, so it must have been from an 82 or 83. Maybe an inch of tack in a few places is all. Nothing like what I would call a welded crank. But I am sure this is what people are always saying about the factory welding the 1100 cranks. I was looking at a stock 1150 crank and it was done up the same way. So, something new. I will send it off this week and see what they say.

My other crank came back last week. They did a nice job with it. Still waiting on my new wrist pins from APE. It's been a bit over 2 weeks now but I am hoping this will cure my wrist pin blues. I called them up and it sounds like they were not in stock and they had to make some up. If they work, it will be well worth the wait.

Was a tough few weeks for racing. Rain, hail, snow.... Finally took my bike on Friday. The driveway testing from last Fall paid off. I was able to make 6 passes. 1 had some major driver errors and I aborted. 2 runs I had to abort because the thing was sliding too much. The other three went much better than last year. The third pass was about as good as my street bike so I am moving in the right direction now. Don't laugh too hard, I know I have a more to figure out. The 60' times are now around 1.5 seconds, way better than the 2 seconds I was running last summer. 1/8 mile E/T is around 6.2 @ 120 and 1/4 around 9.5 at 148. This was still running the little compressor at 20 PSI, launching at 7000 and shifting at 7000. Very lazy smooth ride. So, just from playing with the clutch, I gained about 0.4-0.5 seconds in my 60'.
It felt good just to ride a bike. My wife took some video of the last pass and
while the nose was not dropping, the bike was not hooking up at all in first and most of second gear. It was cold out and there was a lot of dew on the track. The home made logger shows the same. I think she will run 8.90s at around 155 with this setup. With the other compressor I think its going to run in the 170MPH range. Well, a guy can hope. My only concern is that this is still basically a stock engine. I am not so sure the tranny will take this sort of load.

Today was our second all bike meet. I wish we could get more people to come to this event. I was talking with a few of the people on Friday and I think that a lot of the kids really don't want to race. My take is they just don't get the whole E/T thing. They want to race their buds, heads up and have fun seeing who has the fastest bike.

I just had to take a couple of shots of two of the shootout bikes for the paint.

Doug, after drilling the tree with a 5.00something, makes a nice clean pass until about 1000'. Then things go bad and the crank gives out. This is a common problem. This time all the rods were in place so I think the head is going to be ok. Last summer we were not so luckey. The shrapnel hit the rider next to him in the chest and tore up his fork tubes. If you look close, some of it tore into the frame. This is the reason I think the tracks should mandate diapers. The diaper caught about a quart of oil and a lot of shrapnel that would have otherwise been on the back tire. At a 1000' this bike is running 150 mph. The rear tire had just started to get broken in. We had 14 passes on it and some of the sharper parts sliced into the tire. No one was hurt.

Ok Jake, lets hear how the rat bike ran in the 5s, beating my turbo my more than 1.2 seconds. I am sure that the N2O got you there.