harryzx-12
Needs a job
Posts: 3643
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posted October 28, 2001 06:43 PM
Maxton 10-28-01
Well I went to maxton today. I met Bergie (Don't be Scared)DTB SCRD? . He ran 181 something the first run I saw ,he had previously ran a 183. The last run he ran 185.95 which is a record in the class he was running in, he can tell you more about it.There was another guy there with a ZX-12 1270 with a stretched swingarm that went 188. It was very windy most of the time.I will be going with my bike next time as it looked like a lot of fun.
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"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways- Body thoroughly used up, totally worn out...Screaming "WOO HOO, What a Ride !!!"
  
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RAC4IT
Needs a job
Bergie
Posts: 3009
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posted October 31, 2001 01:06 PM
ECTA Maxton Report
CLICK HERE FOR PICS
As you already know, I went down to Maxton NC for the ECTA event and it was a great weekend! Saw Harry at the track!
The recommended hotel was the 'Pine Acres Lodge' located in Laurinburg just a couple exits down from the Maxton airport directly off 74. It was very clean, and with the discount rate only $32.50/night for twin double room with color cable TV, it was also very inexpensive! I'd recommend this lodge to anyone going to Maxton in the future since it's very close to the track and many of the racers stay there.
The weather was cold as hell, and the wind was kickin' again on Saturday, around 10mph headwind, sometimes worse and they even delayed running a couple times during the afternoon.
I trailed my 'Fast Lane Cycles' sponsored stock-motor 2000 Kawasaki ZX-12R down this time because it was so damn cold to ride that far and back. As most of you know I rode down last month and stayed at Randys, putting ~1000 miles of seat time on the bike in one weekend Lee from Lee's Performance called me the 'ironman' for that but I gave 'em the standard 'I ain't skeeerrred!' response
Saturday morning my day started off with a minor issue at tech inspection- they wrote me up a 'repair order' for the lower tripleclamp (front fork support brackets) because the steering limiter block was broken off the left side allowing too much left turn travel (related to my accident earlier this year). I had the front straightened, not replaced after the wreck, so now I can't come back until that is repaired.. but they let me slide for this
event. Anyhoo!
I had planned on busting off a ~150 shakedown pass, to get this going. Well, it wouldn't shift out of 3rd!!! WTF! Man I was pissed. Went through the trap and a disgusting 128.205mph run. I had problems with third, fouth, fifth, and forget 6th, no dice. Anything above second at wide-open-throttle just wasn't there. I even tried using the airshifter, no go. I think I may have bent a shift fork or something. So back to the pits I went to investigate.
Didn't find any visible damage, so I figured I would try the increasing the 'delay time' on the airshifter to see if that would work. Made another pass. First gear to second was fine, soft launch not really trying to drag race it. Hit the button on 2-3, nothing!! It wouldn't shift, so I reach for the clutch and try to upshift manually, it goes. Try the button again on 3-4, it tries to shift but doesn't engage, DAMN! I'm pissed! So I grab for the clutch handle again and start manually shifting thru each gear, get into fifth and run it up to redline... try to shift into 6th gear and it felt like it wasn't there, a complete lockout. So I blast thru the traps at 175.097 winding out 5th gear.
By this time I wasn't happy at all. I didn't drive 8 hours to go 175mph in 5th! So I spend most of Saturday making botched shifted runs with/without the clutch and airshifter, resulting in repeated 175~176mph trapspeeds. People were asking what was wrong but I couldn't really answer other than 'something is wrong with the transmission, I can't get it into 6th gear' I said.. I could see the disappointment in their faces, in some disbelief too I'm sure. 'If only I could get into 6th gear' I thought, I would show them
My friend Scott wasn't having much luck on his nitrous-assisted CBR600. He made a 125mph license pass successfully, but picked up a nail on his 140~ish pass and was out for the afternoon. He was hoping to break a class record of 155mph, but it didn't happen. So we ran around the local towns trying to find an open repair shop but couldn't find anything open, so we picked up a cheap $8 plug repair kit at Walmart per a racers's recommendation! After all, I've seen my buddy Randy plug a drag slick with a punch-type plug and immediately go out and make a 160+ mph pass on it! So what the hell, we figured we'd give it a try! We plugged the tire and checked it Sunday morning; it was holding pressure so he was good to go!
Sunday was significantly nicer, the weather was warmer and a little less wind, not nearly as bad as Saturday but still windy 5~10mph I would guess. I felt a lot better since I had a full nights sleep too. It was really nice to only have to drive 10 minutes to the track in the morning. When we got there, Scott made a shake down on the plugged tire around 100mph, came back to the pits and checked it out and all was good so he planned his attack for breaking the record. He tried spraying a 40shot of nitrous in 5th and 6th gear but it wasn't enough, yielding 150.80mph, a long way from 155. He wasn't happy. Another run spraying 4-5-6 yielded only 148, probably due to the wind or a softer launch, who knows.
I want to get started right away, my first pass being at 9:18am (that's pretty early but Sundays they start as early as 8:30am). The wind was up, but I was going to take it easy this time, concentrating on the upshifts to see if I could grab all the gears this time. 1st thru 5th felt great, but there was no 6th to be had. Went throught the traps at precisely the same number as Saturday, 175.097 if you can believe that!
Back to the pits to think about and ask around for suggestions about my trans issues. Someone suggested trying to recalibrate the airshifter setup, so I did and made a second pass around 10:40am. Still couldn't get 6th gear ~ 176.817mph. Damn! This sucks! Well, okay, it's still fun, but I'm not happy about the gearbox and I sound like I'm making excuses in the pits when people ask whats going on. I hate making excuses!
Okay. New game plan!! I adjusted the clutch lever out as far out as it could go, eliminating any slack in the cable which gives the maximum amount of throw on the linkage. I decided that this time I would baby it, pulling the clutch all the way to the barhandle on every single shift. Puhpow!
There's 6th gear! (Big grin as I cross the finishline) and now I'm happy. Even though I went thru the traps at a weak 10000rpm, it felt way faster and it was! 182.556 MPH in the headwind! Cool! It's now 10:51am.
Okay, time to take a break to celebrate and show some of my pals in the pits the results of getting in 6th gear! About an hour later just before lunch I decide to give it another try. The line is long at the staging lanes, and the wind kicks up just as I get to the starting grid so I have to wait 5 minutes for it to calm down. 11:52am the official gives the word it's okay to run (uhhh, hmm, I'm on a motorcycle here, and I'm the one testing to see if the wind is safe?) but I pray to God and go ahead anyway ~ 180.000mph exactly. Not bad, but not that great. Still hitting the finish line nowhere near redline in 6th. But a 180mph pass none the less.
Break for lunch. Scott decides it's time for his to 'lay the smack down' on that 155mph record. I say he's full of #$!% and has no chance as a method of motivation Well, probably a bad idea. He blasts off a full drag-style launch, and runs all gears on the spray. Cheryl says 'Uh uhh, look at Scott!' I turn to see at least a 300-foot cloud of white smoke trailing his bike as he blasts thru the finish line, still on the throttle. 'Well he REALLY DID blow it up this time' I say outloud. (Scott has been known to overexaggerate many times in the past about blowing up motors). He pulls to the right as required when something mechanical fails on the track. Luckily there was no leakage or oil or coolant on the track, his tailpipe was dry but his motor was toast. Probably a headgasket. Oh yeah ~ 140mph on that run, obviously not enough for the record but hey, he gave it all he had!
1:13pm and the sun comes out. I head back up to make another pass, this time Cheryl comes along to check out the starting line and videotape. I give it a decent amount of throttle off the starting line this time. Not a full drag launch but enough to keep the front end light through 1st and 2nd. Everything feels great, still manually clutching every gear, this time holding the revs a little higher ~11500rpm. I check back at the timing booth and they say '181.818 MPH'! Nice!
Cool! I'm excited now! But it's getting late. I had planned on leaving for home around noon, and it's almost 1:30pm now. Hmmm.. I thought.. 'okay ONE MORE PASS. Don't jinx yourself or blow it'. Scotts says 'try drag launching that $#%!* this time foo!' So I head back to the starting line. I tell Cheryl and Harry that this is my last pass, and to head back to the pits after taping this run.
So I wait in line for a bit, Harry and Cheryl are watching at the starting area. I'm kinda nervous because I'm not sure if I want to drag launch hard on a bike that isn't lowered. You may recall I haven't been back to the drag strip to launch the bike since back in March when I wrecked in a 4th-gear wheelie gone bad at 120mph where I broke both wrists and my ankle, and now I'm gonna try it without the lowering straps!?! WTF am I thinking! Ok I calm down! and decide that 3000rpm is probably as high as I want to go being at stock height (my usual drag launch is around is 6000rpm). I get to the starting line and snap my facesheild, double check my wrist strap aka 'deadman switch' and gloves. Bring the revs up to 3000rpm and get the signal from the official it's cool to go!
Man it launched smooth as ice! I wind out the clutch with the throttle on hard in first gear to 11500rpm then grabbed second with the clutch as quick as I could without upsetting the bike! Then third gear! Watched the tach and checked my body position to remind myself to stay in a tight full tuck. Tweaked my elbows in a little and made sure I was WOT! Grabbed 4th gear, awesome it went smooth! Let's hope fifth is as smooth as fourth!.. Holding the revs hard in 5th! Should I wait? Should I wind it further?! NO!!! you idiot DO WHAT YOU PLANNED and grab 6th!! Man I'm f#!king flying now! Squeeze the clutch to the bar on the 5th-to-6th grab, and it goes! Sweet! Winding 6th gear seems like forever, and I glance for a millisecond at the speedo, just long enough to think STOP LOOKING AT THE SPEEDO LOOK AHEAD FOO!!!.. I can't see what it's at exactly but it's way up there I can tell! I hold old on and keep the tuck through the traps at the finish line, checking the tach as I ease off the throttle and on the brakes smoothlly on the bumpy patch of shutdown road and I wait until it's safe to sit up (around 150ish).
'Whew! That felt like a good run!' I think to myself and I give the return road crew the thumbs up, signifying that I had a safe run and it's good to let the next guy start. I cruise back to the pit area and stop at the timing booth. 'How'd I do?' I ask... 'I don't know, there's a problem withthe printer' the lady says. OH GREAT! The printer breaks on my best pass! She calls the tower on the radio. 'What was the speed for #915?'... brief pause... and the tower responds over the CB radio.. '185.950 MPH, for motorcycle #915.'. as the printer starts to print the new record slip formotorcycle class MPS/F-3000+.
WHOOO HOO!! 'Okay, I'm done. I want to leave on a positive note!'So, that's my story. I hope you enjoyed it and I hope some more of you can make it out next year! If you need more info, checkout the ECTA WEBSITE
Guess I'll put that 1361cc kit I've been sitting on for 3 months in the bike now, and get the gearbox looked at too!
So I'm still a punk~ass 200mph wannabe tho. Damn gearbox excuses! Seriously though, with the 10mph headwind, and the tranny problem, it couldn't be done, not on stock 167rwhp motor. To put it in perspective there was another ZX12R there that makes 208 rear-wheel HP (1270cc kit w/headwork) and a 6" extended arm and bonneville speed tailsection (See the pictures I posted). His name was Jon Wennerberg (a really nice guy!!) who drove all the way from Marquette Michigan. His best MPH was 187 and some change for the weekend and his bike made a solid 40rwhp more than mine!! Yet yielded less than 2 MPH faster. I'd like to think some of that is rider! But the wind was also a major factor.
Also given the fact that the Buswieser sponsors 250+rwhp TURBO Hayabusa was going 176mph with it's owner riding, but Scott Guthrie rode it to a 202mph pass! Hehe, 250+rwhp, insane!!!! Next year 200+ MPH and 200+RWHP for ME!
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