I'm the King of Street!

[High Lord Gomer]

Well, for a month, anyway. :)

http://www.carolinadragway.com/preview/results.php

During the practice rounds I couldn't keep the front wheel on the ground. I have 6" swingarm extensions that I usually put on when I go to drag race but I didn't this time. I have run 11.31 without the extensions, but all of my practice runs were 11.6 - 12.0, depending on how soon I could get the front end back down. I even tried taking off at idle thinking I might be more consistent if I didn't slip the clutch at all. That didn't work because the bike almost died from being full throttle at such low RPMs. On my last practice run I finally decided to slip the clutch gently to keep the front end down and it seemed to work.

There were only 5 of us in the bike class with the first one to sign up getting a bye in the first round. I lined up with a guy on his father's ZX-14 (he normally rides an R1. Both he and his father were running in the nines in practice but switched bikes for the races for some reason. I dialed in an 11.80, figuring that if I wheelied, that would be about what I might run and if I didn't I could back out of it near the end. I had a good light, .048, kept the front end down so I had 1.846 at the 60' mark, then looked over for him when I got near the end. He was way back there so I got on the brakes and slowed down to 101.9 mph. I ended up breaking out by .26 seconds but got lucky because he redlit. Otherwise he had a good run with a 9.928 on a 9.90 dial-in.

In the second round I lined up with a guy who had just gotten back into riding with a Katana 750. I changed my dial-in to 11.60 after running an 11.54 on the brakes. The person with the best reaction time in the first round got the bye in the second round. I was thinking I might have it with the .048 but Jamie, a regular who runs the full points series, had a .012 reaction time in his first round! This race was unusual for me because I'm usually the slower guy racing against full-blown drag bikes and 'busas. The other guy was still learning the lights and had a bad reaction time of .370. I had a decent light (for me) with a .084 and kept the front end down for a 1.875 at the 60' mark. I caught the other guy after the 1/8 and rode just ahead of him. I was still a little too far in front so I got om the brakes before the lights and got down to 94mph.

WooHoo! I'm in the finals!

Jamie, on his ZX-9, runs consistely between 10.6 and 10.8 so he dialed in 10.7. I left mine at 11.60. I was surprised that I had a better reaction time than him, .078 to .113. I again was able to keep the front down and got to the 60' mark at 1.885. When I looked back Jamie was a fair bit back so I got on the brakes. Then he seemed to be too close so I got back on the gas. Then I got back on the brakes again before the end, slowed down to 93 mph, and (if I'm reading the slip right, finished .0969 seconds ahead of him. It was close! I knew something must have been wrong because he runs 10.6 - 10.8 EVERY time. Turns out his clutch was slipping.

3 lucky passes and I got a trophy, but they haven't posted those pictures, yet.

 

[mx547]

cool, i'd like to try that. i'd like to race my street bike and dirt bike-except on an 1/8 mile track.

 

[biglou]

First, King of my Heart, now, King of the Street. You are too much man. :whoa:

 

[Papakeith]

:yikes: TMI

 

[MXSparx]

:cool: :cool: :cool:

 

[Rich Rohrich]

Good job Gomer. :yeehaw: :yeehaw:

 

[sick 96 250]

what kin of bike do you run? I didnt see anything about in the thread unless I just over looked it?

 

[High Lord Gomer]

Oops...it's a basically stock 02 FZ1.

Thanks, everyone...especially Lou!!!

 

[squeaky]

Hey that's pretty neat! Good Job Gomer!!

 

[Ol'89r]

Very cool. :cool: Way to go Goober.

Your still my hero. :worship:

 

[High Lord Gomer]

Very cool. :cool: Way to go Goober.

Your still my hero. :worship:

Thanks, but I think you got that backwards.

BTW, get ready...I should be out there in 2 weeks or so!

 

[BSWIFT]

Staged and waiting for the light is awsome. Love to run the strip. Good job! Did a 11.93 on 81 Seca 750, I weighed in at 120 lbs. I was running heads up with a LTD1000. He got me by a front wheel. Lots of fun!

 

[Brian]

Cool stuff. Those are some good times, too. I have spent lots of time in the last year or two at the dragstrip, but always with cars. I've always wondered what my 250 would run in the 1/8 mile. ;)

 

[motometal]

glad you had fun. I've been wanting to try my FZ1 at the drag strip, just seems like every weekend there is something else going on. I'm not sure how keen I would be on that type of system though, I think I'd rather just try for my best time?

 

[Brian]

Scott, most tracks will let you do "test/tuning" which is open runs to try for your best time as well as the bracket racing Gomer did. Sometimes they hold different events/classes on different nights of the week.

 

[motometal]

yes, test and tune, I think they have that. 1/4 mile great for a modern street bike, like you said on a dirt bike or vintage street 1/8 would be fun.

 

[Ol'89r]

BTW, get ready...I should be out there in 2 weeks or so!

:yikes: Oh ma gawd!! :ohmy: Gomers a-comin to visit. :whoa: Lock up all the furry lil farm animals. :yeehaw:

Mike, check your PM's.

 

[kingbrian]

Oops...it's a basically stock 02 FZ1.

Thanks, everyone...especially Lou!!!

not to bad fer a yamaha.... but i ran a 10.28 @ 127.9 on the dyno drags at the laughlin river run(hahaha) id love to git on the real strip to see wut i could pull, im sure itd be much slower cuz im afraid to wheelie :)

02 honda 919 puttin down 109.9 horse at the wheel

 

[High Lord Gomer]

I've heard that most people get *much* better numbers on a dyno drag than at a ral dragstrip. I think the FZ1 HP is somewhere in the high 120s at the rear wheel, but it is 500 lbs. Scott, correct me if I'm wrong on any of those numbers.

Honestly, in both cars and on bikes, everthing important happens in the first 1/8. That other 1/8 just gives you a chance to blow up more stuff. On the FZ1 I'm doing about 100 in the 1/8 and am in 3rd or 4th (with my gearing). I hit the 1/4 mile mark about the time I should shift to 6th.

As far as trying a dirtbike, only do it with street or S/M tires. I tried my CRF450 and launched ok, but about 30 feet out it broke loose and went completely sideways. I got it under control and putted the rest of the way and put it on the trailer.

 

[Rich Rohrich]

Everything important happens in the first 60-100 feet. :)

 

[Ol'89r]

As far as trying a dirtbike, only do it with street or S/M tires. I tried my CRF450 and launched ok, but about 30 feet out it broke loose and went completely sideways. QUOTE]

Back in the day I took my dirtbike, (650cc Triumph twin flattrack/TT bike) to the drag strip just to see what it would turn. It was set up in TT trim with a front brake, number plates and dirttrack tires.

Turned out it was way undergeared and I had to grab the clutch and coast through the traps at the end of the 1/4 mile. Due to the gearing I didn't turn a very good time.

There were a couple of guys there that were running a Norton engine in a Triumph rigid frame and they held the B Street Worlds record and the track record. The bike was called the 'Snortin Norton'.

Well, these two guys named Mulders and Reece came over and looked at our Triumph dirttracker and laughed their arses off. Told us to take that goofy looking thing home and never come back. We did take it home but, then a couple of weeks later we came back. :p

Over the two weeks we changed the gearing, installed a little rib front tire and K70 rear tire worn down to a slick. Installed a little headlight turned around backwards and a taillight to make the bike eligible for the B Street class. Also, took the shocks off and installed rigid struts and a pair of clip-on roadracer style handlebars. The bike turned a 11:83 and went 110:56 mph and we took the record away from Mulders and Reece with an identical back-up run. Also challenged them to a two out of three grudge match and beat them twice. They didn't have too much to say after that. :nener: The record went down with the dragstrip, Lyon's dragstrip in Long Beach which closed down a few years later.

The funny thing about it was the bike was really nothing special. The engine was built similar to just about every other Triumph flattracker running during that time. The gearing was still a little off and I still had to coast the last 50-60 feet or so. Always wondered what it would have turned with the right gearing. :whoa:

 

[High Lord Gomer]

LOL! Don't you wish you had them on camera for that?!?

BTW, they got the pics up from last weekend (just the winners, no race pics)...

http://www.carolinadragway.com/photos/2006/KQ82006/bg_dsc_5472.html

 

[Brian]

A good launch is the most important part of the whole 1/4 mile. Improving 60' times will net better E/Ts, assuming you don't screw up later down the track. The best 60' time I ever cut in my Mustang was a 2.1, but as luck would have it, that was one of the few times I missed a shift, and didn't hit third gear. Most of my 60' times were in the 2.2-2.4 second range with 1/8-mile E/Ts in the low 9's. Of course thats nothing to some of my buddies cars that will run in the low 7's :ohmy: