Drag racing yours?

I've been here on KZR a fair number of years. 9 or 10 years.
I have read countless threads about the powerful Z1, KZ900 and KZ1000A... etc and how Joe blow was hot rodding or building more power into his bike and all that rot... blah blah.
You guys all know a modern 600-750 will blow your stock, old school KZ1000 in the weeds, right?

Regardless, I still have mine and love it... but I wonder how many of you other owners of Z1s and KZ1000s have actually taken your machine out to a drag strip and let it all hang out...?
Or, like me, "flip" when you put (what you think is your mighty, super tuned, +100 HP Z1/KZ) on a wheel dyno and see it put a puny 67 HP into the rear wheel...?
I have done both.
During those days back in Detroit, I was a little shit though, about <130lbs and a bit over 5 and half feet tall... so even my RD400 Daytona was a screamer.
My friends wanted me to race their bikes 'cause I was the light weight in the crowd and could actually hole shot a bike. LOL
I raced a stripped down 2 stroke Kaw 750 triple that was super fast and scary as Hell at 115mph!!
However, my dead stock my 77 KZ1000A1 was no 11 second machine like I was lead to believe it would be.
Yes, I had my share of mid 12 second runs with an occasional 12.15 to 12.20 at this same track...
Milan Dragway out on Plank Road, for those that know the Michigan area.

But by comparison, my mildly hot rodded cafe' Triumph Trident 750cc could run 12.75 to 12.90s all day long in "full on" street trim ...and give any stock Honda 750 Four a Hershey squirt in the rider's eye as they would try in vain to catch up.
Later that summer of 77' I was quite disappointed to find that after installing my new Denco headers with an open baffle, rejetting the carbs CORRECTLY at the track (quite shocked at the huge jet swap), velocity stacks and a new trick ignition system.... the best run I ever had was an 11.67. A whopping half a second faster... :huh:
Yeah, running stock sprockets and silly tires.
My retired semi-drag H2 triple was still a tiny bit faster... not really streetable though and painfully loud chambers.
Later, I dropped the KZ1000 15/33 sprockets and I went to 15/37 on the street.
That was a noticeable kick and I never got a chance to try that combo at the strip.
I settled on 15/35, which I still run to date.

Anyhow, after moving to Denver in the spring of 78' and taking it to our one and only drag strip in the late summer, at 80 degrees, an elevation of about 5,500ft MSL and really leaning the induction system down.... I had a Hell of a time getting the damn thing even into the high 12's!!! Like I lost almost a second off the ETs.
*****
Enough rambling
So, just wondering out loud and how much, if any, other BS is tossed around here? ... LOL

I've never had my bike on a Dyno but I do know it is possible to produce 125 HP at the rear wheel. :woohoo:
I was talking with my neighbor who was a dealer in the 70's and 80's about jetting and elevation and the fact that the bikes are shipped jetted at sea level. He was in Denver and had to rejet every bike that came to his shop in a crate. His partner was the distributer of Kawasaki Heavy Industries for the Rocky Mountain States. I invited him to join our group. He said he would. There's a wealth of knowledge and history there that I believe could be a asset to our site.
As for racing the modern 6/750's I can tell you, if they come along side and blip their throttle, you drop down two gears and grab a hand full and stay in the power band, the race is over, I've done it. I also had one guy splitting lanes and weaveing through traffic just to stay a head of me. I let that nut cake go. If he had something to prove, it was to himself and it was worth risking his life and or jail time to prove it. Not me. :whistle:
Sadly the Liberals in my state have done away with most of the tracks so there's no place for us to go and really use the power potential of our machines. That being the case, I guess we'll never know.
Steve

Used to race my bike when new at Milan !rst evolution of my LTD with Yoshi pipe and 29s was low 12s in street trim

Then did turbo and more experience with wheelie bar and ran 9.56 at 156 Best time ever, as then switched to all street racing

During the time frame 1978 thru about 1990 I used to crew on Kevin Tooma's Funny Bike and Top Fueler and Milan was our home track
Maybe you were there then as well?
We ran highs of mid 8s to 7s and had 9 national records between the 2 bikes
I need to get a scanner so I can post the old pics
Do you remember Zack , from Zacks cycle in Milan ?
Brings back memories of a corrupt past LOL
Dave

I spent my later twenty's pounding nails and raising baby's. I missed out on all that fun stuff. Good thing too. The way I was going, I'd ether be road kill on the FWY or launched of a cliff in Malibu Canyon. We did have Lyons Drag Strip though but I was too busy to go there much.
Steve

Years ago, myself and couple brother-in-laws regularly ran our Z's at the dragstrip. Added a header, slick and lowered the rear with struts and removed a few things like blinkers. Still street bikes and usually ran around the 11.9-12.0 range. On a cool night and a good run we saw a 11.8. Most Z's at track ran around 12.0-12.3 range with header change and rejetting. I've read many. many times of guys who say they ran low 11's after installing a header and maybe a longer swingarm but I've never seen any run anywhere near those numbers with just a few mod's.

This is what I usually race now. Fasted I've had it is in the 11.4's with wheelie bars. It has 1075, header and 29's....otherwise stock. I run it now without bars but otherwise the same. It usually runs around 11.8's and on a good night I might get a very high 11.7 out of her. Stock gearing and all. I feel it should be faster but that's all I can get. I know I'm not the best rider and my 60' times are not that great but I'm consistent and nowadays that's just as important. Motor was built back around 1980 so it's probably a little tired by now.

This is my turbo. Haven't ridden it much last couple years but one time I took it to strip, first run was around 10.20 and last two runs were 9.83's. Running 8# boost. Stock kz gearing and shifted by feel as didn't have a tach installed at the time. Left line at idle. Never ran a turbo before and wasn't sure how best to so I know it could go faster whenever I learn how to....

Street Fighter LTD wrote: Used to race my bike when new at Milan !rst evolution of my LTD with Yoshi pipe and 29s was low 12s in street trim
...
Do you remember Zack , from Zacks cycle in Milan ?
Brings back memories of a corrupt past LOL
Dave

Sounds familiar but I moved out full time to Denver in the late Spring early Summer of 1978.
I belonged to the North Bros Ford Dealership Drag Club and would go out at least 2 or 3 times a month during the season.
I remember a well known rider at Milan who use to run a unstreetable, track prepared Yamaha RD350... set up as a semi-hard core drag bike... who always blew the socks off me on my Triumph 750 maybe even my KZ1000!! LOL.
Why did they always put me up against this guy!!??? Ha ha
Back in the early 70's I tried to hang out a lot with a gang from Ypsilanti.
And maybe you know these guys now nationally known as Kalita Motorsports.
Seems like the Kalita's all got into racing and some did not make it.
K and L Speed Shop (Super Cheetah), Dean McCain, Dudley Proctor, the Gonzales Engine shops from I think, Taylor MI... etc.
I was just finishing up my Automotive Engineering degree in Dearborn back then and a lot of these guys would audit our auto and machine shop evening classes so they could use all our outrageous, expensively supplied shops and wheel dyno (thank you Ford Motor Co, Chrysler and GM!)... LOL.
Tried like Hell to get a small Rayjay and a reliable waste gate into the Z1 in 74-75.... lost some aluminum in that project and some blown head gaskets. Never fully got it worked out... no really good kits back then.
Built my backyard H2 drag bike and I think it was around 770cc with a 1 or 2 mm over bore and Denco chambers... but had no extended swing arm nor wheelie bars so it scared the heck out of me too many times.
Miss the MC5 and those motor head Motor City days!

racer54 wrote: Years ago, myself and couple brother-in-laws regularly ran our Z's at the dragstrip. Added a header, slick and lowered the rear with struts and removed a few things like blinkers. Still street bikes and usually ran around the 11.9-12.0 range. On a cool night and a good run we saw a 11.8. Most Z's at track ran around 12.0-12.3 range with header change and rejetting. I've read many. many times of guys who say they ran low 11's after installing a header and maybe a longer swingarm but I've never seen any run anywhere near those numbers with just a few mod's.

I think you are right... dripping wet at 130lbs, in an absolutely perfect, 70-72 degree, low humidity (an oxymoron in Michigan) beautiful late afternoon with my KZ1000A1 and probably the best launch I ever had... 11.67. Never got it there again either. Very high 11's and 12.0's I could do fairly consistently.
I think stock gearing, (possibly the 15/35 combo), I might have had the Dunlop tires on then.... open Denco headers, carbs with some fat main jets set to as good as possible, a trick HD long duration ignition point plate (trick for it's day) clubman bars and a qtr fairing.
But like I said, out here in Denver.... it was hard to keep it in the 12's at all....
Anyhow reading some the BS over the years about the Z1, KZ900 and old KZ1000 doing all these low and mid 11 qtr mile times with average riders.... just seemed like a fantasy to me and wondered how many of the riders here have actually put their ride to the test.

Not a lot of drag racers on here and the one's that do already posted
in this thread.
I've been to the track three time's so far this year and will be going again next weekend.
We run 1/8 mile here and last time out I ran off a 7.30 dial in.

You're just coming on the pipe in 1/8 mile. What is the projected time in the quarter?
Steve

Steve it's on the pipe when I launch it. Time works out to a low 11.40 1/4 mile.