Hey Gang - Made it up to the 1/8 drags at the temporary track in Elliott Lake, Ontario. This is a tour that uses municipal airports and is part of a NRHA sanctioned series.
Test and tune day was Friday and the event was supposed to start around mid-afternoon but a light rain pushed everything back a few hours. After a riduculous 3.75 hour wait in line to get in through the gate, we unloaded the bike and sat in line it was 7:30 before they called the bikes to the line.
I planned to take it easy the first few runs and gradually work my way into a higher rpm launch and shift points on subsequent passes. I had the back tire pressure at 27 psi and planned on avoiding the burnout box for the first run
My first pass I was paired up with a 1984 750 Interceptor, all original with low miles and in pretty nice shape ridden by a guy that probably weighed about a buck and a half. This Interceptor, when it was new, would easily beat a Kz650 of the same era so I was pretty keen to see how my 650/810 would match up with the V4 honda.
I left the line around revving fairly low at only 2500 rpm feathering the clutch a little bit instead of just dumping it hard. Once rolling, I got a nice jump on the other guy even though he cut a red light. Every shift was nice and smooth using the clutch for the first run. I was shifting probably around 9 grand which is lower than I normally do when letting it hang out. I didn’t want to run the risk of breaking anything on the first run.
The front wheel came off the ground about a foot and a half shifting from first to second and I rolled off the throttle for just a blip to keep the front from climbing any further. The motor ran perfect all the way through to the finish line which I crossed in 4th near redline and it was still pulling really strong.
This turned out to be the only run I got in.
A guy driving a puke yellow Nova put a rod through his block coming out of the burn out box and instead of pulling over before the start line drove through the staging area and left a trail of anti-freeze down the full lenght of his lane which shut down that lane for the rest of the evening. Saturday was a complete washout thanks to torrential rains. I decided to pack it in, head home and wait until the next meet in August.
I was reasonably happy with my times which were half a second quicker than last year when I ran an 8.99 This year with the Gpz750 cams and Mikuni 29 Smoothbores the bike was noticeably stronger.
Based on what I ran with this one easy pass, I can surmise that the cams and carb upgrades are good for nearly half a second in the 1/8.
Here is what I ran:
8.50 E.T.
0.0666 reaction time
60 ft. 1.62
Speed 89.997 mph
The Interceptor ran a 9.25 and even with him getting a jump on me I had him by a few bike lengths at the 60 foot mark which shows how much torque this motor spins. Having the 14 tooth sprocket also really helps me come off the line quick.
With a warmed up tire, a little harder launch and higher shift points I am pretty confident that the bike has another few tenths in it. I'll have to wait unti the weekend of August 20-21st to find out for sure.
BTW, my buddy is an old Kz bike mechanic and racer. He ran his 20 year old Z1 drag bike with a 122 big bore with 13.1 pistons, oversized valves, tweaked head, mild cams, 35 mm flat sides, undercut tranny, air shifter, skinny slick on spoke wheels and wheelie bars and pulled off an impressive 6.21 at around 120 mph. He has been running the drags for many years and at around 140 lbs is like the Canadian version of Pee Wee Gleason. I would liked to have had him run my bike as he probably could have got it into the sevens with his experience which is easily good for a few tenths. His best time in the 1/4 is 9.1 and he says it puts out around 155 ponies. This is impressive for a bike with pretty much 30 year old technology and not a ton of money into the motor.
Here is a pic of me and the Honda at the 60 foot cone.
Cheers-Colin Firth-Ontario Canada
Post edited by: reborn650, at: 2007/07/16 12:32