Bike drag racing tips?
 

I'm considering heading down to the local 1/8th mile dragstrip just for fun. I've been there many times in my car, and am very familiar with how they run the show, but never on my bike.

I've never really tried to see what I could get out of the bike or even lifted the front tire or done a burnout.

So, I'm interested in anything specific to the bike. I assume I'll be trapping up around 100mph, I don't even know what gear that puts me in.

My tires are Michelin dual compounds, so not very sticky, and the track isn't all that sticky either. They sometimes put VHT down, but they're really amateurs, it's a glorified parking lot really.

What's your burnout technique? Do you go through the waterbox?

Do you guys use the clutch on any of the shifts?

Shift at 9000rpm?

What about foot position? I presume I want to keep my weight forward to keep the front end down, but is that going to sacrifice too much rear traction?

I can practice some of this on the culdesac at work, it's a dead end 4-lane road. I always get butterflies in the stomach after not racing for awhile, so I'd rather eliminate some of the surprises beforehand.

I've done the Race legal nites at Qualcomm. You really can't expect to be running great there, since it is a parking lot.

First important thing to remember is drag racing put serious heat in the clutch so don't make to many passes in a row.

That said, Line up. When you are ready to roll up, try to roll around the water boxes, and then back into them. Try to keep that front tire dry as possible. Then grab a heap of front brake, pop the clutch and smoke the tire for a burn out. A nice smokey one will tell you the tire is hot. Sometimes I release the brake a bit and do a sort of rolling burnout.

Roll up to the tree next. You have done this in a car so I assume you are familiar with the lights. Before you light the second light on the tree, get in position. Lean as far forward as possible over that tank. Feet should be stretched out behind you as far as possible. Light the second light. I launched at about 4500 rpms. Any higher and you really have to drag the clutch to keep from lifting the front tire too high. At launch, don't rush to get your feet to the pegs, it should be smooth as to not disturb your line or concentration.

Once launched, control the front tire lift with the clutch. Shift just after 9k. You will probably only be shifting twice. Clutchless is fine and quicker. Keep your eyes at the end of the track and focus on a point. It will help you go straight.

Traction is a bit of an issue at qualcomm. I learned what it felt like to spin a tire at speed there. Just remember to stay on the throttle if you feel it spinning. It will catch soon enough.

Last thing is have fun! More important to have fun then to sweat the small stuff.

Thanks! That's exactly where I was going. I did about 150 passes there in my vette from '05-07 and ran brackets whenever they let us and have a few plastic trophies to show for it.

Have you been down there recently? How is tech, track prep, etc.?

I went once last year for the first time in awhile just to burn my drag radials off and they weren't even running the left track. They've really screwed up a good thing with the price hikes and getting rid of bracket racing. That and them getting lazy with VHT caused many of the fast cars to quit showing.

The last time I checked out the launch area on the left track up close it was almost entirely coated in tire rubber.

i've been a couple of times...

i didn't do any burnouts cause the launch area is very sticky already. ( you can feel it when trying to lift your boot ). i just rolled around the water.

i started with pretty mild starts and ramped it up a bit with each run. i short shifted into second, to help keep the front end down, then pinned it !


not something i'd do every weekend but it was fun.
.


tim

What's considered a decent 60' time and ET for a Superchicken?

Man I haven't been there in quite awhile. Be sure to check out racelegal.com for schedules. I went down to watch my buddy run and he wasn't so happy about it. They have kind frowned on bikes and it shows, not many bikes were running.

As for times, it's hard to say what is good. I'd say just set a goal after you get a feel for what you are doing and try to achieve that.

i may have some old time slips laying around at home ...

i'll take a look tonight. we ran 1/4 mile. i wasn't fast by any means but iirc i was in the 13's @ a bit over 100mph

tim

I was expecting someone to say low 12s. I guess in the 1/8th mile that's in the mid 7 second range?

Older thread...

https://www.superhawkforum.com/forum...rter+mile+time

the only slips i found are from oct 7, 2006

run #1 , run#2, run#3 , run #4 , run#5

R/T: .567, .160, .092, .074, .068
60' : 2.100, 2.272 , 2.148 , 2.020 , 2.048
1/8 : 8.131, 8.857 , 8.072 , 7.800 , 7.884
MPH : 95.51, 89.13 , 95.77 , 96.94 , 96.25
1/4 : 12.277, 13.165 , 12.245 , 11.908 , 12.013
MPH : 117.83 , 114.89 , 115.20 , 117.11 , 116.91



i got some advice after falling asleep on the first run :D
.567 WoW... suprised they didn't throw me out. lol

tim

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

sorry, had too.

I went to New England Dragway a few years ago, I'll dig out the slips but I was in the low 11's at around 120mph (1/4 mi.) Horrible reaction times, and a hell of a time keeping the front down. I think these would be an easy mid-high 10 second bikes if it could be launched without fear of landing on your ass. Didn't one of the bike mags run one in the 10's a few years ago?

i ran mid to low 7's in the 1/8th on mine when it was stock. as others have said the problem is keeping the front down and getting a good launch because thats where the VTR does its best, not on the big end of the track like the 4 cylinder bikes.

two words to help with the front end lift problem.....FORK STRAP!!!! my bike goes 10's all day in the 1/4 and high 6's in the 1/8th. 1/8th is like 101mph, 1/4 is right around 121. here's a pic of my bike at the track with the front strapped down the front fender is about an inch from the bottom of the head light. if your not strapped have fun gettin any decent times and not flipping over, lol. i cut consistant 1.7 60's as well with the strap, without it i had to work my ass off for a 1.9.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...hawk/bike1.jpg

Oooh, now that I like...!

any other mods or is that just good riding, sounds pretty quick.

the hawk is tricky to strap as it doesn't have a lower fork brace ( stock ). did you
grab around the calipers or the mounting bolts... ?

standard practice at our tracks is NO jeans if you trap over 100mph...
look into the rules before heading out.

tim

Looks like the guy working the track is hungry for a $5 footlong.

Y'all inspired me, I went to Atco yesterday for the first time on a drag strip and had a blast.

I went with a fewof guys from work and had the best 1/4mi time of the group!!! Two of the guys were not really trying to go fast, one of them had a 20yr old seca 600 and the other was on a dual sprot that topped out half way down the track at 75mph. The other two were riding a 600 ninja a VFR. The VFR was close in time to the hawk, but when we ran "heads up" in the final run, I posted my best time and got him by .4 sec.


my times are :

60' 2.285 2.270 2.163
1/8 8.200 8.318 8.035
1/4 12.342 12.493 12.197
MPH 117.59 116.59 116.40

So every August I go to a little party called the Bulldog Bash, see http://www.bulldogbash.eu/ for an idea of what goes down.

It's a camping long weekend, around a 1/4 mile drag strip, the shakespear county raceway.

For around £30 I can run all day for three days.

Best I've got so far is an 11.6, but I've got drink-wrecked reaction times and the clutch locks unexpectedly leading to obscene wheelies, fun but slow.

So short-shifting into second, then wind her up. Change on the redline.

I dropped one tooth at the front last year because I kept hitting the limiter about 20 yards before the line; this fixed it but meant another gearchange.

But it rained most of the weekend, so only got four runs, a shakedown and a tryer on two consecutive days.

2008- .49 reaction, 7.724 at 100.6 mph 1/8, then 11.638, 124.63mph 1/4.

But in 2007, I got:
.704 reaction (!) 7.607 at 99.39 mph 1/8, then 11.62 at 118.99 mph at the 1/4.

Ah, well. August isn't long to wait....

By the way, that's a with standard engine and carbs, straight through carbon cans with no baffle and a K & N.