Drag Bikes

[seedy]

I myself got out of the game in '98 to go contracting overseas. I had an 5 year plan to come back bigger and better, but I met a girl and the rest is history Though I do have my second wife, my Ducati 999S

Here are some pics of my last racebike. Best stats 60' @ 1.12secs, 1/4 mile 8.16secs @ 166.6 mph (268kph). It was a custom, jig built chassis, turbo Suzuki (the donor was a black Katana engine [they had the good crank & rods for those that know of the era]). Garret T3 (20PSI max boost), custom fuel system, clutch and the list goes on, but I won't bore you with all the exotic bits. Lets just say that American vendors played a major part in keeping the engine bullet proof.

edit: and before anyone asks, I was acting like a second coat of paint after the Christmas Tree. This was just my style for launching.

819 AA-MB 04.jpg819 AA-MB 05.jpg

Looks like a DCOE Weber - don't see them much anymore !

[seedy]

My best was low 10's on a H2 Kawa.

No pics - or anything from that part of my life. Went to Vancouver to see Led Zeppelin. Great show. Met these girls at the club after, told them what a great time we had. They wanted to go, so stayed the extra nite and bought scalper tickets for the 4 of us.

Long story short, the duplex I was renting burned to the ground that night of the second concert. Fool next door got drunk, passed out, cig caught the sofa, all gone.

Had a 12 ft by 12 ft shed with the bike, spares, all my racing gear. Nothing left but puddles of melted aluminum.

Had the clothes I took, and my car.

Of course - being a whole 20 years old, had never heard of insurance for your possessions in a rented house.

Just put it down the continuing cost of my education !!

[Spoonman]

That looks like it was a lot of fun Garry.

[Garry]

I myself got out of the game in '98 to go contracting overseas. I had an 5 year plan to come back bigger and better, but I met a girl and the rest is history Though I do have my second wife, my Ducati 999S

Here are some pics of my last racebike. Best stats 60' @ 1.12secs, 1/4 mile 8.16secs @ 166.6 mph (268kph). It was a custom, jig built chassis, turbo Suzuki (the donor was a black Katana engine [they had the good crank & rods for those that know of the era]). Garret T3 (20PSI max boost), custom fuel system, clutch and the list goes on, but I won't bore you with all the exotic bits. Lets just say that American vendors played a major part in keeping the engine bullet proof.

edit: and before anyone asks, I was acting like a second coat of paint after the Christmas Tree. This was just my style for launching.

819 AA-MB 04.jpg819 AA-MB 05.jpg

Looks like a DCOE Weber - don't see them much anymore !

True, 40mm DCOE Weber upgraded to high fuel flow (as if they don't flow enough already). I loved the Webers for tuning. My original tune baseline came from a sponsor who raced a circuit car, turbo 3 liter 260Z. The Weber idea came from a buddy who gave me a custom inlet manifold, when he decided to go another direction with fuel injection. His current dragbike is running 6.84 sec @ 204 mph.

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[Garry]

That looks like it was a lot of fun Garry.

It was mate. Most of my races were handicap, so I generally did the chasing, which certainly lifted my game. The amount of times I smoked people at the finish line when they thought they had won

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[Garry]

My best was low 10's on a H2 Kawa.

No pics - or anything from that part of my life. Went to Vancouver to see Led Zeppelin. Great show. Met these girls at the club after, told them what a great time we had. They wanted to go, so stayed the extra nite and bought scalper tickets for the 4 of us.

Long story short, the duplex I was renting burned to the ground that night of the second concert. Fool next door got drunk, passed out, cig caught the sofa, all gone.

Had a 12 ft by 12 ft shed with the bike, spares, all my racing gear. Nothing left but puddles of melted aluminum.

Had the clothes I took, and my car.

Of course - being a whole 20 years old, had never heard of insurance for your possessions in a rented house.

Just put it down the continuing cost of my education !!

Yeah that blows big time. I thought losing all my trophies and memorabilia to a storage problem (long story) was bad enough.

[Garry]

My friend builds 2stroke drag bikes and competes. This is his honda Dash. Runs 200m at 7s, the thing is scary fast for sub 200cc.

I know the small bike drag scene is pretty huge in Chiang Mai, they race every second sunday at the 700yr stadium. I've not once seen any bike running that wasn't sub 200cc. Maybe it's different in other areas.

Saw a songtaew drag once, too. <3 Thailand.

Will check them out when I back home again.

Only 2 strokes ? No 4 stroke racing classes ?

Far as I know some tracks run 4 strokes, but the Thai guys love their 2 strokes and you get to see some good engineering in the high end ones

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[seedy]

Hi 6's - no buttons on that seat ! Love to ride it !

[Garry]

Some of the 2 stroke dragbikes here are so gutted out to reduce weight, I'd be afraid to sit on one let alone ride one

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[seedy]

Some of the 2 stroke dragbikes here are so gutted out to reduce weight, I'd be afraid to sit on one let alone ride one

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But the Rush when they come "On the Pipe" is great. Love that feeling - that ripping snarl as the bars try to jerk themselves out of your hands.

Altho' that 6 second beast probably does that too. Looks like a HUGE turbo.

[Garry]

It's the 60' times that tell the story. I had at the time, one of the hardest launching turbo bikes in the country. 1.12secs, the track computer says I was doing 58 mph at that point and I had already changed into 2nd gear

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[Garry]

There is virtually no turbo lag even back then. Power was there in less than a heartbeat. I launched at 9K, shifted at 10K,

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[seedy]

60 feet - 60 mph. Excellent times.

What size slick did you run 8 or 10 inch ?

And I remember that I had a hard time to learn that first shift. Drop the clutch and shift right away as the revs were thru the ceiling !!

Especially if the tire did not hook up !!

[Garry]

60 feet - 60 mph. Excellent times.

What size slick did you run 8 or 10 inch ?

And I remember that I had a hard time to learn that first shift. Drop the clutch and shift right away as the revs were thru the ceiling !!

Especially if the tire did not hook up !!

Hmm, from memory: 28x9x15. My electronics (Dynatek) covered any overspeeds, shift points etc.. Having an air shifter made gear changes virtually instant. Getting the tune up right was another thing.

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[seedy]

I must get acquainted with air shifters. Delay boxes. All electronic devices. Never used them. Got good at reading plugs, which with unleaded fuel is a dying art. But looking forward to learning the stuff I never used before.

[Garry]

At the end of the day you can have all the gizmos in the world, but if the rider hasn't got their act together, it's all for naught.

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[Garry]

I must get acquainted with air shifters. Delay boxes. All electronic devices. Never used them. Got good at reading plugs, which with unleaded fuel is a dying art. But looking forward to learning the stuff I never used before.

Air or electric shifters will give you consistency. I never ran a delay box. I just ran Dynatek coils, ignition, 2 Step & shift light. The tuning is what I enjoyed: clutch slip, ignition timing, boost, fuel mapping of the Weber etc

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[seedy]

Anyone have any experience with the VMax ? Quite a few for sale, with no green book, so the price is right.

Wondering how hard you can 'Lean' on the engine - does the bottom end hold up.

[ll2]

what about this for the drag races? cheap and easy to get and work on but looks fast

[Garry]

Anyone have any experience with the VMax ? Quite a few for sale, with no green book, so the price is right.

Wondering how hard you can 'Lean' on the engine - does the bottom end hold up.

If I remember correctly, the VMax's dragraced in the states were converted to chain drive for reliability and more gearing options.

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[seedy]

I really enjoyed the experimentation too. Spent many hours cutting and modifying the expansion chambers, altering the volume to try and get a bit more. Jet changes, longer and shorter intake manifolds. Wish we had the selection of reed valves then that are available now.

Air shifter will work wonders too, along with the newer compound tires. Ones we run were rock hard, and you had to get heat into them to get them to hook up.

Back in the day the burnout box was called the bleach box, for obvious reasons.

Not PC today tho' !!

[Garry]

I really enjoyed the experimentation too. Spent many hours cutting and modifying the expansion chambers, altering the volume to try and get a bit more. Jet changes, longer and shorter intake manifolds. Wish we had the selection of reed valves then that are available now.

Air shifter will work wonders too, along with the newer compound tires. Ones we run were rock hard, and you had to get heat into them to get them to hook up.

Back in the day the burnout box was called the bleach box, for obvious reasons.

Not PC today tho' !!

bleach were definitely the toxic burnout of the era, I have some files somewhere on 2 stroke exhaust design & fabrication, very interesting stuff. A mate of mine (engineer) in Canada actually has software which he designed for 2 stroke engines. You can give him your combination (design parameters) and his software will let you know if it will work or not.

Believe it or not, I actually raced my street cars before I got into dragbikes

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[Dutchbike]

For those interested, coming saturday the 11th of october there's a drag event at the new Buriram track, cars only I believe, but a good change to check out the new dragstrip.from 11:00 AM untill 10:00 PM entry ฿100

[ll2]

i think there is a drag strip located at 53rd km of Rama2 road close to Bangkok.

there is a drag event there this Saturday - 15th of November by K Speed.

check it out drag lovers!

Edited November 13, 2014 by ll2

[ll2]

[Familyonthemove]

Went to Tepnakorn this weekend - good fun and a few sub 10 second runs from the litre bikes. Will post some pics from my proper camera later - but here's some mobile snaps.

[Dutchbike]

It looks like Buriram's drag strip is ready for business

A dragracing event ( cars and bikes?) is taking place next weekend

[seedy]

Thanks for the Heads-Up