My first roadrace after a nearly 29 year break is in the books. Back in the 70's and 80's I raced with the various clubs and AMA on a series of production roadracers. When I stopped after the 1986 season I intended to take a break and then build something fun and to do the occasional track day and maybe a club race or two. As often happens, one thing leads to another and suddenly 25 year had gone by. I made up my mind it was now or never and decided a replica of the Honda's raced in the 60's would be the hot ticket. The holy grail to me was the RC181 raced by Hailwood and Redman. With that settled I embarked on an adventure to build a vintage roadracer based on the CB550. The build is documented in the Project Shop section under CB550 Track Bike.
My intention was to take a race school and make my first race back at Nelson Ledges. I had raced there regularly and it is within 3 hours of home. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate and we were snowed out! Next on the schedule was one of my favorite tracks, Road America and a race school was available. So I loaded up the trailer and hit the road with a couple of buddies. My brother drove in from Illinois and Thursday evening (after surviving Chicago rush hour) we met at Road America.
Friday morning bright and early I was in class with 8 or so other students. It was a cool and windy day, but dry. The day found us alternating classroom sessions with track time. The classroom work was informative and the instructors knowledgeable. The track time was challenging! Trying to learn a new bike that I had built myself, trying to remember how to go fast (relatively speaking), and relearning the track at the same time was a steep learning curve. The carbs on my 550 are from a 78 CB750. The lean spot between 3,000 and 6,000 RPM made the bike challenging to ride. I was struggling out of the slow curves, particularly the new chicane just after the carousel. Nothing to 6,000 and then she would clear out and pull great to redline. The day ended with a mock race. In addition to the students, the instructors and a few other competitors participated. The mock race went well and my times continued to drop. After the race, one last quiz, and I was the proud recipient of an AHRMA race license.
During the mock race I had grounded one of the exhaust headers. Not a confidence inspiring event. I did not want to pick the tire up and low side! In an effort to gain additional ground clearance I increased the shock spring preload and lowered the forks a half inch. Saturday was warmer, but still windy. Two practice sessions in the morning and then it was time to race. I did not drag the exhaust in practice, but it was in the back of my mind.
I was gridded on row two of the second wave for the race. The first wave was 500 Premier and 500GP. Only real RC181s are eligible for 500GP, so I raced in Formula 500. Also in the second wave was Production Heavy weight. My start was nothing to write home about and I hit turn one 5th in class. By the end of the first lap I had passed a couple riders and was 4th in class and 13th overall. The leaders in class were on 2 stroke twins, either air cooled TR or TA Yamaha's. For the next couple of laps I diced with 3rd while the leaders disappeared. we passed a couple of other riders and then while braking for turn 5 at the end of the second long straight he lost the front end and slid off the track. It was a lonely ride from there and I crossed the finish line 3rd in class and 10th overall. I was all smiles. I survived my first race since 1986 and the first 4 stroke race bike I'd every built had ran well. While I was well off the pace of the leaders all in all it was a most successful weekend.
As I had to be back at work Monday and at 60 years of age all night drives no longer thrill me, we packed up and hit the road Sunday morning.
Here are some pictures from the weekend.
In the pits.
Photos from practice, front straight.
Heading into turn one.
Turn five.
Talking strategy in the pits.
Racing with 3rd (1E), he lost the front wheel just after this photo.
Since the race I have added 30mm extensions to my shocks bringing the total length to 350mm. The front forks have been lowered 26mm as I was looking to quicken up the steering. I also have given up on the CB750 carbs. Needles to address the lean spot are not available and no amount of shimming works. So, Christmas came early and a set of Keihin CR29 smoothbore carbs are on the bike. Dyno time will be after Mid-Ohio next weekend, so the jetting is what Dynoman recommended. Hope it is close. Planning one more race after that at barber and hope to do the Ohio Mile in September for top speed. See you at the races.
