Topic: Bonneville

[Don R]

 Is anyone following Bonneville? I saw on FB that a 50cc Honda went over 50mph for a record today. I think these guys restored old bikes and raffled them off to make racing money last year.

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

Old Scrambler was heading there

[Old Scrambler]

My 1st time as a spectator to an SCTA event.............many more spectators than show up at the BMST.  The Speed Demon car went 455-mph on 7 cylinders to set a record for a certain sized motor. Yes, the push-rod 50cc Honda set a record. Most bikes were running turbos and not doing very well.......but a few records were achieved. They have no Classic category so only vintage of 1955 and older vs. modern-era bikes. A few rookies came with 'tuned' Bussa's only to be disappointed with speeds below 185. I helped a few people at the starting lines because they were short of crew.........I noticed a Bussa team in town at a casino parking lot doing some work on the bike in the parking lot.........they were running at 198 and wanted a personal best of 200 or more.........They got it the next morning after doing a few little things I had suggested to improve the aero............

Overall attendance was down and the waiting lines were thin on Tuesday and Wednesday.........I left with more runs to make on Thursday............good trip except for the 2 blown tires on my RV.........lucky I had 2 spares

[cb550fcafe]

Is anyone following Bonneville? I saw on FB that a 50cc Honda went over 50mph for a record today. I think these guys restored old bikes and raffled them off to make racing money last year.

Chad Wick is the guy. ran a 46.618 then a 47.437 mph on a 50cc Honda C110 pushrod engine last I heard, they may have gone faster since.

He runs Vintage Moto Raffle page on FB

[Old Scrambler]

Thanks CB550.............the SCTA sets up somewhat parallel courses flanked by alternate courses so they can move the tracks when the original gets too loose. Course #1 (175-mph+) was graded to 9-miles but only timed from the 2 through the 5. Course #2 was considered the short course and was timed from the 1 through the 5 but lower speed vehicles were supposed to turn-out after the 3.

On the first day a Camaro blew its motor on #1 but no parts were found on the course.....later reports of parts on the course caused officials to walk a few times..........on day 4 a clean run was completed but the car had substantial body damage from something on the course.....another walk but nothing was found.....They moved the course to the next alternative on day 5 because of soft spots and ruts. Course #2 had already been moved on day 4........Each course has a blue center-line and a few flags along the edges. The BMST does not provide a center-line but has many more flags along each course.

Rookie drivers and cars are required to make qualifying runs at selected speeds for licensing to exceed 200-mph..........the electric car went 192 on a 125 qualifying run......that was followed by an 'official' having a talk with the driver....who later claimed his speedo was not working ........But he told me while waiting to make another run that he was so tightly crammed into the cockpit that he could not move his head to see the speedo..........his crew later removed some of the padding and relocated the speedo to the center........followed by a record-setting run of 225 or better.............

The very wide array of car and bike designs was fun to see..........most of the classic-era bikes were running with turbos but at slightly slower records than naturally aspirated...........apparently the added drag on the motor is not overcome by the turbo-effect on small displacement single-cylinder motors.........I asked one rider why he simply did not engage the turbo to set a record....he was already 'cheating' the records by using gas in the fuel category.......but he had no answer.

I had fun and was joined by friends and made a few new friends without getting sun-burned

[Old Scrambler]

Just a note...........On Wednesday in the early AM Ralph Hudson went down after clearing the 4-mile at 252-mph on his 1000cc bike........critical injuries, flight for life......no other reports.........now in Salt Lake City hospital.

[scottly]

Is anyone following Bonneville? I saw on FB that a 50cc Honda went over 50mph for a record today. I think these guys restored old bikes and raffled them off to make racing money last year.

Chad Wick is the guy. ran a 46.618 then a 47.437 mph on a 50cc Honda C110 pushrod engine last I heard, they may have gone faster since.

He runs Vintage Moto Raffle page on FB

What class did this bike run in? Was it a new class with no previous record? I need to dig out my old SCTA rule-book and see what the record was for 50cc in 1981.. 

[seanbarney41]

Is anyone following Bonneville? I saw on FB that a 50cc Honda went over 50mph for a record today. I think these guys restored old bikes and raffled them off to make racing money last year.

Chad Wick is the guy. ran a 46.618 then a 47.437 mph on a 50cc Honda C110 pushrod engine last I heard, they may have gone faster since.

He runs Vintage Moto Raffle page on FB

What class did this bike run in? Was it a new class with no previous record? I need to dig out my old SCTA rule-book and see what the record was for 50cc in 1981..

for sure there is a bunch of nerdy teenagers in Kalamazoo going faster than that on hopped up Tomos'

[Don R]

 The side cover said M-PG 50cc  old record, Adam Voigt 46.618
 
 I wonder what the 50cc yamahopper record is? Mine almost goes 30. L0L!

[Old Scrambler]

Ralph Hudson continues to improve and now has had is broken bones mended He has gone over 300-mph at Solare in Bolivia.....chased by a Honda in the 280s

[Old Scrambler]

It was not to be.........Last night Ralph Hudson succumbed to his injuries.

[johno]

RIP Ralphy, Doing what he loved best,  better than Covid

[gpzkat]

That's so sad, RIP.

Here are a couple photos of my bike at Bonneville long ago, original/previous owner Ron West.  I think that same SCTA guy in the white hat is in the 70's Don Vesco video on YouTube at around 30 seconds in.  Vesco's shop in Laguna Niguel CA built the turbo motor on the GS1100E.

[Sam Green Racing]

The side cover said M-PG 50cc  old record, Adam Voigt 46.618
 
 I wonder what the 50cc yamahopper record is? Mine almost goes 30. L0L!

Hi Don, going back to this 50, I did manage to speak to the guy on social media.
He did run in M-PG but was unsuccessful, he didn't mention any speeds though.
The Honda 50 that he ran was a C110 sports bike with just 5bhp as standard.
His fastest one way run was at 50.005mph. Couple this with his other run, it gave him the record in P-PP at 49.951mph.
This was some sort of Production Pushrod record from what I can gather.
He told me he weighed in at 125lbs which is handy for such a small bike but the altitude at Bonneville must have crippled the 5bhp.
Here's a picture of his bike.

Sam.

[Sam Green Racing]

Is anyone following Bonneville? I saw on FB that a 50cc Honda went over 50mph for a record today. I think these guys restored old bikes and raffled them off to make racing money last year.

Don, here's a copy and paste of the reply I got when I asked about the bike on their Facebook page.

Andy Pickett
Hello, the bike was not a raffle bike though I’m sure Chad has thought about it, we did get the record twice in production-production push rod. Class P-PP we did run modified but fell short on that record. We are located in Milwaukee.

Don, I'm not sure how much value having a Bonneville record would add to this bike and I'm not even sure if this was the reason for them doing it.
I don't know what it costs to race at Bonneville, maybe someone could tell us but the cost of gas to transport the bike over 3,000 miles round trip must have been astronomic.

Back in 69/70, I had a little Honda 50, C100 step through, basically the same motor but with a 3 speed gearbox and centrifugal clutch with just 4.5bhp on tap.
It was clocked at 55mph through a speed trap but sadly for me, it was through a police speed trap in a 40mph zone. hahaha.
However, my bike did have some C110 parts fitted, camshaft, alloy cylinder head with a bit of porting to the inlet port and a high compression C110 piston.
At the time i weighed 150 lb and this was done at near enough sea level so why go to Bonneville when you can get a timing ticket off the cops for just a few £. hahaha.

Sam. 

[754]

 He looks like me when i get up in the morning at Bend in the Road.. Dennis will confirm that..
 
At bike week.. far as I know.. entry around 500.00  you can run on Run What you brung for less ..
Not sure about Speedweek, but bare bones budget,, I doubt he is spending less than 1500 to be there..
 You can camp for free at Bend in the Road .. its between the interstate and the Salt... like a small city during SpeedWeek

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

Two entry fees if you want to go for both AMA and FIM records. Frank, I think $500 is light. Dennis will let us know.   

[754]

500 may be pre entry for Bub.
 If you break in the first mile.. no refund.. happened to one of our local racers.l

[Old Scrambler]

BMST fees are $625 for the bike..........plus $250 for each additional class.........plus $50 for each crew-member including the rider. SCTA fees are a little less........

Sam....the Milwaukee guys are part of the city's mods & rockers scene.......My round trips cost $1000 to $1200 each year depending on gas prices........but now I'm in Pocatello, so only 400 miles round trip, but still $150 or so for my V-10 with trailer.

GPZKAT..........nice pics and nice 'ticket'............

[Sam Green Racing]

Thanks Dennis, let's hope 2021 is a bit better, make that a lot better.

Sam.