Well, it was worth the shivers, but I finally made my first pass down the drag strip this evening. It was damn cold riding home, but the warm thoughts of my run kept me going.
I went to Beaver Springs Dragway for the Friday Night Street Races. Even though it is October, the place was packed. I paid my $20 time trial fee and went through tech inspection. The Hot Rod passed and I was given my number in line. I wasn’t racing against another bike, just for time. I was pretty nervous actually, but when the time for the run came, I was cool and collected. I wanted to nail that light and as I was waiting in line, I watched the tree and did a mock start a few times. I tried to visualize the start, gear changes, and line I would run. I hoped I wouldn’t break traction or bog it off the line. I decided to just launch the bike like I had been practicing and not try anything new or get the RPMs too high.
My turn came and I rolled to the line with a relatively cold tire. Seems like burnouts aren’t really my thing as I tried to heat up the rear because it gained traction pretty quickly with a sideways squirt. I staged the bike, rev’ed it to 4Ksih, the tree lit up and the next thing I knew I was out of the hole with a decent start. 9000 shift, 9500ish shift, 10000 shift, held it wide open through the trap. I don’t remember if the front wheel “power wheelied” at all during the run, but if was smooth. Holy cow, I can’t believe I just did that so well and the guy in the other lane was behind me!
I made my run and returned to the “pit” area to get my numbers. I walked over to my wife, who was smiling (I was alive), and I said, “did you see that?” “Yeah, that was loud!”, she said. “How fast did it look?” I asked. “Um, I don’t know, just fast and loud. Are you going to do it again tonight?” “No, I am freezing and I have a long ride home.” I said.
So the time slip read:
1/4 Mile ET: 11.903
1/4 Mile MPH: 118.876
1/8 Mile ET: 7.751
1/8 Mile MPH: 91.720
60 Foot ET: 1.805
Because this was a timed run the reaction time was handicapped so it didn’t matter. I didn’t know that off the line.
I am not really sure if those are good numbers or not. I think I could go faster if I had more runs under my belt. I am a little mad at myself for not launching at a higher RPM and running every gear to 10000 RPM. Best $20 I spent this year!
Sparty
