Topic: CB750 Drag Racing Tips?

[vanillagorilla]

My buddy with a hot rod chevy has called me out... Anyone got any tips for launching my bike and whoopin his ass??? CB750K8, open drag pipe, velocity stacks, rejetted/tuned carbs. All adjustments in spec(or very close). Just looking for any knowledge you guys might have on the subject. Never drag raced anything on a track before, so any help appreciated!

[Sam Green Racing]

Is it a heads up race (both go on green) or dial in bracket race (handicaped)?
Do you know what times his hot rod runs?
A prepared drag strip is nothing like a public road, it will slow you down by allmost half a second.

Sam.

[754]

Lower it, lower the gearing and practise.. may need to learn to slip the clutch (need a good one for that)

 If he has 450+ hp, you may not do well...

[vanillagorilla]

Yeah we are going to run head to head. He has a big block v8 with nitrous(he said he wouldnt use that til i was winning...). I think my biggest disadvantage is my weight. Wish I was 120lbs instead of 270!

[MCRider]

I wasgoing to say...if its a HOT ROD, you may want to get ready to lose. And yes your weight is a definte negative, sorry. You need a 16t CS sprocket and a 48t rear. maybe a 15t.

I preferred to drop the clutch and spin the tire rather than slip the clutch. With stock HP thats tough, even with the gearing. I'd run more air pressure in rear until you get the tire spinning.  Both takes some practice.  A nice piece of asphalt parking lot.

Oh, and I was never really any good... 

[Sam Green Racing]

You will probably run mid to high 13s on a good strip (if your any good. )

Sam.

[754]

You cant change that.. If he has a 13 sec car, its hard to beat with a 13 sec bike..
 Really low gearing helps(longer bike too) but if you got lots of traction and cant slip clutch properly, you will lose time coming off the line..

[Sam Green Racing]

To put it in a nut shell, if his car runs under 13 seconds, don't bother turning up.

Sam.

[Really?]

Put the race off for a month or two and go on the South Beach diet.  I lost over 25 lbs in the first month just becuase i was eating right.   

[vanillagorilla]

Well, he has agreed to go motor to motor... 500hp 383 stroker. I am going to just consider this a LEARNING experience! 

[Sam Green Racing]

Put the race off for a month or two and go on the South Beach diet.  I lost over 25 lbs in the first month just becuase i was eating right.   

Body of the month coming up.

Sam.

[jneuf]

I don't have any input for what your bike will run....That being said, has this guy been to the track before?

There are about a million stroked small block chevy guys out there who say they have 500+ hp and a 10 second car....yada yada yada...and when they get to the track, their car is a turd and runs in the 14's....Most people throw out wild horsepower claims without actually dynoing their cars...they think, in theory, their engine should have X horsepower, when in reality, it's a low compression, over cammed, out of tune boat anchor with bad flowing heads and monstrous open headers to make it sound mean...

Just something to think about... 

[Sam Green Racing]

I don't have any input for what your bike will run....That being said, has this guy been to the track before?

There are about a million stroked small block chevy guys out there who say they have 500+ hp and a 10 second car....yada yada yada...and when they get to the track, their car is a turd and runs in the 14's....Most people throw out wild horsepower claims without actually dynoing their cars...they think, in theory, their engine should have X horsepower, when in reality, it's a low compression, over cammed, out of tune boat anchor with bad flowing heads and monstrous open headers to make it sound mean...

Just something to think about... 

Well that is another way of looking at it and like I said, find out/ask what  the car has run. If it's a 14 second job, he's in with a chance. If it runs in the 12s just hand the money over and save the wear and tear on the bike.

Sam.

[Gearheadgreg]

If ya do it on the street or back road some where, make sure you mark off 1/4 mile point, I used to hang with big Willy and the So Ca street racers asso back in the early 70's, got waxed once by a 750 triple on my K1, went back to check the marker and it was about 1/2 mile he ran me down way past 1/4 mile took my 100 bucks and was gone LOL...learning experience. my 84 Monte Carlo ss 350 150 shot NOS ran 12.60 @ 107 all day long D.O.T class street tires mufflers..Should be a good race like to see it !!!   

[cb650]

Practicing on the street/parkinglot will be somewhat diff as most tracks do some prep work for traction.
I used to let my 650 spin off the line also.  Got bad 0-60ft times but overall it was quicker.  It all takes practice. 

[Sam Green Racing]

If ya do it on the street or back road some where, make sure you mark off 1/4 mile point, I used to hang with big Willy and the So Ca street racers asso back in the early 70's, got waxed once by a 750 triple on my K1, went back to check the marker and it was about 1/2 mile he ran me down way past 1/4 mile took my 100 bucks and was gone LOL...learning experience. my 84 Monte Carlo ss 350 150 shot NOS ran 12.60 @ 107 all day long D.O.T class street tires mufflers..Should be a good race like to see it !!!   

Greg, don't confuse street racing with drag racing, it's what gives it a bad name, sorry mate.

Sam.

[Gearheadgreg]

If ya do it on the street or back road some where, make sure you mark off 1/4 mile point, I used to hang with big Willy and the So Ca street racers asso back in the early 70's, got waxed once by a 750 triple on my K1, went back to check the marker and it was about 1/2 mile he ran me down way past 1/4 mile took my 100 bucks and was gone LOL...learning experience. my 84 Monte Carlo ss 350 150 shot NOS ran 12.60 @ 107 all day long D.O.T class street tires mufflers..Should be a good race like to see it !!!   

Greg, don't confuse street racing with drag racing, it's what gives it a bad name, sorry mate.

Sam.

For sure understand...but not sure you can Race a bike and a Car legally next to each other at a Race track just sayin. Also If you look at the history of Big Willy and what we did to organize Street racing and brought it to terminal Island Long beach ca..put up some concrete barriers..i was careful to include what organization i was involved with my friend.. as i enjoy your website i will slowly post some of my accomplishments.

[Sam Green Racing]

Cool Greg but it's late here in the UK and past my bed time, I look in on ya in the morning.

Sam.

[Gearheadgreg]

Cool Greg but it's late here in the UK and past my bed time, I look in on ya in the morning.

Sam.

Night Sam..thought you where is Boston, great site!!!

[vanillagorilla]

He has been running this truck for a while. Been racing probably longer than I have been breathing.  He definitely has the experience over me. No money involved, just for fun.

[754]

 I like racing, as long as I donr get beat 2 bad..

 I dont back down too often when challenged.. You never know if the other guy is a big BSer..

 Good experience for you.. bet you will do no worse than 2nd..

[george]

Hey Jared, win or lose it is still a real blast! I raced my K8 quite a bit the last 2 summers around Houston,  I had been away from the strip for years (20+) so I was in for a shock. The thing about these old bikes is that they are real attention getters, I always had more visitors than the hi-tech Busa Boyz!
  Mine is an 836 which now is getting tired, the best it ever saw was 12.78, with my big ass on it, Usually ran around mid-hi 13's, not very consistent. My short coming is reaction time, no matter how hard I concentrate I am too early or too late. If you have never been on the track b-4 try to practice launches, experiment with tire pressures. Too much air = too much spin  Too little air = bog off the line or even worse a 12:00 ! I always like to do the obligitory burn out, went through a Dunlop 404 in 3 months!
  Enjoy sir,  Take a video, but not like my wife who does not like to expose the lens to the elements!  I've got plenty of audio!

[Sam Green Racing]

Cool Greg but it's late here in the UK and past my bed time, I look in on ya in the morning.

Sam.

Night Sam..thought you where is Boston, great site!!!

Ha Ha, I'm in England but the general consensus of opinion is that in street racing, when things go wrong, drag racing (the legit side ) gets tarred with the same brush. You wouldn't believe how many people in the States don't know what drag racing is. I have met loads of people over there that haven't a clue.
Kinda like last week when I was in the pub. One of my mates asked what I'd been doing. I told him I'd been clay pigeon shooting and I immediately came under attack from a woman who said it was cruel. I thought she was going to hit me with her hand bag.
I know about Big Willie and what he did for the sport, he did a great job.
In respect of where I might be posting from, read the first post in this thread, it'll give you a clue why I have 3 locations. http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=61876.0
Welcome to the forum and keep posting.

Sam.

[NitroHunter]

The most important thing is learning to do those long, smokey burnouts. With some practice you can perfect the one handed wave while obliterating that pesky 4 wheeler behind a cloud of smoke. 

[scunny]

I used to launch on the last yellow on the tree, gave me great starts and hardly ever red lighted.