Here I am on a quick lunch break on the 4th while working on the trailer and the load out for the drag races Sunday July 7 at WIR in Kaukauna Wisconsin. It is an annual event sponsored by Doc’s HD of Shawano Wis., with all proceeds going to charity.
This will be our first appearance at this event as we always seemed to have a conflict with another race on the same week end.
Well back to the test ride of the turbo. As mentioned before, it is a tradition and something I consider a necessity under the past circumstances. Now that there are other riders signed on for this, even more so. Checking systems and responses are best done here, not at speed on the salt.
Two deadlines were met last Sunday morning. The first was to get the beast around the block before there was any traffic, but enough light to see the terrain. Next was to get my brother, Jim, to the airport before his 7:30 check-in.
Up and with two big cups of coffee in me along with five ibuprofen in me I was ready.
Suiting up, I purposely wore the thin cloth shop pants to determine if there was going to be a heat issue with the exhaust pipe temperatures. Not the best in the event of an “upset”, but the only way to tell accurately because if it was OK with the pants it should be fine with lined leathers. Believe me, it can get very hot when making boost and power.
Getting the bicycle lights turned on and the engine fired up, I rolled out in the driveway, closed the overhead door and saddled up. Heading out to the end of the driveway I had to plan ahead as I need both lanes to make a turn with this thing. A maximum steering angle of 10 degrees (SCAT Rule) and a twelve foot length tends to compromise the nimble handling a bit. Slow speed turns are a bit wobbly, but I rolled around the first corner and braced for the bumps. With a 42 degree steering angle and no rear suspension, bumps are transmitted very effectively. I wasn’t disappointed, with the first ones setting the tone. Hang on and give it as much throttle as you can to even things out and look 500 feet ahead to plan for the next corner. The light was red, but with a bit of planning and a fudge factor it was done. Going down Old Middleton Road, the pavement got worse and a bit of slalom led up to a right hand sweeper.
Coming up to the first stop sign, I looked to the left and then noticed a person in a lawn chair sitting by the road and wondered what maniac would be up lounging at this time on a Sunday morning. It turned out to be my daughter Jacki waiting for me to go by. She did get a video and that should be on Facebook soon. The UV ahead of me was looking in his mirror a lot and i was afraid he might do something silly, but I made it the next right turn without incident. A wide swinging arc and then more slaloming around traffic islands got me back to University Avenue.
At the traffic light i let a couple o cars get by and put a half mile between us. Rolling out and getting after it a bit harder with more room and better pavement reminded me how this thing feels when it is being productive. Getting set, and rolling up the throttle yielded the start of the boost. i quit looking at the gauge at 10 pound of pressure and had to look ahead. Then I realized I needed to check the basic function of the other five gears, making for five quick upshifts. At that point the next light was green, but zooming along i remembered i needed to get it hauled down. It was then I remembered we took off the rear brake, I was in sixth gear and headed downhill. A bit of downshifting, rethinking the brake application and holding my breath and I was able to get into the driveway. With the realization that I may have not been in complete compliance with the State DOT rules, rolling on into the garage and closing the door was deemed the first order of business at that moment.
After my heart rate slowed back down I went over the test in my mind. There were, in fact, a few items needing attention. First, the slip light was blinking on and off. This is an indicator of a substantial difference between front and rear wheel speeds, indicating wheel spin, possibly excessive. This was later determined to be caused by faulty rear wheel speed sensor. The next thing was the shifter position which needed to be moved down about 3/16 of an inch. It may not seem like much, but at 200 mph you don’t want to be bouncing around looking for the shifter. The new GPS speedometer worked well, and the new rear tire didn’t spin up when the boost came on. A differential in the exhaust gas temperatures between the front and rear cylinders was looked at and after a thermocouple change didn’t help, resetting the mixture was tried and then we determined it was the difference in the exhaust length between the front and rear cylinder. The heat was actually more of an issue from the pipe by the motor than the exhaust exit, even with your leg down for balance at stops.
So all in all it was a good test with the rest of the list ready to go forward on and final preparations for Bonneville to be undertaken. Oh, and my spies going by Bonneville July 2, said it was 87 degrees, sunny and DRY.
Now on to the injected bike.
Cheers!
Bill
The Bonneville Project 