SC classes for motorcycle

[Dakin Engineering]

Apologies,
  The 03 book doesn't list Mr Guthries 8/90 record, but the 04 book does.

Sam
#6062
Yup, one of them....

[wobblywalrus]

Just curious.  This bike-engine-sidecar combination is new and it would get its own class with an open record.  The guy with the diesel lakester dream seemed to have a new combination that would have made a new class and open record using the same reasoning.  He has to run in the fuel class.  Do bikes and cars have different rules for creating classes?  I get confused easily and can't figure this out.

[Nortonist 592]

I think the answer would be that the sidecar classes are already in place.  Just not every one of them have been run on.  At the moment there is no diesel lakester class.  Maybe he should dump the diesel lakester idea and run a sidecar.

[bak189]

Nortonist is correct.....there has been a M/C sidecar class with SCTA/BNI since 1979......that was the year we first brought our road racing sidecar to the salt.........that is also the year when I first wrote the LSR sidecar rules........
however, not the same rules that are being used today.....SCTA/BNI (in their wisdom) have changed and modified them over the many years..................

Back in the "old days" we had to have at least 3 entrees to start a "new" class.........today no longer.....I liked the 3 entrees idea, shows there is interest in the "new class"

[dw230]

Stan,

Blue book, labled 2012 on the cover. Try again.

Bak is correct. If the class is allowed and there is no record it is not a new class.

DW

[Stan Back]

I've just gotta comprehend better.  I thought you meant the 2003 book -- you know, the one that still had our name in it.

[Nortonist 592]

That's the SCTA Blue Book Stan.  Not the Kelly Blue Book (too many classes and numbers in this one).

[TurboCat]

You guys have just about lost me lol...

[McRat]

Off-topic, but if there are sidecar classes for bikes, shouldn't their be a Trailering class for cars?  Same purpose, sidecars are used for hauling more cargo/passengers than the base config.

Mercedes claims to have the fastest tow car, at ~143mph.  A local shop is going to attempt to break that with a Duramax in SoCal.

There are drag races hauling a tractor on a trailer at Diesel Power Challenge events.  I went 0-60mph in 12 seconds towing the 15,000lb trailer in 2006?

It is a classic insult that "I could tow your car faster than it could move under it's own power", but for the diesel pickups, it's often true ...   

PS - This is tongue-in-cheek.  Needed to add diesel to a thread that had nothing to do with diesels... 

[dw230]

The MB claimed record is a little slow. Ron Benham's Mod Roadster towed a U-Haul trailer well over 200 at the salt.

DW

[Seldom Seen Slim]

McRat:

Diesel bikes have run for records at Bonneville, a couple of years ago.  They were (at least then) the knock-off KLR650 w/diesel engine, built for military use.  I don't remember when they were first there, and I'll guess they "solved" the fuel problem by running at Bub's.  Anyone got a better memory than me? (Shouldn't take too much).

[Nortonist 592]

What about Jack Costella's "trailer" of a few years ago at El Mirage?  Can't remember how fast his liner towed it.

[Glen]

It was so illegal it was unreal and unsafe.

[Nortonist 592]

It was so illegal it was unreal and unsafe.

Didn't it run Glen?  And claim a record?  That was certified by the SCTA?  And then the rules changed?

[McRat]

If the towing record attempt proceeds in So Cal, it will be done at Edwards, and all tires will be speed rated.  The tow vehicle is specifically designed for heavy towing, and has more braking power in one rotor than many cars have in their whole brake system, and there is turbo braking as well as transmission braking.  

The problem is that Edwards is too short.  It will be a dragrace, not an LSR activity.  Excessive braking by the tow vehicle often has a bad outcome, the inertia of the trailer rotation as it jacknifes can flip even heavy tow vehicles.

I'm trying to talk them out of Edwards, but if Edwards is used, there will have to be some additional braking, including chute(s) on the trailer.

Mercedes has a professional test track(s), wind tunnels, etc, etc.  This is going to be just a small group of diesel hotrodders.

(gossip - recently some idiot towed a 2010 Cobalt at more than 110 mph on an open trailer recently, oddly enough, the faster you go the better it tracks.  Apparently the aero of the car in tow "wants" to go straight.  Kind of like putting a tail on a kite.  Not all trailers behave that way.  Some "dance" as you go faster like a piece of paper that flutters in a fan).