Part 1 – Pre-Bonneville
As we know September is just around the corner and for speed enthusiasts that means Bonneville. Speedweek has already taken place and that leaves the BUB International Speed Trials where I will be going this Saturday. After setting one FIM and three AMA records last year on my ZX-14, I started contemplating my next plan of action this past winter. A second World record in the modified “naked” class was disallowed because I had the plastic over my rear seat, which they said allowed for better aerodynamics. I argued with the people in Switzerland for three months to no avail but that is another story.
As for 2007 my first thoughts were to beef up the engine but with life, jobs and two teenage daughters everything got side tracked. When I finally got on the ball in April, I called APE and they said it would take six months to get me the engine parts I needed. I was behind the eight ball. I then made a decision to go with nitrous. Great bang for the buck--. The only bad part was I knew nothing of nitrous, my mechanic Richard Oliviera of Cycle Imports in Soquel, California. I knew nothing of nitrous and the only place to fill up a nitrous bottle was over an hour away in San Jose. As you might remember I posted a question two months ago on this site asking, which was better—wet or dry. No, not martini but what type of NOS system was better. And I got some great answers. Luckily one of the residents of my small town was a man named Dale Walker who used to be the National Drag racing champ six or eight times back in the eighties. He got me started and told me what I would need. After endless questions and answers I decided on a wet system from NOS.
Richard of Cycle Imports in Soquel, CA, works on the solenoids.
My first call was to Nick at Schnitz and I started ordering the parts. The parts arrived and my next question was where do they all go? At the same time I started asking questions about NOS on this site and on Bikeland.com my ZX-14 site. What I was finding was the people on Bikeland knew a lot about drag racing but the people on Landracing knew more about the use of NOS with Land Speed Racing. The dilemma I had was that any spray system can last for ten seconds but I wanted mine to last for 20 to 30 seconds. I immediately started hearing “expect to take your motor home in a basket”.
I didn’t realize what I had gotten myself into. I decided on nitrous but didn’t have time to beef up the engine for nitrous but on the other hand wanted it to last a long time while making runs out on the salts. I decided on a wet system because most people said that was best for the engine. The kit arrived with a lot of jets, which I didn’t know where they went, but after studying the kit, bike system and asking eight million questions Richard and I started to put it all together. A fantastic aspect of the 14 is that the engineers already knew you were going to put NOS on your bike so they put in various holes into the air box and made a nice little compartment next to your battery to accommodate your solenoids.
Now the question remained what type of horsepower did I want to give my bike. The jets that accompanied my kit gave me the option of adding from 30 to 120 horsepower. Luckily the 14 comes with forged pistons so I felt they wouldn’t melt if I kept them under a constant 50 horsepower. When I called the techs at NOS and told them I wanted to hold down my horn button from 20 to 30 seconds they really didn’t know how to advise me-- only that I was smart to get the small solenoids as they last longer and are more durable than the larger ones. The main problem I would have would be the coils in the NOS solenoids failing during the run as in possibly burning out or freezing over. To cover that possible scenario I’m bringing an extra assemblies for the NOS and fuel solenoids. As another safeguard to protect my engine I installed a Wego II air/fuel monitoring device and then quickly learned about air/fuel ratios and what is best. As we were currently at sea level, we knew that at Bonneville, (4,500 ft and an expected density altitude of 6,700 ft) the bike would be leaned out and that additionally, the bike would go rich as the NOS started to deplete from the bottle.
I also had the exciting challenge of deciding what size bottle or bottles would I use. The good thing about the Busa is that you can put a bottle in the back of the seat cover and still maintain your aerodynamics. I researched the sizes of the various bottles, how long they would last at a constant spray and then how to mount them so that they would not flap in the breeze, so to speak. I decided on mounting them backwards directly on the rear frame so they would be in tight.
Last Saturday, the bike was finally assembled and we had our first dyno run. I have decided to run without a muffler this year at Bonneville as I understand that will give you peak horsepower at top end. Some people said I would do better with a muffler but I’ve made my decision. Richard said I could not run the bike on his dyno without a muffler as he didn’t want the police to arrive at this small shop and have the neighbors burn him in effigy. We decided to attach my Brock Smeg to our system for the runs to hold down the noise. The results of the first dyno run were 222 hp and 138 pounds of torque. Although the NOS book says to reduce your retard by 2 degrees per 50 horsepower, my Bonneville experts told me to reduce it to between 6 and 8 degrees for the altitude and to keep away from detonation. With a final dyno run of 222 horsepower, 146 pounds of torque and an A/F ratio of 11.75 I felt we had exactly the setup we needed for a couple more records.
I wanted the bike to have a conservative increase in horsepower where I could run it for a long time with the NOS. I’m taking 40 pounds of NOS to the salts to see that this fabulous bike will do. I really don’t know what I’m doing but I know that you only live once… so I like to do with gusto. I’ll let you know what happen in part II.
This is how the bike will look running in the modified “naked” class. They allow no fairing so the only thing keeping you on your bike is your grips and the squeezing of your thighs. Last year I did 174 mph in this configuration. This year with the NOS I hope to break 200 mph. Only eighteen people in the World have ever done it.
Bonneville- Part 2 Post-Bonneville
Sometimes one can make all the preparations in the world for a motorcycle event but if nature does not cooperate then all that preparation would have been in vain. For the last month or two it had been raining in the high desert of Bonneville and the BUB Speed Trials were only given a go-a-head only a week before the event. I arrived at the salts with probably 235 RWH (225 hp + 10hp ram air effect) and was eager to “fly”… until I arrived there and discovered this year’s salt. Instead of finding it hard and smooth like the salts of 2006, this year’s surface was thick, flaky and slippery.
The condition of the salt was first revealed to all on Sunday when the World Record setting streamliner “Ack Attack” took to the course and began to accelerate.
It should be noted that this photo of Ack was taken last year. Notice how hard and smooth the salt was.
As it went through the timed mile at around 298 mph, the back of the vehicle began fishtailing back and forth and before you knew it, went down in the salt and tumbled over and over.
Photo by Claude McKee
Luckily the driver Rocky, although shaken, came out all right with just a few scratches. Was this a sign of things to come?
Monday came the day when I was already to do my thing. My goals were a constant spray of 20 seconds and a speed of 220 mph in the Modified Partial Streamline configuration. Unfortunately Monday also found a great deal of riders at the salts. In 2006 we had a total of 230 riders but Monday brought out 300 riders in just that one day. Apparently Land Speed Racing at Bonneville has caught on around the world and riders came out of the wood works. Adding to the pressure of getting in runs was the fact that thunderstorms were expected the next two days and there might not be any runs taking place Tuesday and/or Wednesday.
Rolling out to pre-stage.
Because of Ack Attack’s crash and the bad reports of the salt I had to rethink my strategy. My initial plans were to do two runs without nitrous just to get some numbers in the book but considering the pressure of not getting in a lot of runs I decided to go all out on my first run for I might not get another chance.
As I stood ready at the starting line I kept thinking about the nitrous. I had never used it except on a dyno and I began to wonder how it would affect the characteristics of the bike handling at 195 mph when I would begin my spray? And now, with the slushy salt-- would activating the jets cause any disruption in the balance or handling characteristics of the speeding bike? Because all the additional power went to the rear wheel in a lateral direction I felt directional stability would not be compromised. At this time I was given the green flag and kicked my bike into first gear. I began my run down the salt and slowly picked up speed. Last year it was easy to go down the salt because all you had to do was raise up on your toes, lift your butt off the seat, hold your arms in tight and tilt your head into the depths of your windscreen. This year I found myself sitting squarely on the bike, leaning forward and my head upright for two reasons, 1) I had to count the flags/miles and 2) I wasn’t sure what force the nitrous would have on my bike when activated and I didn’t want to be raised up on my toes when this happened. My goal was to start the nitrous a quarter mile before the beginning of the timed mile feeling the nitrous would purged and be 100% active as I entered the timed mile. Mile 2 flags went past me in a blur and I was still accelerating although the back of the bike began to fish tail a bit. By the beginning of mile 3 I was a full speed and looking for that third green flag which would signify a quarter mile before mile 4, the timed mile.
I hit my horn button as I pasted the flag. Immediately the bike kicked forward but it’s stability became compromised and that solid feeling lost. I continued applying the nitrous continuously which seemed to last a full 20 seconds until it turned off. Whether the nitrous solenoid froze or not, I do not know but I considered a 20 second continuous use a win in my game plan. After pulling into the impound area and dismounting my bike I eagerly walked over to get my speed ticket. Looking at it, I shook my head in dismay. My speed was only 191 mph. It was the salt and there was nothing I could do about it. After last years run of 195.1 mph with my stock engine and no nitrous, I was quite disappointed. My crew had watched my approach going into the mile and told me when I applied the nitrous the salt suddenly came spitting out behind me four feet high like I was a speed boat on a country lake. At this time I felt a return run would be wasted effort for we were carrying too much horsepower, which unfortunately activated too quickly. A few months back I thought about adding a progressive nitrous controller to my arsenal which would have activated the nitrous in stages but even this salt would not have been able to handle that. We decided to pack up camp and head back to the hotel for some beer. The clouds were getting dark and the weather was moving in.
Arriving at the salt the next morning at 6:15 am we encountered the area around Bonneville dotted with small thunderstorms passing in and about. Sprinkles of rain fell periodically and all we could do was wait in our cars and trailers hoping the weather would clear.
By noontime the sun broke out to cheers and once again we could get serious. To achieve better traction I let air out of my back tires and went to the smallest jets I had on hand to reduce my horsepower. For those wondering I went from 22 (fuel)/18 (nitrous) to 18 (fuel)/16 (nitrous). My game plan was now to achieve full speed by mile 3, reduce throttle by 1,000 RPM mile 3.5, activate nitrous at mile 3.75 and slowly increase throttle to WOT by the start of mile 4. As I drove out to the beginning of mile 1 to set up for my run, my rear wheel spun on the salt going only 35 mph. Apparently the sprinkles had made the salt ever slicker. As I went down the run a while later, I did everything according to game plan. Unfortunately, as I applied the nitrous and accelerated to WOT the back of the bike began fishtailing back and forth. I would take my thumb off the nitrous and then apply it again but the back wheel would start moving back and forth again. I went into impound and got my ticket. 185 mph. Unfortunately this wasn’t my year.
Word spread about the salt getting worst and one Swiss bikers attached two 25 lb barbells to the back of his rear axle just outside his wheel. Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera to take a shot.
The day after I left a beautiful girl named Leslie (above) out of Texas, went down on her Turbo Busa while going through the mile at around 198 mph. She broke a number of ribs and punctured a lung but looks forward to racing again soon. Maybe I left the salts at just the right time. Here she is pictured with the first Turbo BMW…, which didn’t go that fast because of their direct-drive.
All and all it was Bonneville and fun. Not 2006 fun but only a little fun. Saw old friends and met new ones. Unfortunately the BUB event has gotten too popular and there were too many people wanting to run their bikes. I’m recommending to the organizers that they handle it more like a golf course. People book their tee times way in advance and then if anyone shows up at the last minute… put them on the “run what you bung” course. You can’t have people traveling half way around the World and then only get in one or two runs a day. The fastest bike at the event was a Turbo Busa that went 241 mph. BUB’s streamliner, the “World’s Fastest Motorcycle” didn’t even make a run, the conditions were that bad.
There are a number of people I would like to thank for helping me with my nitrous as I was a nitrous virgin only three months ago. To Joe, Jon, Guy, Kent, Scott, Stainless1 and the rest of you that helped me with my nitrous... thank you very much. I’d also like to thank GOODIES Speed Shop out of San Jose, the best speed shop in the Bay area, for sponsoring me with their outstanding equipment and services. I’d also like to thank Nick at Schnitz and the good people at NOS for their help. My bike was equipped with Ceramic Bearings on both wheels and I visually saw the difference in the reduction of friction as I spun the tires with my hands so I recommend them in wholeheartedly. I would never had made it onto the salts without my good friend and mechanic Richard Oliveira, owners of Cycle Imports in Soquel, California who installed a dynamite nitrous system in my bike. This man is the main reason for my 2006 records and I consider him the best bike mechanic on the West Coast. Sadly, Richard was unable to make it with me to the Salts this year but I was fortunate enough to get a good friend and mechanic, Matt Maroot from Los Angeles to go who did an outstanding job during the week. Thanks Matt. Lastly I like to thank Dale Walker, eight time National Drag Champion, for introducing me into the exciting world of nitrous with his expertise.
One additional note to my fellow racers, I ran a 17 front, 39 rear sprocket. In 2006 I was only able to reach 10,200 rpm (tach reading) or 9,800 rpm (real reading) due to the density altitude at the time of roughly 6,700 feet. This time with the use of the nitrous the tach needle kept bouncing off 11,000 rpm. Yes, the power was there for some potential exciting speed numbers.
I’d appreciate some response from you guys that have used nitrous in the past at the Salts. When the salt is decent to good, do the tires catch on or will the salt always be slippery for nitrous users?
Thanks
Bill
