WOO HOO We're cookin with gas!

[bc1540]

We took the Predator up to Akron tonite to run a few practice passes on the dragstrip before the weekend ATVA Drags. Started out with clutch engagement too low, even after removing a bunch of weight from the rear shoes by drilling. It would not come "on the pipe" until about the 15 foot mark. At the 300 foot mark we were at about 44 mph. Son says seems pretty fast to me... Into the shop...drill drill drill, drill some more....Out back to the strip, staged, dropped the flag and left chewed up clay and was at 53 mph and climbing at the 300 foot mark..... Son rode back down the cool down lane and went HOLY $%$%$. His language was forgiven... We're still running stock compression, we're putting the 175psi head on tormorrw and switching to race gas. We still have about 5 feet of what i would call not full on power on launch and i am assuming the compression bump may aleviate that... This is too much fun...
This is our first attempt at anything like this, I built all my own motocross motors back in the 80's, It's slowly coming back to me...I am sure we will get our butt handed to us by some great racers this weekend but theres a first time for everything. Tol,d my son the goal is to make consistant runs down the track and leave at the end of the weekend, hopefully beat one person, but if we don't , we learn and try again....

[Pappy]

53 is smokin!

[bc1540]

After we got home all he wanted to do was keep practicing starts...So much for the back yard...

[bc1540]

Yeah we were a little taken aback by the 53 on the gun we did 5 back to back runs and saw it one more time and got 50-51 the 3 other times......says its solid at that speed but I think I'm gonna bump out the wheels with spacers tomorrow....we're running offsets already but wider is better..right?

[Pappy]

wider may help him find a little traction if he is out of the chewed up clay left by other mini's:p

[bc1540]

chewed up by hundreds of sleds you mean, we're runnin sat and sun after the sleds at the Can-AM nationals.....The track launch area is kept great by the crew but I am sure it will be soft by the, meaning a little wheel slip is ok, especially if i still have a slight bog on the bottom....

[Pappy]

well make sure you get us all some pictures!

[bc1540]

We'll have the camera and video rollin for sure. :eek2:

[Arctic Cat Dad]

The dirt drags are fun. He ran one a few weeks ago. He loved it.

What times are you running on the 300' runs. I was impressed with his times. He out ran 17 90's and lt 80's. If you play with that clutch you will find the speed.


These mini's are a blast to work on. I also did all this stuff for myself. Also back in the 80's. Buit to see your son doing the same thing you did as a kid ( except I only had a bike) is just a dream come true. Enjoy the times with your kid and make it FUN and most of all be safe.

:)

[bc1540]

Had a stop watch only the tree/timers will not be set until Thursday we got a 7.2 a 7.0 and 7.7 (OUCH) , we are running 16 inch Snow hogs , we will be installing 18 inch snow hogs today along with the other stuff. In looking at last years time sheets, their were stock ds 650's running in the low 7's ......

[LT80]

Thanks for the times! I've had reports of my LT's doing 6.9/7.0
But I'm sure every track can be different.
Traction:: I make no claim to drag race wisdom, but when we want traction in TT, we narrow the rear. I was at a BIG Planet Sand drag race at Speedworld located in Phoenix last Saturday, and the one thing I noticed is that every machine there was made extremely narrow.
Those machines were nasty fast..3.40/300 ft.

[bc1540]

Thats good to know, maybe I should flip the rear rims so the offset is reversed.... From what I have seen, it's gonna take about a 6.700 to be the big bad dog in NYS. We are .4 away right now, and this being our first time, I will be pleased if we finish with all our parts still attached :D

[BradLoomis]

LT80 is correct in his statement and observation. The narrower the rear is the more pressure that is exerted on the rear tires. The wider apart they are the more it will spread the weight out across the distance. Also the wider it is the more one tire will bite and the other will want to slip which means the bike will want to turn sideways. When in doubt compare it to NHRA drag racing, tires go into the center of the car not out. Also watch out for how high your clutch stall speed is. You want to be up in the RPM power but if the tire spins to much it is worse than if it bogs. Hope this helps.

[Pappy]

i never thought about going narrow. id agree with regards to centering the weight etc.

i just invisioned 30 quads lining up one after another and the ensuing mess the starting line would be in:p ive only seen true atv drags once and it was muddy at that:D