The RD400 drag bike

[AMCQ46]

Was a good day out at Santa Pod

Stayed dry all day at the track and there and back.

Tony and I did 7 or 8 runs, I generally got off the line better than Tony and it would have been close on 1/8th of a mile, but the power of the Aprilia caught up by the end of the 1/4 mile.

Best I got was 11.6s and 122mph

Best for Tony was 11.5s and 124mph

I had the TC switched off which resulted in a bunch of warning lamps going off after the burnout and I had to launch it fairly gently as it wanted to wheelie, so I got it away at mid revs and once the clutch was out I gave it full gas. It then wanted to wheelie again.

A few photos

In the que

Supercharged

Speedway engine

Bmw

RD350

Harley

Kat

[tony.mon]

I spent the first few runs trying to optimise traction control. I had to turn it off to burnout, but then turn it back on again before staging.

That shouldn't have been a difficult task but the bike didn't like it at all, and in one occasion I had to kill the engine and reset everything by turning the ignition off and in again three times, while Al sat there revving his motor. So after a few tries I just turned the TC off.
Which meant no wheelie control either, sadly, and keeping the front end down was a challenge all the way up the strip- every quickshifter change saved wear on the front tyre.

My first few 1/8 mile times were poor, but at least I improved as the day went on. I got two runs under 8 seconds at the eighth, a 7.85 then a 7.62.

Al got the jump on me every time away from the tree, but the lighter weight (bike's, obvs) and power advantage got me in front by the line most times.
But it was a good day. It's amazing how racing for a total of less than two minutes all day leaves you knackered! The strong headwind all the way home didn't help, to be fair.

Now I want to see what the little Yammie can do!

[Duffy1964]

Look like you both had fun, I used to go a few times a year when my mate run in the 9.90 class back in the 90’s on his 1260 gsxr


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[sirch345]

You were lucky with the weather, windy and showers down here again on Sunday

Great to hear how it all went, at least you both got some decent run's in, and good to see the photo's, thanks for posting

Chris.

[AMCQ46]

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[AMCQ46]

Looking

Start

End

[Pete.L]

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Reminds me of leaving the 40 zones to the nationals

[Duffy1964]

Great photos Al


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[sirch345]

Great photos Al


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+ 1 from me, thanks for adding those Al

Chris.

[AMCQ46]

I had a Quick Look on old road tests and CycleWorld in the USA tested the 1190 Adventure and got a 1/4 mile time of 10.6s. So now i need to go back and see if I can launch it more aggressively to find that missing second.

Maybe I should leave TC on as the rubbered track is so grippy I don’t think the wheel would spin even under an aggressive launch, and then see if the TC can smoothly control the wheelie. I suspected it would be an aggressive intervention which is why I kept it off, so perhaps I just needed to be less sympathetic to the engine

But then again they tested the gen1 V4 Tuono at 10.15s on the 1/4 mile so Tony has even more to find

[fabiostar]

Cracking looking day out lads

[sirch345]

I had a Quick Look on old road tests and CycleWorld in the USA tested the 1190 Adventure and got a 1/4 mile time of 10.6s. So now i need to go back and see if I can launch it more aggressively to find that missing second.

Maybe I should leave TC on as the rubbered track is so grippy I don’t think the wheel would spin even under an aggressive launch, and then see if the TC can smoothly control the wheelie. I suspected it would be an aggressive intervention which is why I kept it off, so perhaps I just needed to be less sympathetic to the engine

But then again they tested the gen1 V4 Tuono at 10.15s on the 1/4 mile so Tony has even more to find

Very interesting Al.

A little more data I found:

Honda Firestorm 1/4 mile time 11.6s, speed 124mph

Chris.

[AMCQ46]

In our defence we were running into a 20mph headwind which must have knocked a bit off the top speed

[sirch345]

In our defence we were running into a 20mph headwind which must have knocked a bit off the top speed

I would be more than happy with the times you and Tony achieved. I think you both did really well

I wonder if Tony has seen my data I found in my previous post yet

Chris.

[tony.mon]

In our defence we were running into a 20mph headwind which must have knocked a bit off the top speed

I would be more than happy with the times you and Tony achieved. I think you both did really well

I wonder if Tony has seen my data I found in my previous post yet

Chris.

Yes, I did, Chris. My storm was quite a bit lighter then, and so was I!