I made it to the RWYB (Run-What-Ya-Brung) at Santa Pod today on my 612cc GT cafe-racer, aiming to beat my previous best of 14.98 seconds, and did 6 x runs with the following ETs (elapsed times):
16.01 secs (an initial shakedown run as I've not been for 2 x years, done with the reverse cone still fitted to the megga.
15.52 secs (reverse cone now removed)
15.23 secs
15.24 secs
14.92 secs - YES! an improvement, albeit of only 0.06 seconds, but still a good result!
15.34 secs (evidently I'd peaked!
(To put this into perspective, my son & his wife who came along to watch & support me noted that none of the various Subaru Impreza Turbos running today were as quick as me.)
On a 20-tooth gearbox sprocket I was using 6,000 rpm through the lower gears, holding 4th to about 6,500 rpm across the finish line, then changing up to 5th prior to slowing down. Terminal speeds at the quarter mile were all just under 90 mph, but there was still another gear available, of course (GENUINE top speed on the road is over 110 mph).
If I improved my getaway off the atart-line by using higher revs, I'm quite sure I could knock at least half a second off my times, but last time I did that, slipping the (BNR belt-drive) clutch to do so, the bike pulled a scary wheelie (I have the video to prove it), and I'm basically just chicken!
Naturally, the modern & modified Japanese sportsbikes I was running 'against' were all much quicker than me, but there was great interest in the Bullet from all types of bike & car entrants, and the usual bikers' cameraderie manifested itself all day.
The 160 mile round-trip was also very pleasant and the only time I got the spanners out was to remove & re-fit the megga's reverese cone and the compressor for the airhorns (to save weight). I left the pair of small saddlebags in place, empty, but thinking about it now maybe they cause some wind resistance....
Sadly, the next RWYB I can get to is likely to be on Saturday 16th August - maybe someone else would like to run their thumper against me then?
Martin Churchill (07768-941222)
