You should try it on a 600cc or larger bike...you're basically wheelying over the rise while leaned over, with your rear tire weaving and scrabbling for traction...

And it was even wilder when the old "Gravity Cavity" was still there...

 

Yeah Kento.............

One night on the speed channel there was a superbike race at RA...........I couldn't believe how fast those guys were getting around that track and I def saw those front wheels coming off the ground through that turn........I have it on tape and watch it often..........I think the race was about a year ago...........you may remember the race as Matt Mladin was winning everything he raced in, and as he was coming down the back straight he blew his rear tire going about 160.......and did some unbelievable driving keeping the bike under control as he skidded down the back straight and through the grass to a stop. Totally sick.

 

fritz, you have a pm

 

Saw the same race and your right about that save by Mladin. The way he hung on first on the hard surface and then in the sand until the sand finally tossed him. Absolute phenominal show of both strengh and balance.

 

Actually, he was damn lucky. Another rider during the same weekend had a rear tire come apart on him as he was going into the flat-out right-hand kink before the dive down the hill; he ended up flying straight off the track at 170 mph and into the wall on the left side, suffering serious injuries (none life-threatening, thankfully). Mladin's rear tire came apart after he went through the kink and was basically straight up, thus he was able to get the bike "somewhat" under control.

I don't know how many of you follow motorcycle roadracing, but recently there was a rash of rear tire failures that resulted in some nasty falls at Daytona during the winter tire tests. Two riders had their rear tires explode just as they were coming off the turn four banking at 185 mph; I'm not talking about a tread delamination, I mean a total failure of the tire carcass that resulted in the belted portion coming completely apart. Both riders were OK, although one suffered nasty abrasion burns to his backside that required numerous skin grafts (he slid all the way from before the finish line on the front straight to the entrance to turn one-- witnesses there told me the tire failure sounded exactly like that...an "explosion" that could be heard over the wail of a race engines screaming at 13,000 rpm). Thankfully, the tire manufacturers stepped up development, and there haven't been any failures as of late.

 

Actually, this kind of reminds me of something else I thought I'd mention, another facet of the difference between tracking motorcycles and autos. I had the opportunity a few years back to test an open-wheel "spec" racecar powered by a Suzuki Hayabusa motorcycle engine (170 hp, six-speed sequential gearbox, 948 lbs., but with a very short 91.3-inch wheelbase) that was used in a race series in Japan. We were at some old facility that cirulates in and around a golf course in Savannah, Georgia, that apparently was built by a former mayor who was an auto racing fan. The "track" was dirty from non-use, and the ambient temps were in the 50s, so even very-soft compound tires had a difficult time getting up to working temperature. I ended up losing the rear in a 110-mph chicane they had set up with cones to slow us down this one straight, and I spun right into an grass embankment, flipping the car a couple of times before almost coming to rest upside down (obviously, the car was damaged heavily; the nose section broke off, and my feet were dangling out of the front of the car). This was my first big "off" on four wheels.

I must say that after years of roadracing motorcycles, the uninitiated might think that it would feel better to crash in a car, and have a protective metal cage surrounding you in a situation like this. While I appreciated the protection, I didn't like the feeling of being tied into a hurtling object that actually felt like it was speeding up as it went off the tarmac. While the danger aspect of not having "hard" protection should something go wrong is undeniable with a bike, experiencing the difference in inertia between a 1000-or-so-pound object (me and the car) and a 135-pound object (just me when something has gone wrong on a bike) can be a very frightening experience.

 

I agree completely you have many more options when you lay the bike down but if you do hit something hard you'll wish you had that extra 3k in steel around you.

When a car goes off hot it usually hits something hard but when a bike goes of hot the rider usually finds a way to avoid hitting anything which always amazes me.

I love watching motorcycles because of the athleticism thats needed along with the balance, *****, and brains thats need for road racing

 

Hell.........wait til I come up to Virginia to run with ya Fritz..........you haven't seen athleticism until you belly up to the bar with me and see me doing my nightly "12 ounce curls".........

 

LOL.........I'll belly up but the only thing I'll be curling is a glass of H2O

 

Just returned from VIR S with Z-Club from NC. Warning: do not operate your fd with out a heat shield on the manifold. I was tracking down a blown Z06 when I heard a big pop followed by lots of little pops each time I gave it gas which of course was some variety of miss fire/ detonation. Right after this happened to me the blown z06 blew or had a major problem. I never found out exactly what happened but it looked pretty severe. I'll put the video up asap. After pitting I pop the hood and notice a big red glowing brick like thing in the engine bay. The whole manifold was glowing red and I'm sure as a result of all the heat it was generating it heated the LIM temps enough to cause the detonation. So the next session out I turned the boost all the way down 7.5 or so and short shifted at 6k and had no more problems. Why no heat shield? When I swapped the turbos I forgot to put it back on
This is why I should never work on my own car

With low boost and hot intake temps I still managed 3 consecutive low 1:20 laps during the time trial Thats not too bad for the south course. What really has me siked is what this car could of run.

Anyone have any ideas on how I can create a heat shield without taking the turbos back off? Actually having my mechanic take them back off

 

just uploaded the video to: http://speedwurks.com/fritz

 

Great vid, Fritz! Wish I could help you with the heat shield dilemma...

Re: the Z06....."Poof, the magic dragon...."

 

yep that dragon was hurtin for certain. i'm going to vir full later this month so if i don't figure out a cure for the manifold i'll just throw some race fuel in there and turn up the boost to atleast 11 although with the stock turbos it will creep in fourth to 14 or 15 but also plan to have demetrios tune it on the 24th.

fwiw this car runs really cool never got above 87c with ambient temps at about 60f. mobil 15 50, koyo rad, r1 coolers, green anti w/80% water, 99 nose, and probably some oil and water porting on the engine.

 

I was placed with some tuff comp so ended up in 5th in my group with the 6th fastest time. Atleast they respect the fd The gt2 240z is one bad *** looking car btw. All the cars in my group were full out race cars with full cages and light weight. My goal will be to beat Matt's Radical Dunlops, more power, less weight, better driving etc.........

If the car was running with full power I think I could of shaved a second or two from the 1:20 time. So in reality I only need about 4 seconds which should be no problem lol

The Radical is a really quick car and Matt is a great driver so I'm definitely shooting for the stars but that's where any good goal belongs


POS Class Driver Car Time FTD
1st ASP Daniel Clark RX7 1:26.082

1st BSP Sean Smith M3 1:22.222
2nd BSP Walt Smith M3 1:24.559
3rd BSP Jimmy Vervaecke M3 1:30.611
4th BSP Marty Howard 240Z 1:32.966

1st CSP Bowie Gray Miata 1:23.857
2nd CSP Ron Spencer Civic 1:26.147
3rd CSP Thomas Price Integra R 1:26.367
4th CSP Adam Menges Miata 1:30.751
5th CSP Steve Pierce CRX 1:31.067
6th CSP Karl Kauffman Miata 1:31.708
7th CSP Travis Appleman Miata 1:31.899
8th CSP Frank Catena Miata 1:36.435
9th CSP Greta Ferkel RX7 1:40.154
10th CSP Jonathan Evans Miata 1:40.161

1st DSP Mike Whitney 325is 1:24.799
2nd DSP Charlie Guthrie 325is 1:26.326
3rd DSP Matt Nicholson Sentra SER 1:26.634
4th DSP Carleton Midyette 325is 1:28.127
5th DSP April Curtis 325is 1:29.148
6th DSP Ron Weddle Alfa GTV6 1:30.452
7th DSP John King 318is 1:35.869

1st GT2 Alan Giles 240Z 1:18.562

1st ITB Chris Schimmel GTI 1:28.057
2nd ITB Mark Vitacco Scirocco 1:28.216
3rd ITB Dana Loomis Giulia 1:33.053

1st SPO Matt Graham Radical 1:14.431 FTD-1
2nd SPO Jerry Digges Corvette 1:16.451 FTD-2
3rd SPO David Salma 944T 1:18.031 FTD-3
4th SPO Patrice Bousquet 911 1:19.847
5th SPO Fritz Flynn RX7 1:20.099
6th SPO Joel Heywood Mustang 1:25.541

1st SSX Rob McClasky 350Z 1:26.641
2nd SSX Gary Kole Focus 1:28.708

 

Yeah, those Radicals are pretty neat machines. Of course, they have to use a sportbike engine to get their performance....

 

Fritz:

I sure was glad to see the recent videos for one good reason. I now know what to listen for regarding detonation. I had the impression that once it happens just ONCE, your engine is gone/blown. My mechanic told me that it sounds like someone takes a can full of nails and gives it a good hard shake, and that's exactly what it sounds like in your video. It was also interesting to note that it happen MULTIPLE times yet your engine is intact.

If you check out my mods (DP, CAI, Racing Beat Exhaust, Light Flywheel and the Mild RB template Streetport) everyone has said, "OMG, you're going to blow the engine with a stock ECU, you HAVE to go out and get it tuned/get a Pettit Unlimited ECU, etc."

All I know is that my car/engine, which was just rebuilt due to a blown water seal (that's when the APEXI CAI and streetport were added) is running like a raped ape, and I've run it hard/redlined it several times, and heard no "nail can shaking/detonation" at all. Now mind you, these are single runs, contrary to what I'll do this weekend with it at Sebring, which will be good hard 45 minute-60 minute sessions (6-7 hours of track time total, all in one day). In your video, the detonation only comes after a while, so maybe after the engine heat soaks it's a different story?

Your opinions would be great, since all of you know a lot more about the engines than I do. Detonation aside, meaning I hope mine won't with the Stock ECU, I really wonder how much stronger my engine would run for the $6-800 I'd spend getting the new ECU installed / engine tuned.

TIA for you responses, everyone.

David

 

One symptom, which I forgot to mention, which was fairly obvious tonight was some definite fuel cut I got as I was approaching redline in second gear............I assume I'll get it in all gears, but as I hit third and got up to about 80 I had to slow down for a stop sign..........

TIA for all advice.

David

 

i think what accured was detonation but the engine was saved because of the j&s or its just a really strong engine. i have another exhaust leak Just took it back off the trailer today since it finally stopped raining and its sounding like a tractor again. still have boost at this time but DAMN these cars really do test your patience. going to an autox on Sunday and then back to VIR on 26th and 27th so I hope it holds up. i'll run high octane and low boost until I get a heat shield on it. its also getting tuned on the 24th so I'll have it tuned very conservatively.

David,
fuel cut: could be fuel tank related or fuel pressure/pump related. i can't run less than 6/10 of a tank or i get fuel cut which is just another problem that needs fixing i've exp fuel cut 100 times with no significant damage but as they say it only takes once

 

The Yellow Z06 is a local guy. He laid down 370 rwhp.
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?id=786614

Cool vids.

 

thanks

two different cars. this was the first run group of the day with nothing but instructors on the course and this z06 had way more than 370 rwhp. i've been on the track with lots of stock z06's and this guy was far from stock. notice the difference in the #s and race tape. also i don't recall seeing this one again after he left the track in a plume of smoke.

i just looked at the thread and its dated 3/28 so that was probably with the Mazda group on the north course and I was there that day too but didn't see the yellow z06 in my group.

 

I just remembered that a friend and forum member has video of this car going of the track and he was just chilling following this Z and the 996 when they both drove off the track I would say he was driving at 7 or 8 10nths with smooth lines watching as expected disaster accured. I'll send him a pm and get him to post.

 

Yep, the yellow Z from the Corvette Forum is not the same one Fritz was following. THe discussion from the forum is based on the Mazdadrivers event at VIR North.

It wasn't till the end of the weekend that I ran into two drivers running laps time below 1:50. We had a good time in that last sesssion. But alas fatigue set in and more than likely caused the 911 and Z06 to simultaneously spin off the track.

Still can't believe the Z06 has 370 rwhp. He mentioned he was short shifting. Still, he should have obliterated us. The torque curve from his dyno is beautiful. That alone on the tighter turns on the North course should have made it no contest. BTW, like in true rotary fashion I blew my motor. The heat from the little stock turbos is killing me.

Fritz keep the videos coming.

See you guys at the June Mazdadrivers event.

Ramon

 

Just got back from two days of hard running at Sebring. What a hoot. Went with my buddy who just dumped 26K into his Porsche 911. My previous best was 2:46, and this weekend I ran a 2:43 and a couple of 2:45's.

That was UNTIL I got out there with my buddy and chased him through a couple of hot laps, REFUSING to let him kick my ***.............well, I looked down happily to find that we had just both turned a 2:41. Nothing like a little motivation............

Speaking of Videos, Stuart Appleby, the Pro Golfer was there with his new Lambo Gallardo, and was tracking it............FAST...............he also has a racing Beemer that he turns 2:38's in, and he was turning 2:31's in his Lambo. He had a techno dude with him and he had lipstick cameras all over the car (4 of them), and while it was recording it was automatically switching from one to the other............great videos.............I asked the techno guy to post some on the Motorsports website and if he does I'll post the link.

One track question...............I'm running completely neutral Camber................a figure there might be a couple more seconds there...............what's a good setting on the FD.............seems like negative 2 degrees all around seems popular..............lemme know.

thanks.

David

 

Stuart won that car in a golf tournament about 2 or 3 weeks ago. What a life

-2 front and -1 rear if your using sticky tires and don't drive it on the street. If you drive it on the street this setup will eat the tires on the inside. I wouldn't go -2 on the rear because you will eat up the inside of the rear tires even on the track.

 

Well, not exactly............semantics I guess...... he did buy it about a month ago, and yes he won the Mercedes Championship this past January and the first place check was about $1.5 mill, so he indirectly won it, I suppose............his earnings on the PGA tour this year thus far are over 2 mill, and career earnings are at over 11 million..............

I follow golf a lot, btw......... As far as "what a life", be careful what you wish for................in 1998, a week after the British Open, he and his wife Renay were leaving for Paris for a second honeymoon, and as they were unloading out of the cab and Stuart was paying the cabbie a second cab accidentally reversed into his wife, pinning her between the cars; she died on the way to the hospital............can you imagine having that happen all before your eyes?...............I'm sure he would trade all that money to have her back............we all get blessed in different ways, I suppose...........

He is a heck of a nice guy though, and a year ago remarried, etc............

Thanks for the tips on the camber, I am going to adjust accordingly.................I'm ok with wearing the street tires a little, because I only drive the car about 2K miles a year other, and about half of that are track miles........

C-ya.

David