racing my katana... new best of 11.52 @ 116

[frosti108]

last night went to maple grove in pa got there around 5:30 and got 7 runs in throughout the night. stayed until 10pm.


my bike has everything on it, centerstand, mirrors, turnsignals, regular metzler tire for the street..even the stock rear fender and plate holder.
its a 1989 katana 750 with 23.5k miles. yoshi can and 4-1 header, not sure if stock or what. k&n air filter. carbs really in need of a synch and valves in need of resetting lash (but i didnt care lol)

started out with a 12.136 @ 113.60. 60ft was 2.132 ...it was my 1st time ever racing the katana, so it was pretty granny like. slipped out around 5k rpm and used the clutch for every shift lol

my 'favorite' run was my 5th run. 11.949 @ 111.98 with a 1.874 60ft
that run had low 11.8 written all over it but i missed my last shift hence the 111.98mph ...out of the hole i was holding at around 8k rpm and up to the 12k redline when i started slipping the clutch lol


fastest run of the night was my 2nd run.
12.023 @ 114.36. 60ft was 2.013
i was still getting used to the launch. you can really launch hard on the track because its so damn sticky. if you tried anything close to it on the street the tire just lights up. so it def took some getting used to. but the run was clean, and i didnt touch 114 at all the rest of the night. possibly because the bike heated up after the 2nd run

quickest run of the night was 11.913 @ 113.71. 60ft was 1.925.

after alls said and done, i think the bike had a high 11.7 in it. this is with a 1.8 60 foot and motor nice and cooled down. but i didnt touch that time.

after i reset the valve lash, perfect the carbs, advance the timing, drop the center stand, mirrors, maybe front turn signals...? i think the bike could easily be a half second faster.

so what do u guys think

[Sled]

those are good times for a katana, but i don't think you'll drop a half a second once you fix it all. you running about what your bike should run. nice 60fts its not easy on a bike.

[mikes93]

Nice numbers, I think with a bit more track time if you drop even .1 out of the hole at 114 trap. hummm 11.7 for sure. Keep up the good work.
I was there last nite too.

[frosti108]

thanks guys. id really like to get the bike all up to par and go back in a few weeks. a guy with a similar bike said with nothing but some different sprockets he was running 11.3 @ 120 so im pretty sure the bike could be a **** ton quicker with all of the little possible tweaks. looks like i may be needing some leather pants as well soon (i think maple groves mph is 120?)

and you have to remember. a little more power/weight loss makes a much bigger difference on a streetbike vs a car. so i think a half second loss is more than realistic

main thing id like to see next time is consistant 1.8 60fts ...for me thats the most challenging and satisfying part of the drag.

[Sled]

i was trapping close to 140 and they never said nothing about leathers?? I think once you hit 9s is when they get on your case about that. I realize power to weight on a bike is way different, but bikes don't pick up a lot of power with mods. Gearing is probably the best bang for your buck.

[frosti108]

yea maple grove says you need leather pants if you go faster than 120mph on a bike.

sometimes i think they just let people go though ;)

[Proven]

Nice to see someone racing bikes. Its been awhile.

How are you leaving the line? Like whats your clutch / gas tactics?

The best advice I got (although I looped a bike like this but ended up being faster in the long run) When you launch NEVER let off the gas. If the front wheel starts to raise use the clutch slightly to bring it back down but stay on the gas. It took me awhile to get the balls to do it but it works. Your 60 foot times will drop.

And yea sprockets are best bang for your buck along with tire selection.
Once you get into big mods a airshifter is where its at. YOUTUBE a episode of street bikes with Ricky gadson (spelling) with him giving lessons to Jason Britton on drag racing.

Bikes are the sh**

[frosti108]

How are you leaving the line? Like whats your clutch / gas tactics?



for the 1st few runs i was doing it like i do on the street... waiting for the yellow lights and then just nailing the gas and slipping the clutch right before green light hit.

then my friend who has a bunch more experience told it really helps to hold the rpm steady where you want it right when you stage.

so then i started getting staged, and right away, holding my Rs up around 8k up until green was about to hit. i guess its more consistant like that.
and yea if you let off the gas your whole run is screwed up lol especially on a slow katana. so i just gotta keep the rpms up and when its time to go i start slipping the clutch as well as going WOT. if you try to slip the clutch to fast the bike bogs lol and ofcourse if you slip it too slow your not getting that good 60 foot :thumbup:

[Sled]

Nice to see someone racing bikes. Its been awhile.

How are you leaving the line? Like whats your clutch / gas tactics?

The best advice I got (although I looped a bike like this but ended up being faster in the long run) When you launch NEVER let off the gas. If the front wheel starts to raise use the clutch slightly to bring it back down but stay on the gas. It took me awhile to get the balls to do it but it works. Your 60 foot times will drop.

And yea sprockets are best bang for your buck along with tire selection.
Once you get into big mods a airshifter is where its at. YOUTUBE a episode of street bikes with Ricky gadson (spelling) with him giving lessons to Jason Britton on drag racing.

Bikes are the sh**

Ricky was at one of our tracks rentals testing the then new 08 ZX14s. he was cool as ****.

[frosti108]

i found out the stock mains in my bike are 112 and im running a 120. possibly a little rich. ive been thinking about hooking up my wideband to my bike :lol:

anyways i ordered up all the gaskets i need, along with a couple front sprockets (14t for drag and 16t for mpg)

i still havent bought a carb sync tool but i def need one soon. i was thinking about having them synced somewhere but i bet for the money they charge me i could just buy my own tool


ooh also when i was making my order i found an m2005 rated helmet for like 50 bucks :) so im good on that now. no more borrowing my buddies helmet to pass tech haha

[frosti108]

went to cecil county friday night with the bike.
since the previous (1st) time out racing at maple grove, i did the following to the bike
-adjusted valves (was badly needed)
-synced carbs (was badly needed)
-advanced ignition (modified the signal generator)
-switched to synthetic oil


also it was cooold out friday night so needless to say the bike was running the best it ever has. i was also going to switch front sprockets but i didnt have a big enough socket so i didnt change em lol

oh and just fyi. i clutch the 1-2 shift just out of respect for my bike :) the rest are shifted without clutch. this is how i did it at maple grove and how i did it at cecil. despite my buddy trying to get me to use no clutch for 1 to 2 shift, i still do it since i think its worth saving those 2 gears from un needed wear

1st run...
60ft- 1.981
1/4- 11.733
mph- 116.68

it turns out the c-clip for my shifter linkage fell off midway down the strip, causing a mis shift, and then the whole linkage ended up hanging from the part that goes into the motor :eek: yea it was a little scary. so i drove over an hour to get there, and my bike broke. so i found some wire and wrapped it around in the grove where the c clip was... and then tightened it with some pliers. yea shady.

2nd run...
60ft- 2.013
1/4- 11.762
mph- 116.73

i thought i had a better run than it was, not sure what happened. i did however, run against an 05 gsxr600. he went 11.833 @ 119.59 with a 2.233 60ft :) it was a good race.
so for the next race we decided to run eachother again.

3rd run...
60ft- 1.869
1/4- 11.529 !!
mph- 116.65

thats right finally got a run in i could be proud of. 11.52 is my new best. not only that, but i managed to beat the gsxr again. he went 11.786 @ 119.55 with a 2.152 60 ft :mrgreen:

hopefully next time i will have a smaller sprocket on the front and get a little closer to 10s.
well actually, i hope next time i go to the strip ill be taking my car. and in this cold weather it should pull off some good times :mrgreen:

those are good times for a katana, but i don't think you'll drop a half a second once you fix it all. you running about what your bike should run. nice 60fts its not easy on a bike.

In yo face sucka!!!! :-p
im sure cold weather had a big role, but damn. i didnt even do the sprocket yet :)
Thanks for the 60ft comment though :)

[frosti108]

its the next year, and i finally got a few pics from the day at maple grove, :lol:

I was racing my buddies dad most of the day. he runs a stretched cbr900, i think a 96. pretty much stock. Cool part is he lost one of his arms. He ****ing kills it though. Matches my 60 foot most of the time, and pulls crazy reaction times. ive seen him pull consecutive double 0 r/ts
http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-sf2p/v644/177/105/616207980/n616207980_1149011_8421.jpg
http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-sf2p/v644/177/105/616207980/n616207980_1148997_1054.jpg
http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-sf2p/v644/177/105/616207980/n616207980_1149007_3531.jpg
http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-sf2p/v644/177/105/616207980/n616207980_1149009_5952.jpg

[frosti108]

Sooo... anyone on the site planning on running their bike next season? I think im going to shoot for low 11s out of the katana. should be a decent race for someone with a newer 600 maybe?

[Blaise]

Sooo... anyone on the site planning on running their bike next season? I think im going to shoot for low 11s out of the katana. should be a decent race for someone with a newer 600 maybe?

I'll take mine out as a joke one night. But only if you bring yours down to try turning at a real racetrack ;)

Question: How come you're not wearing full leathers? Even if it's not required, it would hurt an awful lot to fall at that speed.

Also, as far as I know newer 600s are all well into the 10s with a good rider.

[frosti108]

I'll take mine out as a joke one night. But only if you bring yours down to try turning at a real racetrack ;)

I would love to get on a real course with my bike. Unfortunatly I haven't really looked into it as much as i have with my cars. Also, I don't have much of a budget when it comes to these things. (i have an 89 katana for a reason, LOL)

Where are bikes even allowed around here? I dont think englishtown does bikes...


Question: How come you're not wearing full leathers? Even if it's not required, it would hurt an awful lot to fall at that speed.


The jacket is the only article of leather i have. Honestly a slow katana is very safe at the strip. It doesn't try to come up what so ever, and there is no turning involved. If i were to try and go road racing, I would definatly invest in pants boots and whatever else... But really, I can't throw too much money at bike related stuff, since at this point it's really just a side show to my car hobby.


Also, as far as I know newer 600s are all well into the 10s with a good rider.


Well maybe i will get lucky and find an inexperienced rider to race with again. The 05 600 gixxer was an awesome race. He had the faster bike, but I would get the dig on him everytime and then he would have to play catchup. I was getting a half second faster 60 foot than him, and a couple tenths faster e/t, but his traps were like 3 or more mph than mine. It was a really good time.

[Blaise]

I run at Summit, NJMP, BeaveRun, etc.

Regardless of whether you're riding at the strip or track or street, try to get some boots and pants. Road rash is no fun.

[frosti108]

Thanks. How do you find out if and when there is track days for bikes? I know it would be an awesome time. I think i would need to either do some more work to the kat or upgrade to a better bike before getting on a road course. But I definatly want to try it sometime.

[Blaise]

For B group you would be just fine on the Katana.

Track dates are currently being announced: www.nesba.com

[frosti108]

For B group you would be just fine on the Katana.

Track dates are currently being announced: www.nesba.com

cool. I hope you don't mind that I used you as a referrer on nesba. :)

[Blaise]

Nope!

Warning: You'll stop playing with cars if you start messing with this stuff.... it's that much fun.

[frosti108]

Nope!

Warning: You'll stop playing with cars if you start messing with this stuff.... it's that much fun.

Ha, it's probably a bit cheaper in some aspects as well... But it's just different. Cars are safe, and easy to push. Also i think there are many different driving styles with cars. With bikes, i feel like there isn't as many possibilites. And they definatly take more balls (and skill) to push on the track...

[lawdogg]

Nice runs, I always wondered how a Katana would do at the track.

[frosti108]

Nice runs, I always wondered how a Katana would do at the track.

thank you. the good thing about the kat is, it doesn't try to come up on you like a sportbike does. its too heavy and long, :lol:

now if only it had more power...

[crazy2sin]

Ill be heading back to Atco soon to run my Vrod some more before I start modding it. Nice times btw

[tort9320g]

That 11.5 pass seems very impressive ! I'd love to join some of you at the track but i just got my bike and am still getting used to it. I was rolling around on a 250cc Scooter the last couple of years and went out and bought a 2006 Z1000. Just a bit of a difference. Not many things scare me but this bike i definately respect. I'm afraid i'd loop it when i lauch it. Maybe in time.

Dave

[93EGY8]

damn eddie taht 11.5 is nice! lol.. now whats the good ole gs gonna run???

[frosti108]

Ill be heading back to Atco soon to run my Vrod some more before I start modding it. Nice times btw

thanks man. my buddy and his dad go to atco pretty often.

That 11.5 pass seems very impressive ! I'd love to join some of you at the track but i just got my bike and am still getting used to it. I was rolling around on a 250cc Scooter the last couple of years and went out and bought a 2006 Z1000. Just a bit of a difference. Not many things scare me but this bike i definately respect. I'm afraid i'd loop it when i lauch it. Maybe in time.

Dave

thanks Dave, congrats on the new bike. i bet its nice. You won't loop it unless you try to pull some crazy ****, haha. it can't hurt to launch a little easy the 1st few times to get the feel for the track, and then its all progress from there :mrgreen:

damn eddie taht 11.5 is nice! lol.. now whats the good ole gs gonna run???

thanks bro, the gs... im guessing a high 13 :lol: but guess what i got for it? 1978 gs750 parts bike. its got the front fender, light and ignition controls, spare wheels, heavier springs and shocks, handlebars, stock baffled exhaust, tach.... everything i need for the 550 except the seat is bad on the 750 too :( ill probly try to recover one of them myself...

[93EGY8]

thats bad ass..swap the 750 over to while ur at it

[frosti108]

haha i would be all about that, but the 750 has 45k miles on it :eek: also, it didn't come with carbs, so theres probly something else wrong with it too. the 550 runs too good to swap it with anything else right now anyway. im sure the 550 carbs would work fine on the 750 with some new jets, but like i said, the 550 runs too good to abandon it and the 750 is a mystery that i wont be looking into. ill either take all i want off of the 750 bike and then sell the rest for like 50 bucks, or keep it to try and hack up into a chopper or something