Official Straightliners post for the Ramsey Sprint

With nothing new to report for a while and still and long way to go in the build, I thought I'd post this latest update from Straightliners. Maybe in a few years I could take the Punisher over and set some times on the famous sea front.

Straightliners News Channel

· 25 May at 00:00 ·

Come celebrate the 40th anniversary of Straightliners Ramsey Sprint 2018 at the TT. To take part just turn up with your licence, riding gear and of course your vehicle of choice.
On the 3th June it is Run What You Brung (RWUB) / practice and the real thing on the 5th June. See you at Ramsey Promenade (beside Mooragh Park). Advert D.R Photography . Please share and like this post and don't forget to follow us. #Isleofman #Straightliners #dragracig #RamseySprint #TT #RWUB #RunWhatYouBrung

 

Phase 2.0

On Sunday myself and Tania took the trip up to Exmouth to pick up Si's spangly new van to transport the ZZR to Peterborough and Casarva. Thanks again Si this was more than a generous offer to loan me the van.
All loaded we were on the road at 12:30, and for once the roads were quiet. With an unplanned detour due to a major new junction not being on the vans satnav we arrived at the hotel around 17:00. The Best Western Plus Peterborough Orton Hall Hotel & Spa can be well recommended. A nice meal at the pub near by and we are all set for Casarva in the morning.

We turn up at Casarva just after 10:00 and unload the bike with Steve and Mike's help.

Gently does it !

 

Mike suitably attired in resplendent Punisher gear to welcome the arrival. 

The eagle has landed !

The ZZR will never look like this again !

And in her new home for next 2.5 months with some other very different trikes !

The next 2 hours were spent going over all the build details with Steve and Matt. I have such a definite image in my head of what it should look like, however reality does not always allow for this and it's Matt's job to make it all fit together.



Having now seen my new wheels in the flesh they are even better than I'd hoped for. I have left the rear wing, exhausts end cans and exhaust bandage with the guys.
It's now all in Casarva's hands and in true Topgear / Guy Martin fashion the clock is ticking to be ready for the last qualifying session with Straightliners on the 17th July.
Lastly I have been trying to work out the maths for the gearing. I have already gone up a tooth on the front sprocket and looking to drop on the rear, but by how much ? the small increase in rolling diameter of the new wheels and tyres has a big effect.
Steve pointed me at www.gearingcommander.com which is brilliant and has proved my maths is not quite as crap as I thought. With all the new kit specifications entered the graph below shows a theoretical top speed of 219 mph !!!! This is calculated on a 1200 not my more powerful 1400 and of course she has to pull that gearing with extra weight and the conditions on the day.

Theories are all ok but let's see, that will be bloody shifting on a trike !!

The Good, the bad and those immortal words !!!

After 2 weeks of no bike / trike activity with the bike residing with Jack at Double D, I went to pick the ZZR up this afternoon. Jack had been fitting all the front end goodies, top work as ever Jack, which included the Brembo calipers, pads and Hel brake / clutch lines to the bike. In addition he fitted the new Brembo rotors to the BST carbon wheel.

I have taken my friends advice (thanks Si) and kept the original wheel on for its trip to and transformation at Casarva. As most of you will know I'm not exactly the luckiest person in the world (see below for more evidence) so why risk the carbon wheel and give something else for Casarva to worry about.

As well as the above Jack put in new oil and dropped the front end by 20mm for me. The American drag racing sites say you can drop 30mm but that is for professional drag bikes and not something to be used on the roads. With the British roads now resembling a second world war beach after the boys have been through to save private Ryan, I have to go with a small compromise for the real world.

Can you see the face of the devil ?

And now the bad ! Jack tells me that the bike suddenly is not running right and had just filled his garage with smoke !! All it's had is an oil change how the hell has it gone wrong and I have to go to Peterborough first thing in the morning.

Maybe a run will clear things ? I leave Jack but it is not a well bike in fact within a mile it's running on 2 cylinders and spewing enough smoke to reopen the hole in the ozone !! So it's straight to GT and an initial diagnosis from Steve of "that is one sick engine". With me sitting outside like an expectant father, Steve thankfully after a couple of hours diagnosis discovers it's the new Power Commander. With the unit removed the bike is running fine if a little lumpy at the bottom end. Thanks for your efforts Steve the trip to Casarva is saved !! Whilst I discussed this with Mike G with a broken Power Commander in my hands he utters the immortal words "well I've never seen that before" !!!

Tomorrow it's off to Casarva !

Straightliners Elvington post

Straightliners News Channel

· 20 March at 11:12 ·

Here is a link to the results from #Straightliners top speed event this afternoon (20 March 2018) at Elvington. Top rider was Zef Eisenberg who did 196.058mph over a mile on his #Hayabusa 1300cc
https://app.box.com/s/5q1ss866wz4histekjtbww9c84nwos2h
Our next top speed event is on 17 April taking place Elvington Airfield, North #Yorkshire, England. Book online here https://www.straightlinersonline.co.uk/…/116-top-speed-tues…
Results Martyn Greathead & photo Jason King. Please share and like this post and don't forget to follow us. #wheelie #landspeed

Elvington 20/03

After a good evening in the Black Bull pub it was back in again at half seven for breakfast. And what a breakfast !! Best £5 breakfast ever !! With us both fuelled we headed off to the track which is 3 miles away. It's raining, not what was forecasted, a lot. We arrive with about 6 other early birds and head off to the catering wagon for some coffee.

It's still raining heavily after the Straightliners crew turn up, so we are told to relax and signing on will be delayed. Signed on with Helen and Martin for my first top speed event ever and made to feel very welcome, and got to meet Becci Ellis the worlds fastest lady at 264 mph. Scrutineering is also delayed because of the rain and really the whole morning is wasted due to the bloody weather. Tantalising glimpses of sunshine come and go with heavy showers, gusty winds and arse freezing 4 degrees of temperature continuing to spoil things. This does mean we had plenty of time for chatting about bikes with some really top folk like Jason and Lee. Both these guys run trick turbo charged bikes and run them in the world wheelie championships with speeds over 200 mph on the back wheel !! We also met some other guys from Plymouth who have built a steam powered Busa !!! I am not kidding and is the most incredible thing to watch and listen to. Think is was run twice and topped out at around 80 mph.
About 13:00 things have improved and we are asked if we want to try it, and about a third of us are up for it. Being the only newbie playing today I am taken for a lap of the track with all the rules by Trevor, and told first timers should aim for 150 tops. There is a marginal dry line but there are puddles and standing water all over the track.

I'm third down the track for my first ever run and bimble down tripping the lights at 120 mph. The wind is fairly strong from the north which is hitting us hard from the left. I arrive back in the pits for a debrief with Si, to go straight back out for another sighting run at 130. It's very sketchy with all the different elements being thrown at us.
By half three the track has dried enough to allow some serious runs to be put in and I trip the lights on run number 9 with a best speed of 175.517 mph !! I am well pleased with result as this placed me 3rd fastest person on the day with only Jason's turbo and Zef's supercharged Busa ahead of me. Fastest run of the day was 196.068 mph.

The video shot by Si below is my 175 mph run and taken several hundred meters after the timing lights so this is in the roll off area.

Finally before I sign off thanks Si ! Brilliant trip and I couldn't have done it without you. Here's looking forward to July.

Triumph over adversity

Yesterday was not a good mood day ! The weather bomb that hit the southwest nearly scuppered everything. Even this morning all seemed less than positive. Although the weather had sorted itself in Plymouth, Si at ground zero was still under several feet of snow.

I can 't say thanks enough to him, I don't know many friends that would go to half this trouble. The phone call was "get your ass to Exeter services, I'll make it !!" I did the 50 miles to Exeter in some pretty grim conditions.

Above is my lid whilst thawing with a coffee at Costa. I couldn't bring myself to take a picture of the bike. Si arrived as promised and the trip is saved. Not making tomorrow at Elvington would have screwed the whole year and no record. Straightliners require a minimum of 2 top speed days in a year before they allow you on the records weekend. Tomorrow and the last one in July are the only ones I can schedule with the trike build.
We filled the ZZR with 99 rocket juice at Tesco and jet washed all the crud off her, let her dry in the sun whilst we bought food for the trip and then loaded up.
Great 6 hour trip in Si's posh new Romany home and we are now a couple of miles away from Elvington at Ye olde Travelodge and pub. Two plates of chicken and four pints of liquid courage and we are all set for tomorrow.
Tomorrow is mainly about getting to know folk and the circuit but I have realistic targets, sensational targets and dream targets. Let's see how things go !!

Offical Straightliners post for Elvington

Straightliners News Channel

· 16 March at 01:00 ·

Coming at us fast #Straightliners first #topspeed Tuesday of 2018 - next week 20th March at #Elvington.
Sign on online here https://www.straightlinersonline.co.uk/…/114-top-speed-tues… Taking place Elvington Airfield, North #Yorkshire, England.
Advert design D.R Photography. Please share and like this post and don't forget to follow us. #wheelie #landspeed

Just got to hope the bloody snow goes away on time !!