Drag racing the storm!

[storm]

Hi all,

Want to get the storm out to w.s.i.d in the next few weeks... Have never drag raced a bike before and wondering if anyone can put in a bit of input into it.

Techniques? Tips?
How do we all get off the line? Slip the clutch im assuming?
What kind of number can i expect from a basically stock bike?

I might need to do it over a few weeks to perfect times but we will have to see what happens.


Any help would be great. Cheers, Tony.

[colinlinz]

Sorry Tony, I have no experience at all drag racing. I seem to remember that a few here have done it. While you are in track mode, give some thought to a track day at EC too, it is a great circuit.

[Thelodger]

11s i believe.

[storm]

Yeh realy want to get out and do as much as possible so a track day at e.c is high on the list..

[bigmicky]

good on ya for having a go. I've put a few cars down the quarter mile but never a bike. would love to get out to calder for a run at a street meet during winter. a lot of street bikes i've seen drag race loft the front a bit too much and are all over the place for the the first few metres. i know your adrenalin is pulsing through unbelievably as your edging up to the staging lights and it may sound obvious, but deep breaths, try to stay calm and get your clutch control right on launch. the last 300m are pretty easy!

[storm]

Im keen! I will let everyone know how i go anyways and should be good... My plan is to get into the 11's so we will see how we go.

[snowcone]

I haven't ran down a strip before but if I was I would change to a smaller rear sprocket. I would want to get away quick without lifting the front wheel too much plus it would give you more pace through each gear

[udlose]

I wouldn't be raising the gearing on an already tall geared bike!

I've done plenty of drag racing on my bikes, I did 11.01@127 on my daytona 675.

A few basic tips to try after you've gotten used to it are;

Get used to grabbing the throttle from further back to allow you to hit wide open throttle (for the launch). Ie: the text book way you get taught not to ride. I'm not suggesting snapping it to WOT when the light goes green, but you want to be able to smoothly wind it on to WOT without having to regrip the throttle.

Learn to take off with your right foot down so that you can shift. Don't be in a rush to get your foot back onto the peg, I found i used to have a tendancy not to hit full throttle until both my feet were on the pegs. Now i dangle my right foot for 1/2 track. Worrying about your foot wastes valuable concentration. Master taking off with your right foot down on the street, don't wait till your at the drags to try it for the first time! It's harder than it sounds if you've been taking off left foot down all your life.

Preload the shifter before you shift and go clutchless.

Tuck in! Makes a big difference in the deep end.

Don't overrev it, its common for people to wring the crap out of their bikes and actually go slower, even inline fours don't want to be shifted 100rpm before limiter. It's even more so with the big twins. If your worried about powerlifting in first sometimes its faster to short shift first and bash it to WOT rather than nurse it to the redline in first at say 80% throttle. That worked for my mate to improve his times. I found the best approach is to hit WOT in first and when it comes up toward the end of the gear powershift to 2nd and it'll naturally come down without having to back off at all.

As for the take offs i got virtually no experience with the storms, but i've found them to be very bitey. I reckon they'll be quite tricky to get off the line hard, but I'm looking forward to trying! Take care on the launches and slowly work your way up to a good sixty.

Don't waste your concentration on trying to cut a good light (R/T), the ET gets recorded from when your bike breaks the laser beam so it means nothing to you in a non competition event. I've found sometimes if I'm trying to work on my launches i'll actually let the other bike go when the light goes green, take a deep breath and just take off as hard as I can.

The best way to learn is to focus on one thing at a time and with practice certain parts of the run will be done on autopilot which frees up concentration to fine tune other aspects like shift points and launch.

PS: For those track junkies who frown on drag racing, i've found that drag racing is an extremely valuable thing for track racing. It teaches you how to extract every drop of horsepower out of your bike on the track, you'll be able to clutchlessly shift perfectly every time on autopilot at the track. When i'm at EC I've noticed a huge advantage from simply out shifting people.

Cheers
Marty

[Torquescheap]

A good write up 'udlose' For the VTR i've found launching at 3-3500rpm to be good. I don't dump the clutch, but let it out like your leaving the traffic lights. Wind the throttle a little as your letting the clutch out. Hi rpm and slipping the clutch dosen't seem to work for the VTR like it dose for inline 4's. If you don't like front wheel coming up then you can short shift 1st at 8000rpm or so. Hope than helps Cheers Jay

[snowcone]

I don't consider the Storm to be a "tall geared bike"
Quite the contrary actually.
If you hammer it off the mark you will go nowehere in first as it is geared low.
And when you get on the open road and around $2 you will be looking for another gear (that you don't have) as the Storm runs out
of puff at high revs.
A lot of guys gear them down but I think they must be cruising around town a lot.
You can launch a lot faster if you have a taller first gear and it will eliminate the front wheel lift as it takes more horsepower to do it.

[hivisibility]

Best times I ever got on the ole eleven was when it had highway gearing, would just pull 120 klicks in the top of first.
But it was a front heavy IL4 with HP dripping off it everywhere and lift wasn't an issue, but wheelspin past the 200m mark and drifting off the rubber line was

[thecrow3]

have been in a family that races car bikes have been in rally and drags and involved in some track work its all in the feel i agree with the right foot thing said above and i launch round the 3500 to 4000 mark hold revs and clutch release at a steady pace will limit front wheel lift but when u get a good feel the slight lift can be a real buzz ... u can expect with stock 10.8 - 11.3 as long as u dont bounce off the rev limiter which looses speed ... my old bandit does 10.5 and my old 900 boldor i got down to a 11.2 with some mods of course but none of them have that same feel as the old vtr thumping and riseing and that twitch off the line when u really nail it is just wow

[eternityrider]

i agree snowcone the storm is geared low,pushing it in first is pointless,but getting the front up off the line and hearing that vtwin rumble is a real buzz,best bike i've owned