Ahh, the perks of being a journalist!
No, I’m not talking about the constant parade of brand-new motorcycles, or even the occasional free piece of expensive riding gear. No, I’m referring to the occasional reader who e-mails offering to help out with something you’re not quite sure how to do.
After my somewhat disappointing drag-racing excursion to Los Angeles County Raceway a couple of weeks ago, I was determined to go back and figure out how to get closer to the maximum accelerative capabilities of our 2006 Kawasaki ZX-10R test bike. My best pass on that trip was an 11.30@130mph – which felt pretty fast, but was nowhere close to the low ten second potential of the 10R. Even accounting for LACR’s 2710 foot elevation (they thoughtfully provide a correction formula on their web site), I was barely dipping into the tens – the corrected ET and speed was 10.96@134mph. I wanted more, and I wanted at least one timeslip with the number ’10’ on it.
I needed professional help, and got it in the form of an email from reader Uri Thatcher. Thatcher is a former professional motorcycle dragracer (in the Prostar series), and conveniently enough he works just a few minutes from LACR (in Palmdale, California).
Uri kindly offered to meet me at the track and take me through what he termed ‘Dragracing 101’. It sounded like just what I needed, and I quickly agreed.
After the typical hassle with SoCal traffic, I showed up at LACR’s Wednesday night test-n-tune session ready to rock. Uri handed me a ‘cheat sheet’ – a page of notes on what to do, and of course what not to do.
The main challenge comes in first gear – numerous factors including the 10R’s relatively short wheelbase, height, horsepower, and extremely tall first gear all conspire to make getting out of the hole in a hurry quite difficult. My cheat sheet said not to look at the tach or worry too much about the lights – pick a good launch RPM by feel, hold the throttle steady (NO letting off!) and use the clutch for traction/wheelie control. I also focused on body position, trying to keep my weight as far forward over the tank and bars as I could to allow maximum acceleration while keeping the front wheel on the ground.
Apparently I did something right, as I pulled off 60ft times in the high 1.9 second range – not that I knew what that meant, but according to Uri that was pretty good on a ZX-10R.
The rest of the track was simple – just keep the throttle pinned and keep your weight low and far forward. With the steering damper dialed to full hard, the 10R felt as stable as a Mack truck, even on the notoriously poor pavement at LACR. My first time dragracing this bike I had been tricked into shifting too early by a shift light that for some reason came on 1500rpm before redline (don’t ask me, ask whoever tested this unit before us – the shift light is programmable). Not this time – I made sure to hold second all the way to the edge of the red zone, although I did short shift first a few times when the front end started to come up.
Despite the cool temperatures (around 40 degrees Fahrenheit), I didn’t have any problems with traction at all. At Uri’s advice, I had dialed some compression out of the back end before hitting the track, and this time I ran normal street pressure in the rear tire (roughly 35 psi). I also learned a technique for burnouts – swing the back end back and forth a little, while burning the tire for around 6-8 seconds, to make sure it’s clean and sticky. His tips on selecting my starting area (try lining up in the tire tracks of the last car that launched) seemed to eliminate the traction problems that I encountered last time. Riding the right lane helped as well – on my previous visit, all my passes had been in the left lane, which at LACR is bumpy enough to give you some real problems under hard acceleration.
By the end of the night, I had made a total of five passes, three of those being in the tens (and one was 11.002). My best run of the night was my second pass, before I started to get too stiff from the cold. By applying all of Uri’s tips and tricks, I was able to get down the track in 10.7 seconds @ 135mph. Corrected for altitude, this was a 10.379@139mph pass, and that’s quick enough for me.
So, thanks to Uri Thatcher and ‘Dragracing 101’, I feel like I’m ready for Kawasaki’s ZX-14 press introduction next week, where we’ll ride the bike on the drag strip in addition to street testing. Besides that, I find myself with a new-found interest in drag racing – perhaps my next project bike will have a long swingarm and an air shifter. You never know if you like something until you try it.
