Anna's racing story so far....

[Anna]

Anna's Racing report - the story so far

09 October 2017

21:35

This all started in July 2015 with a day out at North Weald, where I took my old Z900 up a drag-strip for the first time ever, having owned it since 1980.

The 2016 season saw me switch to our old Suzuki Slingshot, which had been hibernating in the spare garage. Second time out on it at the Pod I was slowing down from 117mph when I locked the front end and ended up bouncing down the slow down area, writing off my helmet, brand new leathers and gloves but, happily, not the Slingshot which slid down the track on one side.  This was when I learned how wonderful the  emergency response crew and medics at Santa Pod are © And got acquainted with Bedford Hospital A&E.

 Some TLC and parts replacement on the bike meant I was back at North Weald the next week just to prove to myself I could still ride it and to make sure it still ran true.  Just aimed to get up the 1/4 mile and back safely so times and top speeds were well down.

The front brake lever, bar end, exhaust and points cover took most of the damage.  Luckily we had a Vance & Hines exhaust in the shed (thanks to Kyle's hoarding tendencies).

One of the reasons for the crash was that I couldn’t get my right foot onto the peg and use the back brake so one of the main post-crash mods was setting the footpegs back making it much easier to get my feet on them.

 The first few times I rode at Santa Pod post-crash, I concentrated on just getting across the line and back to the pairing lanes safely and the rest of the 2016 season was really about getting my confidence and some consistency back.

 Between the 2016 and 2017 seasons we repainted the body work, lowered the bike even more, fitted a Nitron shock, a Dyna 2000 system, 38 mm Flatslide carbs and treated it to a dyno session thanks to the wonderful chaps at Warpspeed in deepest Norfolk.  Eblag provided a second hand set of BKS leathers and  I signed up for the RWYB Challenge at Santa Pod, so in Feb 2017 I shivered and ran up the foggy track as fast as I dared. Which wasn’t very fast.

 In March 2017 I did the dial-in day at Santa Pod, as the only motorcycle so want to give huge shout out and  thanks to Dave Grundy who came along to give me someone to ride against.  The bike started to misfire so didn’t do great times and headed back to Warpspeed for some trouble-shooting.  The culprit was the Dyna leads and the coil shorting out.  While we were up there we got  Stuart Crane to fit a lock-up clutch and 2-step,  so I had to get my head round yet another a new set up.   I got used to the lock-up before I attempted to use the 2-step and started with a gentle 3500rpm launch working up to its current setting of 4000rpm.  I'm still getting used to winding open the throttle,  dumping the clutch and having the front end come up (at least I think it does - no photographic evidence yet). 

2017 is when I started to learn how to really ride the Slingshot and began to get near its capacity with a standard engine, gearing and swingarm set up.  In July I got my first 10sec run and in September I managed 3 PB runs in one day, finishing with a 10.8!  I like to think I have improved this season, my times bear this out as I have gone from 13 & 14 sec runs at the beginning of the season in Feb 2017 to consistent low 11s in autumn 2017.  Another recent personal achievement is being able to pull out good runs towards the end of the day, whereas I used to get tired and my times went down towards the end of the day and I started to make "D'Oh" mistakes - taking off in neutral anyone?

 Last meet of 2017 (29 Oct) and I got the chance to ride our new Slingshot "Chip Shop Express", which used to be the Warpspeed chip-shop-run bike.  Never ridden a turbo bike hard before but it felt really good and another credit to Stuart Crane's bike-building skill.

As a paid-up science nerd, I graph my times after each session and the graph is my times on the Slingshot over 2 seasons.  The regression line tells me that I really am getting faster and more consistent (even when it doesn’t feel like it).  

Next year we are hoping to run 2 Slingshots, one nitrous and the other turbo - Mr & Mrs will be going head to head!

Big shout-out to the RWYB and Drag Racing family that we are becoming part of; my fellow riders who made me welcome in the RWYB Challenge at Santa Pod; Straightliners and our Pendine Land Speed friends.  XXXXX 

 Especial  thanks to Chris Tombleson and Gary Hurd at Grumpy's 1260 Performance for encouragement and advice of my early efforts on my old Kawasaki Z900 and the pink handlebar grips that will become my signature.  Gary - you said "do burn outs" - I'm getting there.

To Stuart Crane (a Top Fuel racer giving little newbie me help and advice ), Martin Hewitt (Electrical Genius) and John Wood (Dyno Wiz) and all at Warpspeed for their amazing bike building and tuning and for inviting us to be part of the experience.

 So here's to a great 2018 season from Kyle Rushby - Chief Pit Bitch and me "the Rider".  The 'Rents will be going Racing…..

[KATANAMANGLER]

Thanks for keeping us posted @Anna

[Anna]

6 hours ago, KATANAMANGLER said:

Thanks for keeping us posted @Anna

Slowly getting the hang of online forums. 

[MeanBean49]

Good on you. Enjoyable to read. Look forward to next years efforts.

[Anna]

Thanks. From now on will start posting after each race.

[Fazz711]

Good luck for next year 

[spondonturbo]

A good read Anna. Look forward to hearing how you and Kyle do next year.

[et1170]

Good stuff Anna. Look forward to seeing more pb's next year. Stay safe.

[nlovien]

likewise enjoyable read that makes me inquisitive - i'm going to be trying a few runs next year, something new for me - would be really interested in reading your learning experiences

initially - before the clutch mod's - did you use the back brake to aid getting off the line, if so how did you evolve this technique 

also ref: your two stage lock up clutch ( i've aquired one of these) - can you go into more detail with respect to how this "feels" , what happens - what do you / clutch does that makes things faster

my ignorant and probably incorrect assumption is - you have these two sets of fingers that you modify by adding / subtracting weight to match a set rpm - is it the clutch slips until the 1st stage rpm is reached - the slippage reduces until the 2nd stage rpm then you have full bite ????? - what do you as the rider experience when getting off the line

couple of mates are at the wheel spin and wheely stage of learning - having a great time - hence the bug to give it a go

many thanks

[canamant]

Good luck for next year Anna.  Shiny side up !!

 

[Anna]

On 09/11/2017 at 7:38 PM, nlovien said:

likewise enjoyable read that makes me inquisitive - i'm going to be trying a few runs next year, something new for me - would be really interested in reading your learning experiences

initially - before the clutch mod's - did you use the back brake to aid getting off the line, if so how did you evolve this technique 

also ref: your two stage lock up clutch ( i've aquired one of these) - can you go into more detail with respect to how this "feels" , what happens - what do you / clutch does that makes things faster

my ignorant and probably incorrect assumption is - you have these two sets of fingers that you modify by adding / subtracting weight to match a set rpm - is it the clutch slips until the 1st stage rpm is reached - the slippage reduces until the 2nd stage rpm then you have full bite ????? - what do you as the rider experience when getting off the line

couple of mates are at the wheel spin and wheely stage of learning - having a great time - hence the bug to give it a go

many thanks

 

On 04/11/2017 at 8:16 PM, spondonturbo said:

A good read Anna. Look forward to hearing how you and Kyle do next year.

Thanks

[Anna]

On 04/11/2017 at 5:17 PM, Fazz711 said:

Good luck for next year 

Thanks.

[Anna]

On 09/11/2017 at 7:38 PM, nlovien said:

likewise enjoyable read that makes me inquisitive - i'm going to be trying a few runs next year, something new for me - would be really interested in reading your learning experiences

initially - before the clutch mod's - did you use the back brake to aid getting off the line, if so how did you evolve this technique 

also ref: your two stage lock up clutch ( i've aquired one of these) - can you go into more detail with respect to how this "feels" , what happens - what do you / clutch does that makes things faster

my ignorant and probably incorrect assumption is - you have these two sets of fingers that you modify by adding / subtracting weight to match a set rpm - is it the clutch slips until the 1st stage rpm is reached - the slippage reduces until the 2nd stage rpm then you have full bite ????? - what do you as the rider experience when getting off the line

couple of mates are at the wheel spin and wheely stage of learning - having a great time - hence the bug to give it a go

many thanks

Never used the back brake on launch. It is still a street bike so I just used to ride like I was in a traffic light grand prix, let out clutch and twist throttle. The only difference with  the lock up (single stage) is that I have to let the clutch straight out, not feather it. That is taking some getting used to as I now wind the throttle wide open, hold on the two step and dump the clutch.  The first few times of using it I overheated it and it dragged me across the start line but I seem to have got used to it.

Still working on launches - getting the courage to just dump the clutch and deal with the result. 

Everyone has been telling me to get a longer swingarm so that's for next season. And the NOS...

 

[Rene EFE]

On the front page http://oldskoolsuzuki.info/archives/1824

[Duckndive]

On ‎19‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 9:22 PM, Anna said:

Never used the back brake on launch. It is still a street bike so I just used to ride like I was in a traffic light grand prix, let out clutch and twist throttle. The only difference with  the lock up (single stage) is that I have to let the clutch straight out, not feather it. That is taking some getting used to as I now wind the throttle wide open, hold on the two step and dump the clutch.  The first few times of using it I overheated it and it dragged me across the start line but I seem to have got used to it.

Still working on launches - getting the courage to just dump the clutch and deal with the result. 

Everyone has been telling me to get a longer swingarm so that's for next season. And the NOS...

 

All good stuff is this lock-up on a a coil spring or diaphram clutch ?  

interested in set up

[Sweary Bob]

It's  on the original diaphragm clutch assembly. We just took one of the sprung washers out to reduce the Base pressure.

[Anna]

On 24/11/2017 at 4:57 PM, Duckndive said:

All good stuff is this lock-up on a a coil spring or diaphram clutch ?  

interested in set up

 

[Anna]

Diaphragm.

[Pasis]

Interesting story.
Have you already tried to use nitrous oxide on your motorcycle? What was the time on the turbo bike?

[Sweary Bob]

Not used Nitrous on this bike yet, but the need for faster times means we will be using it next season.

[Anna]

Didn't try to launch hard as it's a new bike to me.  Once moving it felt great but I only had 3 runs toward the end of the day.  We have got a larger air filter for the intake as the old one might have been too restrictive for a 1/4 mile run under full steam. Looking forward to running nitrous. That will be another first for me so won't be going all out for the first few runs.

[Sweary Bob]

Winter upgrades nearly done.

[spondonturbo]

I see the new team hats are go!

[Sweary Bob]

On the "Mad Cat Woman" scale that hat is a cat!!!!

[Anna]

9 hours ago, spondonturbo said:

I see the new team hats are go!

 

45 minutes ago, Sweary Bob said:

On the "Mad Cat Woman" scale that hat is a cat!!!!

No - the hat is at least 10 cats in the house, on the "Mad cat lady" scale. And, I have knitted worse and will continue to do so. 

Edited December 17, 2017 by Anna