Bottlehead race sponsorship

[Doc B.]

A few of you know that I have been building a race bike for the past two years. Today was a landmark day for me, as I just registered for the Bonneville Motorcycle Speed Trials at the Salt Flats at the end of August. Shit's getting real. While I do plan to attempt a record run this won't exactly be in nosebleed territory (some "sit on" bikes are running around 265 mph these days). I'll be running a mostly stock 1962 Honda CB77 on a 62 mph record. Hoping for at least 80, and hoping some veteran racer doesn't decide to change classes to run against me. Bottlehead Michael Dunnigan will also be running the bike. Bottlehead Jim Laurel has volunteered to come down and shoot video of the attempt.

One cool aspect of this is I got to pick my own race number. 6080 seemed most appropriate, as all those Crack kits help to finance the endeavor. Funny thing is I'm not too concerned about the runs. The only bit I'm nervous about is sitting around in full leathers in 95 degree heat, ugh. My native PNW metabolism can hardly stand sitting at a traffic light on a hot day!

[Paul Birkeland]

Let's hope you hit 88!

[johnsonad]

You’ve got this Dan!

[Tom-s]

Looking forward to the video footage! Good luck!

[mcandmar]

Sounds like a blast, have fun!

[Deluk]

Looking forward to the video footage! Good luck!

Hopefully up on YouTube? I hope the tech inspectors like the bike and you get the jetting right for the altitude. Can we see pics of the bike now please?


PayPal/gofundme to buy your race gas etc?

[Doc B.]

Here's a vid of the bike. It's just about ready for tech inspection, there are a few safety wires that still need to be twisted up. Lotsa jets and needles, a few different sprockets and a heavier clutch will come with us. The plan is to take the bike to the test and tune at Bremerton drag strip this Friday so we can get some practice on it without having to worry about gendarmes, old ladies in Subarus and hungover landscapers hauling trailers full of mowers.
 

[Natural Sound]

The only bit I'm nervous about is sitting around in full leathers in 95 degree heat, ugh. My native PNW metabolism can hardly stand sitting at a traffic light on a hot day!

Don't worry, its a dry heat. Definitely a good idea to drink lots of fluids to stay hydrated. That's from a "desert rat" dirt biker who is no stranger to scrambling around in the heat all day in protective gear.

[Doc B.]

I've been out there for a couple days in 95 F, so I know what to expect. As a spectator it works pretty well to shade for a while, walk for a bit, shade for a while. And of course get one of the awesome, giant sno cones at about 1 o'clock. Out in line to run the only shade is an umbrella you bring. I think maybe I read that they let you wait until you are third in line to put on your leathers, so hopefully you don't have to be stuck in them for hours. I also bought one of those gel filled neck coolers after the last trip to the salt. I've used it mowing on a hot day and it does seem to help a bit. Interestingly I noticed that the MotoGP riders are now using them while waiting on the grid before the race starts at the hotter circuits. Racers get up at O dark thirty and are on the salt by sunrise to get runs in while the air is cool and dense, but bikes continue to run all day long.

[Deluk]

Bike looks too beautiful for the salt so don't you dare drop it. 

[Doc B.]

Thanks! It's been a long haul getting it built. It was originally brought home in several cardboard boxes. The reports are that the salt is the best it has been in 15 or 20 years, super smooth with the water table down several inches. But very thin. So hopefully it will hold up to the high horsepower bikes and stay a nice smooth and straight ride.

[2wo]

If the leathers get too hot, you can always do a Rollie Free 

[Doc B.]

Ah, the stuff they used to get away with.

[Doc B.]

OK, a couple pics and a sad story. Michael and I went to the drag strip this afternoon. Unloaded bike, fired it up, ran great right up to 9200 rpm redline. Suited up, got in line. Got to pre stage and the guy says "they're having problem with the timing system, it will be a few minutes." Minutes go on and on. He says' "might as well shut down, it's going to be a while." I get ready to shut down, rev the bike before power down and it won't go past 6000rpm. WTF! So the track closes down, I go back the pits and we decide the dirt is not the best place to pull a bike apart. We stood around for two hours shooting the breeze before the track opened. Watched a few cars run, packed it in and went home. That's motor racing for ya...we actually learned quite a bit from the experience. I took the 85 degree heat OK in full leathers, we can sweet talk a tech inspector pretty well, we have loading and unloading down quite well and I now have a competition number for that race track. Tomorrow, back in the garage for some troubleshooting. Photo credit Michael Dunnigan.

[Doc B.]

Not too bad. I think I slightly over-revved warming up the bike, which causes the valves to float. I suspect that may have caused the valve adjusters to loosen up, so the intake valves were not opening fully. I reset them yesterday and she fired right up and ran to redline when warm. Note to self, check valve lash after every run!

A GPS speedo is in the mailbox at work. Ought to be a little more useful than the ancient stock POS that bounces somewhere between 0 and 120 everywhere you go. Some bloke already had #6080. The nerve! So I will run as #845. That should be good. 845 is more linear than 6080, and you need to be linear on the salt.