those are 2.5 x17-inch car tires for the front wheels of dragsters. light and narrow, so the contact patch is tiny. they lower the bike a lot as well. a standard 1960s triumph bonneville is about 27 inches high at the frame rails under the seat. this one is just a bit over 23.
you only have to speak french at the end of the runway, when your cell phone switches to quebecois cell towers. all the local radio stations are french-- nothing but cool jazz. theres a guy from nova scotia that cleans my clock with a 600cc BSA B50 in a full fairing. but his fairing means it's irrelevant, even if he is faster. naked is the hardest class of all, because the only aerodynamics you get is what you can contort your body into.
well, we re in maine. 1100 miles, and the last 350 are all like this they started a day early. normally we re there while theyre still farting aroundvtrying to set up, but not this time. still need to buy fuel. theres a dealer about 50 milesvrven farther north that carries the 110 octane leadef C12 that i use so we ll go buy a couple of cans and then head back to the airbase to set up im here to relax, so i refuse to go hard core at first. ive done 30 runs here at one event before, but im getting more mellow about it. but if the machine is correct, and theres a tail wind, that will change. my machine is allready the fastest meriden bonneville in a production frame that has ever been, and if i can beat 139.226, it will be the fastest british 650 ever, of any kind without hot rod fuel and a fairing. we re approaching close, at 135.259, but that last 4 mph is very hard to find
first day. got here and they were running yesterday. apparently somebody showed up a day early and wanted to run. we start tomorrow. but ive come a long way. can we run now? the fire truck isnt here. i will pay for the firetruck. can we run? step right up!
dropped off the stuff and drove north to buy fuel. three 5-gallon cans of C12 110 octane leaded gasoline. i could run oxygenated fuel and go faster, but thsts not why im here. in fact i coukd run nitromethane and go way faster but thats also not why im here. anyway, git vack andcset up the pits. we set up off to the side so we can ick the wild strawberries and not have to listen to everybody else tunevtheir motirs. the trumph is ready. needed some tweakingnon thevthtottles, but its fine now starts imnefuately, udles well at 1500 i could make it idle at 1000 but theres no point i want it to warm up fast on the line and from there its WFO all the way. the son gotva setbof leatgers of his own. one ofvthe irganizers donated them for charity sale and theyvwere a perfect fit a few adjustments, and tomorrow we run. https://imgur.com/a/AVBYv7t
worked on tbe little ninja and adjusted the chain, replaced the broken clip on and the clutch lever, sacrifices fron a zero speed ti over in the shop. checked the chain on the triumph too, then took the kids out. the boy broke last yeats 250 ohc record of 104 with a 105 and then a 106. then his sister clobbered him with a 108 in the mile and 107 in the 1.5. shes running past redline to do it, so we re due for a smaller sprocket again. already down two teeth, and i think we ll have to have it made. the triumph was squirrelly on the test track, weaving and wobbling. not safe at all. i looked all over for loose andbroken bits, and finally discovered that the rear axle nut was stripping and letting the chain pull the axle out of alignment. the axle was good, just the nut was bad. so i found a coule of grade 8 nuts and went out. felt a bit odd still, so i kept it slow, about 80. then came back around and got in line again. this time i cracked it up to 8000 and stayed there, and the bike ran the mile at 127 and the 1.5 at 131. these used to be good times, but not any more. but we ll see what the dense air in the morning lets us do. the new axle nuts are holding fine, and the bike runs straight over the ton, so thats all i can ask for. except the bear. had a bear cub run across the road in front of me a half mile from the ciurse. i love maine.
the kids now hold thr course records for both mile and mile point five. both at 108 something, the girl is a few thousandths faster. this means one ofthem wins $150. excellent. but the headwinds came in andblew hard the wrong way. all day, 12 mph. they couldnt get ast it, 96 95, 98 . . .so i worked with them on body position, trying to get them to get their ass upon the air . thats important, even thoughit seems weird. i did one run, then another. then tbe back end felt loose again. went to the pits and looked it over carefully. and found it. spinning wheel bearing. the axle was good but the wheel had a half inch of play at the rim. another run might have seen the wheel seize and break. could have been bad, but thats why you pay attention. its racing. there are no guarentees. so i parked it. im coming back in 6 weeks, and ill be running the stock wheels with the little preunit rear drum brake. you dont need brakes doing this so it wil be fine. i just want safe wheels. half day tomorrow, with no wind. we ll see if the kids can hit 109. theyre redlining the little twin at 14,000 rpm. i have to get another sprocket with even fewer teeth. we re already down two now.
no wind, but they couldnt better their speeds. 104, 105, 104, 105 . . . the 108 speeds were tailwind-assist, but then, every big record has a tailwind. thats how this works. the secret is to be there, every event, every day, with the right gearing to match the wind. then when it comes, you can use it. the kids were redlining the little kawasaki every run with the tail wind. if i had had a rear sprocket with two fewer teeth, they might have hit 110. stock is 45, right now is 43, i think. i need a 41 to bring along. the daughtrr ended up with the fastest sppeed, but the son had tge fastest speed atvthe mile point five. and he took back $250 in prize money. ive never won any money at this.
Loving every bit of this! Thank you for giving us front row seats! Glad you are staying safe and having fun.
pitchers! safety inspection. looking over the kleathers the boy broke the record on this nija 250, and then broke his own record three more times the 650 looked good, but it had a bearing ready to fail the runway is 13,000 feet long. you have it all to yourself this corvette is driven by a blind man. it has dual controls for a passenger
not many ducks, but there wasone this time and a V4 motul, a pushrod monster this 750 norton beat me at 137, but it was a 750 another rider ran this 250 ninja, but she was in modoifoed partial streamlining, so it was a different class. we were faster anywaty this guy's harley is fast, but i don't remember how fast and the lttle whizzer was slow, but i don't remember how slow the turbo BSA is fast when it runs, but it didn't run this time \ and being maine, the potato fields were in bloom
maine is beautiful the airbase still has the atom bomb storage bunkers complete with pillboxes for the machine gunners lots of cars, but i didn't take many photos although the 52 cunningham caught my eye as did th eBSAs