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Drag Racing General Drag Racing & Motorsport

Discussion in 'Motorcycle Racing and Track Days' started by Frankster, Jan 23, 2020.

  1. ruckusman

    ruckusman White Mans Magic Master Premium Member Dirty Wheel Club

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    Dad had a Detroit diesel in one of his trucks - twin turbos feeding a supercharger packs quite a bit of OOMPH - sounded not dissimilar to that RR engine
     
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  2. jmw76

    jmw76 Well-Known Member

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    Some more information on the Vespa of 1951 with the opposed piston engine.

    In 1951, a totally new racer was rolled out onto the Rome-Ostia Autostrada, between kilometers 10 and 11, to take the 125cc land speed record. This new machine was long, low, and shaped like a rocket, which completely enclosed the rider, barring his streamlined helmet! The engine was far from standard, too, with a twin-crankshaft, opposed-piston two stroke, with a common cylinder. The pistons moved towards each other, and at the top of their stroke formed a combustion chamber with their piston tops; it produced 19.5hp @9500rpm. While an unusual engine design for a motorcycle, it was common enough as a nautical engine using two-stroke diesel power. The engine used two carburetors and two spark plugs, and was water-cooled, and was held by an single rail aluminum frame, but the motor was placed beside the streamliner’s rear wheel to give some family resemblance to the Vespa roadster. It recorded a two-way average of 103.26mph.

    [​IMG]
    At speed (103mph) on the Rome-Ostia autostrada, at 103mph in 1951


    [​IMG]
    Another view of the 1951 Piaggio full streamliner at speed, showing the requirement of a streamlined helmet! Also, the location of the motor beside the rear wheel, to reassure the public this machine has a Vespa connection

    Source: The Vintagent https://thevintagent.com/2017/12/26/vespa-streamliners/
     
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  3. ruckusman

    ruckusman White Mans Magic Master Premium Member Dirty Wheel Club

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    Love the retro spaced ages styling and to think that all of that was very likely formed by hand, it's amazing craftmanship

    I'm wondering how the power output compares to a traditional single cylinder/single piston two stroke of that same era
     
  4. Frankster

    Frankster Grey Pride...Adventure before Dementia Staff Member Premium Member Ride and Events Crew

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    That's a great website @jmw76

    I particularly like the 1958 Vespa Streamliner with its Flintstones-inspired outriggers (feet).

    Vespa.JPG
     
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  5. jmw76

    jmw76 Well-Known Member

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    Have a look over the Vintagent website at some of the early DKW stuff also. The level of innovation on those 1930's machines was right up there. Supercharged multi-cylinder and split single 2 strokes.
     
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  6. Frankster

    Frankster Grey Pride...Adventure before Dementia Staff Member Premium Member Ride and Events Crew

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    A mate is a big Escort fan, so I'm posting this for him. Darwin drags always have a wide variety of vehicles racing.

    Mark1funny.JPG
     
  7. gregt

    gregt Well-Known Member Premium Member

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    Seems like a good place to post this....
    This is the alloy dustbin going onto my 250 Triumph project.

    It's ex Bob Burns here in ChCh NZ. Google him if the name doesn't ring a bell as a World speed record holder on a Vincent.
    This fairing first appears in his Autobiography as being made for an attempt on the NZ residents solo record in 1957. The world records he and Russell Wright had set a few years earlier were under an FIM permit so didn't count as residents records. So Bob wanted to tidy that up. Borrowed Black Lightning motor in a Rapide pulled off his shop floor. 170 plus MPH - which i think beat Burt Munro's record.
    Next time it appeared I was there...Dale Wylie was going after the NZ 500cc record with a TR500 Suzuki - with Mike Sinclair tuning it. At the time I was racing against him locally on a 500 Manx. Never beat him on track but got the local club champ due to better attendance, LOL. He was away chasing the National title.
    Anyway, Bob had borrowed a 500 manx to keep Dale honest. I gave Bob a hand to unload - he was on his own - and asked the obvious...Where'd you get the bin, Bob ? Was it hanging in the shed ? I knew him slightly. My father had been one of the people he consulted over the ex works heads he was given for the record attempt. What didn't make it into the books was that they were pretty much f***** and needed a lot of work.
    The answer was - Yes. Then he said it had been made from the sidecar wheel fairing of the record outfit....
    He ran around 138mph on the Manx vs Dale's only just breaking the record 145mph. Closer than anyone expected.

    When I managed to get the fairing off a mate, I checked into this looking in Bob's autobiography. It appears they made a full fairing for the complete outfit - sidecar and all. Then found they could use a "wheel on a stick". Doesn't look like any pics have survived of the fully streamlined outfit.

    It's got a known ownership trail. Corrosion damage where the light gauge steel tube support frame has touched it.
    Probably should be hanging in a museum - but sitting on a period correct racebike should ensure it survives a bit longer.
     

    Attached Files:

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  8. Frankster

    Frankster Grey Pride...Adventure before Dementia Staff Member Premium Member Ride and Events Crew

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    At the recent Atura NSW championships (WSID), Leonard Azzopardi had no troubles in the cold conditions for the Extreme Bike final. His no-bar Hayabusa punched out an unbelievable 6.688 at 217mph. That’s almost as quick as he has run on his Top Fuel Motorcycle! Thanks to Cackling Pipes (www.cacklingpipes.com) for the pic.

    Len 6.68.JPG

    If you watch all of these runs, you'll notice Leonard shuts the bike off well before the finish line. He hasn't raced this thing in ages.

     
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    Last edited: Jun 16, 2021
  9. Frankster

    Frankster Grey Pride...Adventure before Dementia Staff Member Premium Member Ride and Events Crew

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  10. risky

    risky risky

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    never to old- then the box.
     
  11. Frankster

    Frankster Grey Pride...Adventure before Dementia Staff Member Premium Member Ride and Events Crew

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    The good wife wanted to go up country for a lunch today, so I suggested Bendigo (as long as she drove) and as long as I could pop in to HPR to see if any bikes where testing...

    Four bikes were there, but one (B/MB Suzuki) had some issues and was looking for anyone in the pits who had a welder.

    One of the riders has moved from his Hayabusa to a H2. It's street registered and he rides it from home to the track and back (like he does with his Hayabusa). Says the H2 is frustrating to ride (2nd test & tune for him). Seems to run okay except for a desire to wheelie at 250kph! Short wheelbase seems to be an issue. I watched a couple of runs and he managed a 9.8sec at 156mph, but it looks like it has plenty left if he can get it all sorted. It was pulling 1.8sec 60ft times which is a bit slow, so it can probably run 0.3-0.5sec quicker if it launches properly. The MB (Modified Bike class) Hayabusa next to him runs in the 8's.

    Shane (H2 rider) had a couple of GoPros on his bike. This one gives a unique view. Great how quickly the H2 gets to 150mph.

    https://www.facebook.com/100005857206316/videos/pcb.1641999469338611/843490879891813

    20210711 H2.JPG

    20210711 MB.JPG

    Other bike of interest was a Ducati Panigale V4. The guy riding it had never done a run on a drag strip, so he didn't run anywhere near what this thing should run. Again, he lost heaps of time at the start line. Once he got going it was sweet.

    20210711 Ducati.JPG
     
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    Last edited: Jul 11, 2021
  12. Frankster

    Frankster Grey Pride...Adventure before Dementia Staff Member Premium Member Ride and Events Crew

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    RIP Danny Ongais

    Nothing to do with 2fiftycc bikes, but someone I have greatly admired has passed on. Not many people (not even drag racers) have heard of Danny 'On The Gas' Ongais, but he was the kind of rider/driver who had the ability to jump from one vehicle in one discipline to another and get the most out of all of them. This article mentions him racing BSA Motorcycles, but doesn't mention how successful he was on two wheels (he won the Hawaiian title as a teenager) before he moved to 4-wheeled fun. Don Prudhomme's comments at the end of the piece are gold.

    https://www.nhra.com/news/2022/gas-drag-racing-life-and-times-danny-ongais
     
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  13. Frankster

    Frankster Grey Pride...Adventure before Dementia Staff Member Premium Member Ride and Events Crew

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    I saw this YT video the other day and thought 'nuts'. This run was from 2014 and I'm pretty sure the rider has passed away since then.

     
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  14. jmw76

    jmw76 Well-Known Member

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    That is just plain nuts. Need I ask what caused the riders demise?
     
  15. GreyImport

    GreyImport Administrator Staff Member The Chief Contributing Member

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  16. Grasshopper

    Grasshopper Well-Known Member Dirty Wheel Club

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    Unreal!
     
  17. Frankster

    Frankster Grey Pride...Adventure before Dementia Staff Member Premium Member Ride and Events Crew

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    Good find Chief. Remember when your parents used to call motorcycle riders 'temporary Australians'? This guy was always highly likely to end up a statistic, but at least he gave his Adrenalin gland a good workout along the way.

    "...he passed away while testing and according to officials, testing on a rarely used road without permission"

    At least the video of him testing at Paul Ricard shows how fast that trike was. It looked a bit like one of those 'big wheel' pedal trikes kids had back in the day. I seem to recall they were easy to slide out. Interesting concept of a water rocket.

    I meant to comment on the rocket bicycle...are bicycle rims and tyres rated for 333kph? I know they're not 'driving' the vehicle, but spinning at that speed seems crazy.
     
  18. jmw76

    jmw76 Well-Known Member

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    As best as you can make out from the images of his wrecked machine, it looks to me like he had changed the design of his trike significantly before the test. It looks to be much shorter and most likely lighter. Drastically shortening the wheelbase would not help stability at speed. I suspect a flawed design from the outset.

    [​IMG]
     
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  19. GreyImport

    GreyImport Administrator Staff Member The Chief Contributing Member

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    We are not alone .....



    MC22.jpg
     
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  20. Frankster

    Frankster Grey Pride...Adventure before Dementia Staff Member Premium Member Ride and Events Crew

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    Yes, I saw him in one of the other pics from the HPR All Bikes event. There's a YT video of the day (link below). Racing starts 2 minutes into the video.



    Would be nice to know what the CBR's PB was for the day and even line up alongside him for a run. The sole 2fiftycc from what I could see. I will have to get to the next all bikes event. Maybe the Tamworth 2fiftycc.com crew could organise a drag racing safari down into Mexican territory!

    Bikes 20220326 1.JPG Bikes 20220326 2.JPG
     
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    Last edited: Mar 27, 2022

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