So some mates were taking their cars and bikes out to the drags for a bit of fun (Willowbank) and wanted me to take my car. I said I'd rather take my bike as then I don't have to worry about breaking the driveline etc. Plus it was pretty late notice so taking the bike was going to be the easiest option.
We were to meet out there and get organised before we started racing, but I was the first to arrive. So instead I waiting around I went through scrutineering and lined up for my first race.
As you can see I decided to run in full street trim. The DL650 is only rated at about 60HP so I knew I'd be the slowest bike, so there wasn't much point removing stuff in order to try and be fast. I got the nickname of the pizza delivery boy with the gearsack on the back. For those that don't know bikes, mine is a cheap ($9990 brand new) commuter type bike. Great for riding to work as it gets 4.5L/100km fuel economy. It's little 650cc V-twin is tuned for mid-range and not top end power.
First run I still had my gearsack full of camera, clothes, water bottles, etc. So I ended up wheelstanding too much off the line and had to back off a little. That and a strong head wind led to a 13.9 @ 150kph. 60ft was my worst at 2.113 due to the wheelstand and having to back-off. But it was my first ever run down a drag strip so there was room for improvement.
So the other guys rocked up and I emptied the crap from my gearsack, but kept the gearsack fitted to keep that daily commuter look.
So my next run I lined up beside my mate on his R1 track/race bike (probably about 170HP compared to my 60HP). The lights went green, our reactions were identical but I got the hole-shot with a 1.9s 60ft and had him for the first 1/4 of the track, but shortly after the 330ft mark a blue blur came past already travelling at least 40kph faster than me. By the end of the track I was doing 150kph and he was doing 220kph 馃槀 . I ran a 13.4s run that time. The R1 ran an 11s pass, but should have run a 10 with a decent launch.
Over the next 3 runs I slowly improved. A 13.3, a 13.2 and finally a 13.06.
Best run
60ft - 1.904s
330ft - 5.198s
660ft - 8.101s at 134.01 kph (83.27mph)
1000ft - 10.744s
ET - 13.062s at 154.71 kph (96.13mph)
I was happy I constantly improved, and my 60ft times were quicker than 4 of the 5 more serious bikes I went up against. The only thing quicker was a low and long drag bike which ran a 10.1 ET. It also fun because the other bikes were more serious, doing warm the tyre burn-outs etc. I simply rode around the water and lined up, and still got better launches 馃檪
By running less than 3/4 a tank of fuel, removing the gearsack, mirror and maybe screen I'm positive the little baby strom (baby because there is a bigger 1000cc version) would be somewhere in the 12's.
Baja Wes 路