|
|
A Swedish street V-Rod running 9.8
|
Here's a good one. I crew a little for a Pro Stock Bike team and this
last weekend we went up to Sundsvall Raceway for testing at one of the
regular Toyo Scandianvian Dragracing Series events. Suzuki-racer Peder
Hjelt showed up at the track for the first time in six years and this
time on a brand new 2007 Night-Rod Special.
|
Hey! Good to hear from you. It's been way too long.
I just knew that V-Rod motor would end up a good bagger engine. 250
rwhp sounds just about right for a bagger.
|
The bike is all bone stock execpt for a turbo setup from well known
turboguru Erik Marklund of MC Express a couple of miles south of the
arctic circle. Apart from the super clean turbosetup, the only work on
the motor itself consists of raised cylinders to lower compression and a
Power Commander. This prototype puts out 250+ hp on the rearwheel but is
a true street ridden street legal daily rider which is even more docile
at slow riding than a stock-motored V-Rod due to the lower compression.
It's a different story at the track however. Street tire, no bars, stock
rpm-regulator and stock clutch but second run ever in the quarter mile,
Peder recorded a very stout 9.86 seconds and a best speed of 144
mile/hour while wheelieing off the line and pulling the front wheel at
will all the way to the 1320 foot mark. Impressive to say the least as
this was the first visit to the track with the bike, there has been no
chassietuning whatsoever and with gearing that is not at all optimized
for quartermile racing. Next weekends race will be real interesting. The
clutch is now more in tune with the power with heavy duty springs,
better rear tire, boost upped a tad plus a new rpm-regulator that allows
for 10k rpms. With street tire and no bars it's a lot to handle off the
starting line and I'd expect that Peder could shave a tenth off the ET
just by riding it there.
Ah, almost forgot, "stock" as in a raceweight of 390 kg/860 lbs.
an update will come after next weekends race.
|
That looks like a NightRod Special, which, in stock form is 676 pounds or
307 KG.
The stock exhaust is heavy,
BTW, I rode one of these, in stock form at Laconia Bike week, it was
definitely a starting platform for drag racing, the drag style handle bars
were putting my arms to sleep after a 30 minute test run.
With those tweaks I hope he is careful the first few runs, no wheelie bars,
SCARY!
|
|
Update: During the first day of qualifying at the Midnight Sun
Internationals high up in the Swedish countryside (no, the sun does not
set this time of year) Peder Hjelt rode his Night Rod street bike to a
new PB of 9.66 at 145+ mph. The only changes compared to the first
outing a few weeks ago is a new Metzeler 200 rear tire and a disconnect
of the rpm-regulator, no upping the turbo-pressure or other tuning changes.
9.5's today? Sure, the 9.66 was with a 1.75 60' time and in Sundsvall
the bike pulled a 1.63 60' so there's 0.1 seconds right there. Peder has
a background racing turbo-powered Suzukis into the 8's on street tires
and no bars so I'm sure there are a few hundreds to pick up just on
riding technique. 9.4s without upping the turbo-pressure? I think so. Is
the bike still in street legal trim? Most certainly, the chassie is bone
stock except for a smaller tire in the rear. The turbo setup makes for a
very docile ride when not hitting the rpms and the bike is ridden on a
daily basis.
PiPPi
http://HarleyDrags.com
|
PiPPi
http://HarleyDrags.com
|
|