Re: [Virago] top speed

[linda cotgrave <bolanlala@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thank you for the info, going to give the aerodynamics theory a try and let you know the difference in speed, would love to say hello at Maxton but I live on Merseyside in England, if you are ever in the UK let me know.  Linda.

IAMFLAGMAN@xxxxxxx wrote:

Date : Sun, 12 Feb 2006 18:01:30 +0000 (GMT)

To : virago@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

From : linda cotgrave <bolanlala@xxxxxxxxxxx>

Subject : [Virago] top speed

Why can other 125 virago riders reach 70m.p.h. and my 2003 125 can only reach 63m.p.h. top speed.

 

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I think that the smaller the cc bike, plus the heavier the weight of the rider, the slower the top speed, also the size of the persons build, width and height greatly affects how fast a bike will run on top end. Just try riding in your normal position, sitting up and then tuck your body closer to the bike, by also bringing your legs in out of the airstream that flows around the bike and notice the difference in the speed, it is called aerodynamics and it affects any bike, but especially smaller ones.

 

Here is an example that size does mater;

 

Rich Yancy is the builder/tuner of this Suzuki Hayabusa, he first started racing the bike in 2002 for the standing start one mile World Land Speed Records, on the Monster Mile at Maxton, NC. Here are his records that were recorded year;

 

Rich Yancy;

2002  206.73
2003  220.664
2004  234.821

 

You can see that the fastest he could get the bike up to was 234,821. In October 2003, he had Lee Shierts ride the same bike to a record of 250.00694 MPH, what a difference, a little above 15 mph difference on the same bike. According to what Rich told me, one of the big reasons for the speed difference, was that Rich, being over six feet tall, had a problem with not being able to totally tuck his knees in behind the fairing, so they disturbed the aerodynamics of the bike and his extra weight also came into play, you can see Rich standing to the right of the bike in this photo, wearing the green baseball cap, that is Lee Shierts on the bike.

http://www.pbase.com/image/44010510

 

Now we go to a photo of Lee Shierts showing a side view of him on the bike and maybe you can see that he is much smaller in stature and he fits in behind the fairing with no problem. In October of 2005 he managed to reset the record on the same bike at 260.288 mph. Notice what the title of the photo is at the end of the URL.

http://www.ecta-lsr.com/images/fastestrunt.jpg

 

Here is another photo of the Yancy Racing Suzuki Hayabusa;

http://www.pbase.com/rdupree1/image/42922730

As you can see Rich takes his racing seriously, those are tire warmers on the tires, to keep the tires at the ideal temperature there is always a computer  connected to the bike while it siting there waiting to run and here is the real kicker, Rich has on occasion ridden this bike with street tires installed, to work at Dale Ernhardt Incorporated in Mooresville, NC where he is a fabricator and now you know why there is the number 8, the Budweiser sponsorship and the paint scheme.

 

The record for a production model 125cc motorcycle is held by Mark Amrhein, set at Maxton in October 2004 at 109.515 mph. Here is a photo of Mark on his 125cc Cagiva Mito.

 http://www.snartracing.com/MMito_edited-1.jpg

 

If you are interested in attending one of the events at Maxton here is the 2006 schedule;

http://www.ecta-lsr.com/schedule.htm

 

I will be at the April event that is sponsored by Hot Rod magazine,  http://hotrod.com/eventcoverage/113_0512_top_speed_challenge/

as part of the team on the Caddy powered Dupree Racing Fiat Streamliner; http://www.pbase.com/rdupree1/image/42776878

 

If any of you decide to attend, stop by and say hello, I'd like to meet you.

 

"REMEMBER SEPTEMBER 11, 2001"

JOHN "FLAGMAN" FINN
A.K.A. "VIAGROMAN"
VISIT MY WEB PAGE AT:
http://hometown.aol.com/iamflagman/viagromanxv1100.html
VISIT MY TIPS AND TRICKS AT;
http://www.pbase.com/image/9231953
FOR INFORMATION ABOUT JOINING HELL'S OLD FARTS MC GO TO
http://www.pbase.com/image/13109894

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