Slow motion dragster GIF

[Jon]

Slow motion dragster GIF.


https://diqn32j8nouaz.cloudfront.net...n_dragster.gif

[Toolmaker51]

Wrinkle walls, perfect example of engine firing order, barely pulling the front wheels...and 3 seconds later he's 1/4 mile downtrack. I can feel the roar, smell nitro-methane and rubber.
Who says poetry is entirely linguistic?

[Frank S]

Tm 51 You are correct that is pure poetry in motion. Sir William Shakespeare would have quiled 10,000 words to fully express the beauty of seeing the composite of steel fabric and rubber resisting being ripped to shreds between the torque of the drive train and the pavement while explaining how the perfectly synchronous explosions of the compressed fuel air mixtures being ignited by the harnessed miracle of man made lightening propelling the carriage almost defying the existence of time itself as its mission was being carried out Rudyard Kipling, Walt Whittman, Robert frost and many others would have similarly done the same

[Toolmaker51]

Yessir, Frank.
When should we tell them, someone is at the wheel, before or after they scribe?
Sometime I should relate my first trip to the drags, at Orange County International Raceway. All tract homes now, but the infection never went away.
SoCal was birthplace of the drags, on runways of former Army Air Corp base Santa Ana, and thereby became essentially center of performance industry. A favorite uncle was football coach, later Principal of Dominguez High School. All manner of celebrities graduated under his tenure. One, a hotrodder, all agreed had fastest Model A in the parking lot.
Some kid named Keith Black.

[Jon]

Close-up chain shot of a drag bike. 2:01 video:

[Toolmaker51]

Hard to say what detail I liked best. Seeing chain slack at shifts, knowing wheelie-bar is set for traction by brief periods the front wheel is being carried, 'riding along' seeing side rails zip at the top end; I've gone never sub 10's. . .no, favorite's bed of rubber he picked at staging.
Oh the tales M&H, Goodyear, Coker, Hoosier, M/T, can tell.
There's all kind of motor racing, Formula, Gran Prix, Speedway, NASCAR, Flat Track, Motocross; only two exist in my book. Neither is #1.
Maybe because they occupy such divergent strata, and fascinating histories?
Drag racing. Bonneville.

[Frank S]

Once and only once did I allow myself to be goaded into put up or shut up. Me and a friend of mine were talking about our opinions of the Japanese bikes of the time.
None of our words were very kind I must say. About this time our boss walked up and joined in the conversation his experience was with dirt not track or street. About this time a couple of his friends rode up on their bikes a GS1100 and a KZ1300 and joined in on what was now to be a full fledged argument only our boss knew what Ron and I had for bikes Ron's was not a racer at all in any form it was a comfort ride Electraglide fully dressed out and even had a trailer hitch.
these other guys were talking trash about how fast their wheels were then George the Boss said I bet Frank has something that will eat those rice burners for lunch any time any where. They hadn't seen my thumper the only other bike they saw was Ron's Harley, so right away they took the bait and said if it ain't Jap it ain't fast.
On and on this went until it was finally agreed to call a couple of the local police officers to officiate this street race right there in the industrial area since the road was long straight smooth and there was little to no traffic on Saturday afternoons. 2 white lines were painted on a measured 1/8th One officer at the start the other at the end with his radar and a stop watch. 5.91 seconds and 118miles per hour later I crossed the white line fifty feet in front of either of the other guy's bikes.
But to back up a little I had my bike parked in a tin building behind our shop when I stomped the kick starter and it roared to life you would have thought someone had kicked King Kong in the nads when I road my 8 year old 1973 Norton 850 Commando around the building I thought those guys were going to die laughing All George had to say was $100.00 apiece best 2 out of 3 pay after each event.
Easiest $400.00 I ever made in my life and something I would never do again. Latter George said see Frank all those suggestions parts I told you to do to your bike just paid for themselves.
Could they have out run me? sure they could have had either one of them known how to ride.

[tonyfoale]

Could they have out run me? sure they could have had either one of them known how to ride.

Knowing how to race can be more important than knowing how to ride.
This reminds me of countless rowing races that I used to win against a stronger opponent.

In the early '70s I lived next to the Woronora river near Sydney, a workmate lived about 10 houses further along. We both independently bought wooden row boats from a local boat rental company which was renewing with lighter fibreglass boats.

The butcher's shop was one way up the river and the general store was down the other. Mostly separately we used the boats to get provisions. However, sometimes we coincided and so a race to the shops would ensue. He was a lot stronger than me and I knew that he could beat me easily, but he did not have the racer mentality. My tactic was to put in a huge initial effort to pull away from him. That would destroy his motivation and drive, which would give me time to recover without him realising how knackered I was. I beat him every time but I never let on what my 'secret' was. Simply knowing how to race. Happy days.

[Loose Ctrl]

I want to see what's going on with the power side of the chain.

All I see is shift whip on the slack side.

[Frank S]

Knowing how to race can be more important than knowing how to ride.
This reminds me of countless rowing races that I used to win against a stronger opponent.

In the early '70s I lived next to the Woronora river near Sydney, a workmate lived about 10 houses further along. We both independently bought wooden row boats from a local boat rental company which was renewing with lighter fibreglass boats.

The butcher's shop was one way up the river and the general store was down the other. Mostly separately we used the boats to get provisions. However, sometimes we coincided and so a race to the shops would ensue. He was a lot stronger than me and I knew that he could beat me easily, but he did not have the racer mentality. My tactic was to put in a huge initial effort to pull away from him. That would destroy his motivation and drive, which would give me time to recover without him realising how knackered I was. I beat him every time but I never let on what my 'secret' was. Simply knowing how to race. Happy days.

exactly my tactic in that race knowing that if I so chose I could have melted the rear tire right off the bike before even moving or have pulled the front right over the taillight if it had hooked up immediately. Those big Mikuni's advanced cam full open free exhaust coupled with high energy coils among other things meant 1 thing the wind pump could breathe and breathe very well while producing enough torque to allow the Benet clutch to grenade the gear box. I allowed just enough revs to get a good off the line snap without breaking loose standing on the taillight or shucking the box then once hooked up snapped the throttle full stop probably hit 2nd gear in under 20 feet 2nd was close ratio to 1st 3rd a bit further apart, in 4th by time I reached 2/3rds. The old Norton's were never designed to be drag bikes being more at home in café , grand prix racing