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Thread: Mecca of Speed

  1. #1
    D-FENS agjohn02's Avatar
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    Mecca of Speed

    About 9 months ago I heard that the professor that advises the FSAE race car team was planning on building a bike and taking it to Bonneville to try and set a land speed record after his retirement. I was surprised he hadn't told me about it and figured he had seen World's Fastest Indian and been tossing the idea around. Turns out, after talking to him he hadn't seen the movie and was serious about it. After promptly giving him a copy of the movie, I volunteered to help in any way I could.

    For those that don't know him, this guy is the best teacher I've ever had and one hell of a guy to boot. You would never think he had a PhD in Mechanical Engineering, until he calculates the dynamic pressure gain at 100 mph on a subway napkin or the maximum attainable speed of a motorcycle given a certain horsepower on the side of a roll of masking tape, with no calculator mind you.

    Anyhow, on with the build and trip, or some of it. I took as many pics as I had time to take.





    Here's the link to all of the photos. If you want a large version of any of the pictures just click on them, twice, in this link (not the thread) or save the small version (in the thread) and send it to me and I will send the large one back to you.

    http://tamor.us/members-rigs/Speed-Week-2007?page=1
    Last edited by agjohn02; 12-04-2007 at 05:21 PM.

  2. #2
    D-FENS agjohn02's Avatar
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    To cut to the chase and tell the ending before the beginning, we succeeded in setting a new land speed record in the A-G 100cc class. A is for special construction (all factory road race bikes are in this class) and the G is for gasoline (meaning you run their gas and they seal the tank after filling it).

    Here's a screenshot from the SCTA-BNI (Southern California Timing Assoc. - Bonneville Nationals Inc.) website.

    Second entry from the top:



    [img]
    Last edited by agjohn02; 09-02-2007 at 03:39 AM.

  3. #3
    D-FENS agjohn02's Avatar
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    In order to get the CR80 engine to fit in the RS125 chassis, some modification is required. The first pic shows where the kick starter boss interferes with the framerail on the chassis. This had to be cut off and sealed and the rear engine mount required some modification to align the countershaft sprocket with the rear sprocket.

    The top sharpie line represents the chassis and the bottom line is where it needs to be cut.


    Cutting the boss off


    Modifying the rear mount

  4. #4
    D-FENS agjohn02's Avatar
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    Once the boss was removed, it left a hole in the engine case that needed to be capped. In order to do this, Doc put the engine case on a copy machine and made a copy of the hole, I cut the shape out of paper, then glued the paper to a piece of sheet aluminum and cut it out with a bandsaw. Pretty nifty trick we figured out. The guy that did the welding is a wiz with a TIG and he says it was hard to weld. Either the coating on the engine doesnt come off cleanly or its dirty pot metal.



    Since the two halves have to seal together, we left enough hanging off the side so that I could face it flush with the rest of the sealing surface on the case.


    The oil fill plug was on the boss we cut off, so we had to make a new oil fill hole.


    Once everything was machined, it sealed up nicely.


    The rear bolt on the CR80 is larger than the rear bolt on the RS125. The CR80 uses this for a swingarm mount as well as an engine mount, where on the RS125, it is merely and engine mount. Ryan Bludau built a bushing for us.


    We also had to build new front engine mounts and torque rod, but I have no pictures of them. You'll have to take my word that they came out pimp.
    Last edited by agjohn02; 12-05-2007 at 09:23 PM.

  5. #5
    D-FENS agjohn02's Avatar
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    The radiator for the RS125 is big, much bigger than we needed. So, we cut down an unused radiator that we may or may not have found somewhere. I had a pic of the two or three radiators that we cut up, but it is MIA.

    Here is the final cut down, replumbed, and rewelded radiator.


    Doc bought a really cool data acquisition system from a limey company called RaceTech. It has a data logger than has more inputs than any man needs, including GPS. From this you can map a course and get real time speed. We planned on logging speed, RPM, coolant temp, EGT, front wheel speed, and maybe dynamic pressure. With more time we could have done it but the Racetech system was very user unfriendly. We were getting most of the signals we needed, but we spent a couple late nights trying to get just the RPM signal. We tried several different techniques but none would work. So, we ended up borrowing a simpler more user friendly system to display coolant temp and RPM for the driver.

    Boo, late night, day before you leave, frustration

    [img]
    Last edited by agjohn02; 09-02-2007 at 03:43 AM.

  6. #6
    D-FENS agjohn02's Avatar
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    After we got the bike running, but before we got the DAQ system on, we took it out to an undisclosed, local, abandoned airbase for a test run. There's a 1.4 mile runway that is active and well maintained that we reserved for some test time. Without a tach or coolant temp sensor, we kept it at part throttle. After we got the DAQ working we ran it up to 103 mph with the stock fairing in place.

    Doc and his son, Scott, on the bike


    Scott riding wheelies on his Z50 (you'll see more of this later)


    Video of the first test ride
    http://tamor.us/members-rigs/Speed-Week-2007/100_0929

  7. #7
    VW Ninja Jackasic's Avatar
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    very cool, you guys did with 100cc's what people were need 500+ to achieve.

  8. #8
    Old school badass Seth's Avatar
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    riverside?
    Seth Stewart '04
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  9. #9
    sideways again... redcagepatrol's Avatar
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    ahh - Proffesor McDermitt. He is the coolest professor there! Car/ engine / truck guys are always cool
    Scott, FTAC '99
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    scott.schubring@williams.com

    The office sucks - I wanna go wheeling!

  10. #10
    D-FENS agjohn02's Avatar
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    After making a test run on Aug 7th, about one month after we started the build, we left CS at 5 am on Aug 8th. Drove until Farmington and spent the night there. We rolled into town and werent sure which town we were in, so we declared that a good time to stop (~15hrs). The next morning we headed out around 5 again and at breakfast in Moab, then continued on to Wendover (~10hrs from Farmington). If you go and have the time, I recommend driving, it's a long haul, but a cool drive. You see lots of country out there that you just dont see in Texas.

    If you are still reading this and don't care about building stuff, going fast, or seeing other vehicles that go really fast, here's a field on sunflowers for you somewhere in Colorado between Farmington and Moab. It was about 30 mins after sunrise and they had all turned to face the rising sun.

    edit: I just looked it up b.c I've been curious since I saw them.
    Quote Originally Posted by wikipedia
    Sunflowers in the bud stage exhibit heliotropism. At sunrise, the faces of most sunflowers are turned towards the east. Over the course of the day, they move to track the sun from east to west, while at night they return to an eastward orientation. This motion is performed by motor cells in the pulvinus, a flexible segment of the stem just below the bud. As the bud stage ends, the stem stiffens and the blooming stage is reached.

    Sunflowers in the blooming stage are not heliotropic anymore. The stem has frozen, typically in an eastward orientation. The stem and leaves lose their green color.

    The wild sunflower typically does not turn toward the sun; its flowering heads may face many directions when mature. However, the leaves typically exhibit some heliotropism.




    Last edited by agjohn02; 09-02-2007 at 03:00 PM.

  11. #11
    D-FENS agjohn02's Avatar
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    We rolled into Wendover in the middle of the afternoon and went to set up our pit. A week or so before we left, we got word that the courses on the salt flats were flooded and they were in the process of making new ones farther out on "higher ground". Up until the day before we left, we werent sure if there was even going to be a speedweek this year. Turns out they werent kidding about the flooding. In order to get out onto the salt flats, you had to drive through about 8" of saltwater. Now I didnt taste it, but Im gonna bet that the salinity of this water puts the ocean to shame. It feels like committing a sin when you drive your truck out into this stuff for the first time, then you learn to block out the fact that this is all salt and its cool.



    We got a great pit spot on the front row. We could sit under our easy ups and watch all the racing.



    This was obviously not his truck. Hauling butt through the water and splashing it everywhere.








    After one trip out on the salt... wash often, lotsa quarters

  12. #12
    D-FENS agjohn02's Avatar
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    After we got the pit set up, we went back into town and checked into our motel (more on this later). We then decided to check out the town. Now, you think Wendover is a sleepy little town, but what you don't realize is that its right on the Utah-Nevada border. As a matter of fact, you can clearly see the state line. The front doors to the two biggest casinos in town ARE the state line. The parking lots are actually in Utah. The Utah side is exactly what you expect. The Nevada side is exactly what you expect, except the casinos lining the street. They dont even have a Wal-Mart, but there are at least six big casinos with smaller ones scattered in. This includes a concert hall. This is yet another point in my life where I realized that God truely is a loving God. Not only had I made it to Wendover, Utah with no problems and was about to see the biggest spectacle in speed on Earth, but The Nuge, Uncle Ted, Terrible Ted, Sweaty Teddy, Deadly Tedly, The Great Gonzo, The Atrocious Theodocious, The Motor City Madman himself, Ted Nugent was playing TONIGHT!!!

    Couple of things to notice about this picture. Firstly, the hardassed rocker/hunter/philosopher wailing on the star spangled axe in the foreground. Secondly, the plethora of weaponry displayed on stage behind him. Lastly, the abundance of TAMOR salutes on the backdrop, topped off by him riding a giant, rocket powered, severed hand giving a great big salute itself.


    Encore with a head dress! Notice the guitar he is playing.(this comes into play in the next picture)



    Now, in this picture, you might notice that Uncle Ted is holding up my personal two favorite weapons, a bow and an AR-15, but what I really want to you see is the aforementioned guitar with the previously flaming arrow sticking out of it. YEAH!

    I wonder if he needs another roadie? or a groupie maybe?


    ...
    Last edited by agjohn02; 09-02-2007 at 04:14 PM.

  13. #13
    sideways again... redcagepatrol's Avatar
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    AWESOME!!!
    I listened to the Nudge talk on a talk show while driving one day - he really is one interesting fellow - plenty of politics - gun rights NRA stuff. I think he has a book or two out
    Scott, FTAC '99
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    The office sucks - I wanna go wheeling!

  14. #14
    D-FENS agjohn02's Avatar
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    Doc had tried to find rooms in Wendover back in April and couldnt find a room within 90 miles of there. Another friend of mine that was going found rooms in Wendover so Doc made reservations there. The guy wanted to charge the credit card a month in advance and faxed a hand written contract with at least 7 grammatical mistakes on it back to him. On the way to Bonneville, we tried calling the motel for 2 days and they never answered. We were nervously laughing our butts off about it being a scam some kid was working out of his mom's basement and there really was no Western Ridge motel in Wendover. We were trying to figure out where all 9 of us were going to stay. We got there and sure enough it existed. We got checked in and this place is one of the biggest dives I've ever stayed in. You had to put a deposit in at the front desk to get a phone and you could only make 5 local calls a day with it. There were no air conditioners, only swamp coolers. They did not have alarm clocks in the rooms, etc. My dad and the rest of the crew came in a day later than we got there and I told him on the phone, "This place is so old Burt Munro probably stayed here. Well, turns out one of the guys coming up hadn't seen WFI so I brought it with me. I checked it to see where they stayed in the movie and sure enough this was the place. They used it because it is the actual place he stayed back in the day. Sweet!








    Room 165



  15. #15
    Gearhead61
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    Dr. McDermott is a really cool guy. That's a great story you've got!

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