Witchkraft Racing: The Search for Speed

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Boom Boom Pow

Boom Boom Pow? Gina's been singing the latest from the Black Eyed Peas and I suppose it's fitting for the upcoming holiday. For me, it signifies two weeks in a row without riding. What to do. I'm not a fan, contrary to what my wallet and bank account are saying, but still. It's Fourth of July weekend and we're not going racing. Not a fan at all ..

So what do I have planned for this holiday weekend .. well, I'll be working on Friday (exciting!) and then going to a family wedding on Saturday (it's a morning/afternoon wedding fortunately). After that, there's some work to do on the bike; mainly just changing the oil at the point. We've already done the bulk of general maintenance – popping the tank and going underneath the hood – cleaning the air box, filter, velocity stacks and fuel injectors. As my dad said, "brake cleaner is one of the greatest inventions ever," as he carefully cleaned each part, inspected it and set it down, ready for reinstallation. I cleaned the air filter with some special "filter cleaner" which had to be very close to Simple Green, just a different color – then let it soak, gently rinsed and let dry. It's always interesting how much dirt (along with several bugs) accumulates – especially in just the last two events alone. I looked at the injectors and wondered if we should have sent them out again to be measured and flow tested, but figure they should be good until the end of the season.

A look down the intakes revealed that there wasn't nearly as much blue gunk compared to what's been there in the past – a result of running VP's race fuel. The lesser amount of gunk is due to our (read: Joe and Doug's) diligent process of siphoning out the race fuel after Sunday's last race and running standard pump gas through. In the past, we weren't always on top of this and you could run your finger and feel a blue gel-like goop from the fuel's residue part way through a season. Now there's just a faint coloration of blue, barely noticeable. This has to help flow, velocity and all that stuff that goes with mixing air and fuel to get the most power possible. I've got to think so anyway ..

Through the rest of the list, we went over a handful of other things. Chains, sprockets, wheel alignment, plugs, clip-on position and some other bits – along with attempting to fit Motion Pro's latest variable rate revolver throttle kit, which lets you easily adjust how quick or slow the turn on the throttle is. It looks pretty cool and will be a nice piece to try out.

In any event, have a good holiday weekend. Enjoy the weather. Get out and ride if you can. Don't burn your house down. The rest of my weekend will consist of figuring out how to find four seconds at Grattan …

Cheers,

-eddie

Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 | POSTED AT: 9:56 AM
FILED UNDER: General