FJ Land speed racer

[fj1289]

What do you do after spending the weekend working up to 198 mph?


Legos!

[fj1289]

Colorado Mile 2016

We got started Thursday evening - waited in a parking lot while they took in small groups to select their pit area.  Met some people while we were waiting our turns to go in the the airfield. 


One guy had a really cool "tribute" Honda - a 50cc twin cam single.  Our turn to go in - we ended up exactly across from the 1/2 mile speed trap.  Our pit neighbors one one side are Road Skullz - a V-twin performance shop out of Denver.   They have three bikes - all are in the America's fastest bagger competition.  Their "big stick" is a pro-charged 2.1 liter Harley bagger!

Next get checked in at the drivers registration tent and get my blue wrist band (class C license good up to 165 mph).  Start unloading the trailer and get the bike over to tech.  Meet a couple more bikes - including a very clean oiled cooled GSXR-750 (1100 engine bored 1216cc). Tech goes well - not overly anal - attitude is more "it's your skin".  It probably helps I've got more things safety wired than required. 

Have some time to do some setup on the pits - which mostly means drilling 4 concrete pilings for anchors  to bolt down the 10' x 10' awning.  Get done with that and have time to BS with the Road Skullz crew a bit. 


Next is the course drive thru - I ride my son's CRF-125 since my tow vehicle is an oil leaker.  It actually turns out to be a better choice - I can drag my feet to see how rough the tar snakes are or how rough a section is.  I also stop at the end to scout out an"escape route" if I have braking issues later.  Much better than trying to come up with that plan BEFORE it hits the fan!

Then the drivers meeting to cover the Do's and Don'ts.  They are serious about their licensing program and speed limits until you license up.    Also a big focus on stopping distance.   The runway is only 8,000 feet long - with the 125' long staging area - the stopping distance is 45' shy of a half mile.  This the shortest stop distance of the three venues they run mile races on.

Lock up the trailer and head home.  I won't get as early a start Friday as I'd like since I have to take my daughter to school in the morning. 

[Troyskie]

Awesome!

[ZOA NOM]

Man, I gotta go watch the World's Fastest Indian again... This is just EPIC! Congratulations, man, that is a serious accomplishment, and Randy, kudos on the engine work!

[56 CHEVY]

Congratulations Chris!! That is something to be proud of.

[jscgdunn]

Great job guys...must feel some fast!

[racerrad8]

What do you do after spending the weekend working up to 198 mph?


Legos!

I know how racers think...

Chris is probably confiscating all of the red & white ones for any plastic repairs later...

Great picture.

Randy - RPM

[fj1289]

The big picture plan for the Colorado Mile is to spend Friday licensing up and building a good baseline tune to work from.  For Saturday the focus is working up through higher levels of nitrous and keep refining the tune as we go – starting very conservative and making sure we don't make a catastrophic error and ending the weekend early.  The Sunday will be the day to lean on it as hard as we have to for 200 mph.

Friday starts out with loading up the truck with everything else I can think of that I want at the track but I don't have there yet -- mostly additional coolers and ice.  Then it's time to get my daughter ready for school and get her dropped off.  Then take some more time to pick up a generator from one of the mechanics at work.  Finally get on the road to the track!

Weather looks OK - warmer than I'd like to see and some possible rain in the afternoon.  Drive up to the airport and into the pits and see cars and bike running - it's killing me how much time I lost this morning -- but it's part of the balance we all have to keep with family, work, and racing.  I'm also solo today – will have help tomorrow and Sunday, but for today it's just me.  Today I also have to leave a couple hours early – we are sponsoring four cadets from the Air Force Academy and this is Parents Weekend.  We are meeting on of the family of one of our cadets for dinner this evening.  

The plan for today is fairly straight forward - I'd like to get four runs in starting out with 18/38 gearing.  Run 1 on motor only and keeping the revs below 9500 in 5th.  This should put me in the lower half of the 140-165 window to license up to the B license.  I'm shooting for the lower half of the window – there's no penalty if you miss the window on the low side, just get out there and try again!  If you miss the window and exceed your license speed, you get to wait for the race director and the penalties range from a slap on the wrist to pack up and leave.  Run 2 on motor only and let it eat – want to see where we are motor only so I can guesstimate what we may be able to achieve on the nitrous.  Run 3 – a 50 shot of nitrous "all in" on the shift into 2nd gear.  Run 4 the same 50 shot with adjustments to the tune based on run 3 – and a gearing change if needed.  If I can get through all that today, we should have a good base of knowledge to work from for Saturday.  
It's nearly 11:00 by the time I get the bike out of the trailer, get the pit area set up, and get ready to start the bike.  Hook up a battery to the oil pan heater and check over fasteners, make sure the right tune is in the microsquirt ECU, check tire pressures, etc.  Start the engine and let it come up to temp, shift it through the gears on the race stand – everything seems to be in order.  Kill the engine and drop it off the rear stand.  Go thru the run while I'm getting suited up, then crank, pull it out of the wheel chock and go execute!

I pull up and there is no one in the grid waiting!  Crap!  Have to stop and get the dataloggers and GoPro turned on, and run through the small check list taped to the top of the tank to make sure everything is ready to go (lessons learned at the dragstrip while prepping for this!).  Roll into the staging area – get my wrist band checked so they know what license level I'm at (blue wrist band = class C license) and get my glove secured again.  Close the face shield and lock it in place, take a couple deep breaths, and roll up to the line.  The starter waves me on to the track – one more deep breath, bring the revs up and try to launch fairly smoothly without slipping the clutch too much and without bogging.  Get the feet on the pegs, slide back on the seat while watching the tach and looking for the shift light.  See the light, bang the shift button, start getting down into my tuck, shift light, hit the button, think 3rd gear.  Tuck some more, shift again, 4th gear.  Butt up just a little and see if I can "feel" the wind on my back, one more shift, 5th gear, roll out slightly to keep it around 9,000 RPM, looking for the 1 mile sign.  Roll out, transition to brakes fairly quickly, sit up a little too much a little too soon, keep braking, speed is under control, let it roll out a bit, down shift twice, touch the brakes again, turn right at the end.  Yes!  Three years in the works and we finally got to go down the track!  Roll up to the timing trailer.  Get my ticket – WTF?!  135.3?  I've been faster in the quarter mile!  Oh well, first run down, time to get to work and start working up through the speeds.  Cruise back to the pits, park the bike in the wheel chock, and take the cow suit off.   Start pulling the data from the dataloggers and take a look at the run.  

Oops - deleted that link - it was for run number 3 -- no need to get ahead of ourselves!

Datalogger shows I rolled out too much and didn't keep enough RPMs for the run to over 140 mph to get the B license.  Logs also show we are on the rich side – AFR around 11.7 at WOT – wanting 12.5 (newer water cooled bikes do better towards 13.2).  11.7 / 12.5 = .936, so I need to reduce the fuel by 6.3%.  Instead I reduce the fuel in the top two rows of my Fuel VE Table by 5% (I never take the full "cut" in one go – better to tweak it twice than to make an error and go too lean).  I also add 1 degree of ignition advance (after damaging the old racing head I've been VERY conservative with the ignition timing – running stock timing even at higher elevation here).  Load the new tune in the microsquirt and get ready to go again.  

[racerrad8]

-- no need to get ahead of ourselves!

Sorry Chris, I can't wait...

This gives me goose bumps and the hair is standing up on the back of my neck...

THIS IS BAD ASS       THIS IS BAD ASS      THIS IS BAD ASS      THIS IS BAD ASS       THIS IS BAD ASS       THIS IS BAD ASS       THIS IS BAD ASS     THIS IS BAD ASS    
Crank up the volume!!!!

https://youtu.be/3hrbIk9fOFY

Randy - RPM

[fj1289]

I still keep catching myself with a huge grin on my face all the time!

[fj1289]

Forgot to post the ticket for the first run – the speeds are for the quarter mile, half mile and mile:



Roll out for the second run.  No one in line again!  Go thru the checklist again and pull up to pre-stage, then to the starter.  Make a pretty good run – experiment a bit more with my tuck in 4th and 5th gear.  The braking zone doesn't appear so short now, but still focus on getting into the brakes quickly and smoothly – later it will be much more important!  Roll up to the timing trailer and get the timeslip – 144.1 mph.  Slower than I had hoped on motor, but good enough for the class B license!  They cut the blue wrist band off and give me a purple one – I'm now cleared for 199 mph.  To license up to the A license I need to run 180-199 mph. 

Looks like I didn't get any GoPro footage for the first two runs – had SD card issues.  Time slip for run 2 is better through all the splits:



Hook up a battery to the nitrous bottle warmer while I download the datalog.  The datalog looks pretty good – AFRs are 12.3-12.6 through the gears.  Double check the nitrous settings in the microsquirt tune – looks good.  Really wanted more speed on just engine – may have to adjust the expectations a bit – not sure we're going to have enough horsepower to see 200.  We'll see how the next run goes

[fj1289]

  Time for the 50 shot of nitrous.  For the 50 shot I have it set to activate on the shift to second gear – and it comes in with the full 50 HP – no progressive build up.  This run is intended to get me a good baseline to base the rest of the nitrous numbers on.  I have this set up as a very conservative tune – pretty rich on full and pulling more timing than "suggested" or "required".  Change the gearing to 18/35 in anticipation of the additional horsepower.  Bottle feels fairly warm – get suited up and ready to go again for the third run.  

Roll up to the line – a couple cars waiting on the grid this time.  Go through the checklist – uh oh – hop off the bike (right glove still tethered to the kill switch) and open the valve on the nitrous bottle.  Get back on and arm the nitrous system.  Roll up to pre-stage and then the starting line.  A little more excited this time – anticipating what it will do spraying nitrous through almost the entire mile.  Run feels pretty good – I LOVE the feeling of the nitrous hitting in second gear and then accelerating HARDER than you were doing in 1st!  KOOKALOO!  The run feels faster – and I roll in and out of the throttle in 5th to make sure I don't run faster than 180 mph.  (Yes, if you were paying attention earlier you should be saying "why the hell would you do that when you are cleared up to 199 and you need to go FASTER than 180 to license up?!"   And yes, I had a "helmet fire" and screwed that one up!)  You really get a sense of the extra speed you are carrying as you enter the braking zone – still getting it slowed in plenty of distance.  Roll to the timing trailer – 156.8 mph.  Cool!  But not as much as I was hoping for.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amyDFhA8-Po



Get back to the pits, review the datalogs, tweak the nitrous tune, and warm the bottle.  I'm seeing 10.7 on the AFR and want to be at 11.7 (a value given to me by the guy that holds the record for the fastest nitrous only motorcycle – a stock bore 2001 Hayabusa using a 2003 ECU – 252 mph! – previously that "record" was in the 220's).  10.7 / 11.7 = .9145 – I take 5% out of the fuel the ECU is adding for the nitrous – again, better to be conservative than greedy and impatient.  

It's a little past 3:00 now so I only have time to get in one more run before I have to pack up and head home.  Get up to the grid and there are a few more cars than before – but I notice no one is running.  I ask around and am told a mustang just went a little over 200 but didn't make the turn off and went in the dirt.  So we are stopped until he gets recovered.  (Luckily no real damage – and I see him running again later in the meet.)  I'm pretty much at the "knock it off" point so I can get home in time when they start running again.  Yay!  I'm in!  

I pay extra attention to the checklist on the tank – disruptions like this race stoppage can really wreck your habit patterns/rhythm/flow/whatever you want to call it, and that's when you make mistakes.  The run goes good – and I DON'T back out of the throttle this time!   Get to the timing trailer – WTF?!  Slowed down from last run:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlyONzSJuc0



My mind is racing as I go back to the pits.  Did I screw up the tune?  Is the motor hurt already?  Then it dawns on me – I had decided not the change the nitrous bottle since I had "only" run a 50 HP shot and should easily make 2 passes with that small of a shot and I needed to save some time so I could get the last run in.     Then I seem to recall I've made a pass at Bandimere and one other "test hit" on that bottle.  Take the bottle to the scale, yep, it only has a pound or so of nitrous left in it.  So although there is nitrous in it, if you run it down to a third or quarter "tank" remaining, the pressure starts dropping rapidly and you get less nitrous into the engine.  Look at the logs and can see it richer than the previous run although I had taken fuel out already.  Time to pack up and hurry home – I'm 20 minutes late already!

[fj1289]

On the way home I'm refining the plan for tomorrow.  The list of things to bring tomorrow is growing - box fans to cool the engine between runs, extension cords and three way plugs, crock pot or roaster for warming nitrous bottles before a run, a small cooler for an ice bath to cool nitrous bottles for filling them, ice - lots of ice, chairs...

I have help for Saturday.  In the morning we meet a friend (Ryan) who raced motorcycles as a kid, and my son is coming out. We get things loaded up and we get away from the house a few minutes later than desired, but still on good shape.  We stop for ice and then head to fans at Home Depot for fans - not the season for fans and the selection is poor, but find a couple fans that should work.  Also pick up the three way plugs while we are there.  I send Ryan for ice when the first place only has 3 bags.  Headed to the track finally!

Plan for today - re-run the last 50 shot run to validate the changes for the nitrous tune.  Then step up to the 75 HP shot - basing the tune on 1 1/2 times the fuel for the 50 shot.   The 75 HP shot will be a progressive shot.  On the shift to second, the nitrous controller will start at 40% (so about 30 HP) and increase to 100% over 2 seconds.  The microsquirt will add about 50% fuel at the start and be at 100% in 1.9 seconds -- that way the fuel "stays ahead" of the nitrous so we won't get a lean spike and hurt the engine while progressing in the nitrous.  After one run on the 75 HP progressive shot, we'll adjust the tune and run it again.  If everything looks right we'll scale up the numbers for a 100 shot progressed over the same 2 seconds.

Seems to be a bit more wind - the weather just seems to be less "settled" today.   We get the pits set up and get the bike warmed and ready.   There are a lot more cars and bikes on the grid today - they have two lines going, each maybe 10-12 long.  Have a little time to look at the other cars and bikes and BS a little.  People like the FJ - but seem to act like its cool we are out having fun but not really expecting much from it.

Line up for the third run.  A quartering head wind.  Run goes well  minus some trouble shifting into third - had to hit the shift button a second time.   I'm seeing a lot more RPMs in 5th than I expected and roll out a bit to keep it to 10,000 RPM or so.  Get the time slip - 154.3.  Not the improvement I wanted to see, but pretty good considering the winds.   But, all the splits were up considerably!  Wait, WTF!?  I was 155.2 at the 1/2 mile!  



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsOa8zknHjg&spfreload=5

Side note - You'll notice at the beginning of the video I'm messing with the phone I have data logging the microsquirt data.  It started getting a bit flaky and wasn't loading the ECU settings properly or not connecting with the ECU.  It seemed like each time I would give up on it and head to the start position it would start logging.  This is a distraction I don't need and I really want the data I'm getting off of it to refine the tune.

Ugh.  Only get one run in before the lunch break.  My wife and mother-in-law arrive while we are setting the bike up for the next run.  I spent some extra time going over the data log and notice the RPMs recorded are a lot lower than what I saw on the tach. Time to go to the video - yep, for some reason the tach seems to be reasonably accurate in first and second gear, but gets progressively worse in the higher gears.  I realize we have something strange going on with the tach, but don't have time to fix it.  The answer?  Ignore the tach and rely soley on the shift light which is directly triggered off the microsquirt.  

Then I spend a lot of time making sure the nitrous tune is correct - it gets a bit more involved "tricking" the microsquirt into progressing the fuel to roughly match the nitrous.  Then have to make sure settings in the nitrous controller are set up properly to match what we have in microsquirt.  Check and double check all the settings.  Then install the larger jet in the nitrous solenoid.  Go ahead and refill the shifter bottle to make sure the pressure isn't getting low and causing the shifting issue I had last run.  Also increase the shift kill time from .08 sec to .09 sec to help with the shifting too.  Oh crap!  I haven't checked the fuel!  We add about 3 gallons of C16.  Put in a refilled and warmed nitrous bottle.  I'm showing Ryan and Bailey how to do the bottles (the mount is a pain) so I can leave that to them while I work on the tune. Now, ready for run six.  

The run goes well - no shifting issues!  It definitely seems faster as I enter the breaking zone.  Get to the timing trailer again.  Yay!  176.5 mph!  I think we have a shot at it again!  Figuring out the tach issue was the key!

No video for run 6, but here's a drive-by on the way to the line (not sure which run this really was, but I want to put it somewhere!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gM4dl82NP7k

[fj1289]

Before that last run one of the veterans asked me what speed we were shooting for.  I told him "200 like everybody does, but I'll be really PO'd if we don't make 180".  I had some small doubts in the back of my mind that we might not even make that... 

This run pumped us all up big time!  We NEEDED that run.  And the fact we did it in less than ideal conditions made it all that much better.  This was definitely the turning point for the weekend -- hell, for this entire endeavor we started nearly three years ago!

[fj1289]

Super pumped after that run - everyone is excited.  The Road Skullz guys next door congratulate us.  People are starting to take notice of the FJ!

We tweak the tune, fit a new bottle, refill the old one and get ready to go again for run 7.  The grid has two lines again so time to look around and BS some more.  People are starting to ask more serious questions about the FJ now- engine size, engine builder, nitrous setup, etc. Still mostly a headwind but not too bad.  Many of the racers are complaining about the headwind, but I'm not worried about it since we are still stepping up the nitrous level and tuning.  This run feels a lot like the last one.  Get the time slip - hoping for 180 so I can get my A license.  Nope, not this run - but still a good run 177.7 mph.  The splits are down a fair amount, but the mile speed was up!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fLmGb10SP0



Get back to the pits.  Time to step it up to 100 shot progressive!  Pits are getting better - great to be able to pass off some of the jobs while I concentrate on the data logs and tuning.  Scaleup the nitrous tune for 100 shot.  Keeping the 2 second progression - the bike seems setteled and stable at 75HP with this progression so keep pushing it up!  

Not sure if we went to 18/35 gearing at this point or if we had already changed the gearing for the 75 HP shots.

Problem is the wind has stepped up quite a bit.  Some of the faster turbo bikes get out of line - not worth the risk for them to run in these crosswinds - they are accelerating hard enough during much of the run they don't have much weight on the front tire and can get blown 50 feet or more off their line with little or no notice.  I get to the head of the line and I think one other bike has run. I decide to start the run - if it doesn't feel good I'll back out at the 1/2 mile point. That will keep my speed down if it does get squirrely, but will also give me the tuning data I need to keep advancing.  I get to the line. The starter warns me about the winds. I acknowledge them and tell him my plan.  The bike feels good through the entire run so I stay in it.  I feel either the clutch slip or the tire spin at the top of second or the 2-3 shift.  It feels faster entering the braking zone - get on the brakes hard - but still have plenty of room to get stopped - but no room to waste either!

Get to the timing trailer - they ask if I have a green wrist band?  No.  "Well you need one now!"  Awesome!  186.1 mph in some crappy conditions!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hrbIk9fOFY



Get back to the pits - the routine is getting better now.  Sharpen up the tune and go back out for another run.  Time to try the seat cowl to see if it adds a few mph.  I must have test fit the seat cowl with just the leathers on - the fit is pretty tight with the back protector on.  Not much room to move around on the seat - pretty much locked into position and more difficult to get into a good tuck.  Hopefully the cowl will be worth the effort!  Need to hurry if we want to get another run in before the track closes.  

Winds are still a quartering head wind and gusty so the line is fairly short.  Looks The run is good - short shift to third gear when I feel the clutch slip or tire spin again.  Time to either add weight to the lockup arms on the clutch or progress the nitrous over a longer time.  Get the time slip - small improvements - 187.7 mph. Head to the pits.



It has been a hell of a good day!



Just noticed the purple wrist band - so that pic was from earlier in the day