Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125440
- 14 HAWK ON THE WILD SIDE by Ch uc k Cl ay ton Left: Ace tuner Vineya rd, his ho bby, and the bea ut iful Golden Hugnet trophy It won for rider Grant. Above: Ron Grant st ayed just th is close to John Buckner's production racer at A.C.A. Golden Huuet Grand Prix, placed second overall , firs t over-2S0cc, beating e~lpment neve r des igned to wear a headlight. Remark· able performance for a hopped-up Super Hawk. Tank Is a on..off Item made by a friend. Fa iring Is by Custom P la stics. After hearing about the perfo rmance of a 350cc Ho nda in the hands of ACA ace Ron G r a n t at the recent Willow Springs Gold Nuggett Grand P ri x. we wer e curious what had been done to the prosaic old Super Hawk to make i t such a hauler. In his pursuit of the Gold Nuggett trophy. Grant had come within a hair of equalling the 500cc lap record at Willow. not once. but consistently , lap after lap . We know that Ron is a very good ride r, but even the best has to have both horsepower and handling in his machine to turn i n such a performance. We found the machine and its owne rbuilder-tuner and former ride r Bob Vineyard at the S e r vic e Department of Alhambra Hon da , where Bob is in charge. Bob used to do well enough on the bike until he got off hard one day at Willow (a spectator threw a rock on the track which landed right i n his line). Havi n g a few months to think about his machine. Bo b wor ke d out a few imp rovements on the engine which he has been racing since 1963. aft er breakin g i t in for 9,700 mUes on the street. Most not i ceabl e fe ature is the enor- mous fr ont brake , composed of two C B92 drums epoxied together with Hawk back in g plat es and shoes. T he result is a 4-l eading shoe fro nt brake that Bob claims has all the stopping power of a 4 front binder. Next thing that hits the eye are the 3W' aluminum spacer blocks bet ween the 26 rom carburetors and the CB72 head . Bob k now s this is contrary to st andard racing prac tice but , like he says, " it works." Try wl d argue with that. Th e engi ne also features a #7 194 Harmon & Collins cam, S&W progressively woun d valve springs with stock Hon da top coll ars and We bco rock er arms . The GLENDORA SPORTS CENTER AND ADDZIP ADDITIVES TEAM UP TO SET A WORLD'S RECORD • I valve train has of course been lightened and balanced, but the spring collars are stock. A Webco 350cc kit with 10: 1 cr pistons turns a 250cc Honda crank unit . Milling .050 off the cylinder base raised the compression to 12: I. The hi gh-ou tput oil pump i s also a We bco item. The megaphones are Vineyard 's own design , smalle r i n di amet er than Ho nda rac in g megs. With the i gni t i on wel ded at full adv ance, the plugs fire at 47 degrees B.T.D .C. Bo b pr ef ers to use a beefed-up standard Ha wk clutch bec ause it fr ees completely for th e bump sta rts used i n road raci ng. He cl aim s he's had no pro blems with slippi ng and it certainl y fr ee-wh eel s nicel y. Th e gearbox is a Dunnell close rat io unit, 4-sp eed. Pulling a maximum rpm of only 10,200 , th e gear ratios are : I s t 10.9 0 2nd 8. 55 3rd 7. 05 4th 6.27 Bo b say s he could tune for a couple of th ousand mor e tu rns per minute, but he likes the way the bi k e pulls with its pr es ent peak . He guesses he 's getting about 38 hp at the rear wheel. Th e stock Hawk frame , with fibe rglass fairing, seat and t ank , brings the weight i n at 270 lbs. Tires at present are 2.75Xl8 Avon front and 3. 50x1 8 Dunl op rear . Bob says he foun d the 3.50 a sha de big for the rear and has a 3. 00x 18 on orde r . BULLETIN: as thi s was bei ng written last Sunday, Ron Gran t won the No rthern California AFM Grand Prix at Co tati fi rst ove rall against full-fledged grand prix machines up to 500cc. Vineyard i nformed Cy cle Ne ws he installed a Webco lightened val ve train for the race and was ridin g at 12,000 rpm. - " Golly Ralph , th is would be a nice wily to go on a honeymoon"• Shown at the right Is Steve Rowles, 17 year old Record Setting Rider on his X·6 SUZUki, Tuned by his father Bil l. Bil l Rowles also happens to be the owner of Glendora Sport Center. , One of the tuning secrets Bill Is will ing to let go, Is that he uses Excelzall 011 by Addzlp Additives IXcluslvely. In fac t, when you buy a new or used bike or have your 011 changed at Bill's Shop you will also be us ing Excelzall . The X·6 that Steve rode Is the same one that Walt Fulton Jr . rode to lst overall and a 2nd overall, 1st In class (Production) wins on 2 recent outings at Willow Springs. 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