Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

; Da 2: ~ ~ t • J:' J:' (j') ,...-.4 eN >- I-c (OJ ;:l I-c ..0 l1) ~ (AboveI American Turbo-Pak t est rider Deb Devive starts down the strip. (Below) Boost gauge j oins speedo, tach. "Never been to a drag strip before" Going fast t he first time is easy .. . with a little help fr-om a turbocharger By John Ulrich The staff of a car magazine was testing at Irwindale Raceway in Irwindale, Calif. the same day I went out to ride the American Turbo-Pak GS750 Suzuki. I had never been to a d rag strip 6 befor e . T he hot stree t cars m ad e rump , rump , ru mpi ty-rump sounds when they id led , then clicked off sta nding sta rt q uarter-miles. Billowing smoke fro m bu rn ing rear tir es, th e ca rs slithered and slid down th e strip , barely breaking into th e 13-secon d ela psed tim e bracket. The cars were turning good times for about a 400 cc stock moto rcycle. Dri vers and hangers-on sat in the sta nds or stood in small gro u ps around the pits. As I ro lled th e Suzuki u p to th e sta rt ing area , m y hea d raced with inst ru ctions give n me by Bill ' Ha hn , th e ma sterm ind a nd o wne r o f Am er ican Turbo -P ak . I co u ld n ' t expect to just show up a t th e drags a roa d racer, a nd go hom e a co m pe te nt d rag racer , Ha hn told me. I should n't wor ry about go ing fast, he ca utioned . Just sh ift at 10 ,00 0 rpm , d on 't po wers hift , a nd do n't over-rev th e engine . Drag st rip . T he Ame rica n measu re of power , reflexes, a nd ' worth. T he pract ical a pp lica t ion of d yne -proven th eo ry. One-quarter m ile a nd a sca nt few seco nds to do what has to be done. No tu rn s to m ak e up a ny groun d lost at th e sta rt . No in field to com pe nsa te for a little less horsepower . J ust on e sho rt , st r a ig h t pi ec e of rubb er streaked aspha lt , linked from one end to th e other by electro n ic timing eq uipment. This su re wasn' t road raci ng . T he mach ine was different , too . Struts r ep la ced re a r sh oc k a bs o r be rs . Wheelie ba rs ju tted out beh in d the machine . The rear tire was a lowprofil e , soft, very ta cky, higti tractio n roa d ra cing slick. A ste pped seat re p laced t he o ri gin al. Tw o -inch sho rter fo rk spri ngs work ed with the struts to lower t he overa ll heig h t of tHe bike . Short , st u bby hand leb ars replaced th e stoc k Su zuki t oto-tiller bars, and a new ga uge jo ined th e speedometer and ta ch - a glycerine- d a m ped boost gauge , indicat ing th e pounds of boost de li ve red by the co m p a ct turboch a rger which replaced the stock intake and exha ust syste ms of this m ach ine , ' A t urboc ha rge r syst ems routes ex ha ust gasses th rough a tu rbine, whic h th en spins at up to 60 ,000 rpm . T he sh aft driven by tha t turbine d rives a no t her t u r b in e in a se p arate compa rt men t of th e tur boc ha rge r , on t he intake sid e. The intake turbin sucks gas mixtur e th r ou gh th ca rb uretor and r ams it into t h cylinders , increasing t he amount 0 fuel burned in the cylinder, whic increases th e power of th e engi ne . In add ition to the turbocha rger, th Suzuk i was equipped with an MT forged piston kit whic h brought th displacement u p to 870cc . and a electric fuel p um p . My re verie about th e ma ch ine I sa ast ride was interru pted by Hahn' sho ut s a nd wh istl es. I was sto pp vaguely in front of the "C h ristrn a tree," or sta rt ing light s, waiting fei som ethi ng to happen . Hahn waved m back a bo ut ten feet. I hadn't stage properly, fai lin g to plac e th e Su zuki' front wh eel ac ross th e photoelectri sta rti ng line beam . I cou ld have stare a ll day a t th e lights, a nd never gott s ta rted. H ahn yelle d s tagin instructi on s int o m y helmet , th e gree' light flashed before the red flu sh 0 embarrassme nt left m y face , and · sta rted on m y firs t trip do wn a d ra strip. Rid ing a motorcycle which ho lds nat ion a l recor d at 9.97 seco nd elaps time, I turned a 14.22 seco nd elapse tim e , 97.93 mi les per hou r . T he ca r d rivers fou nd it prett amusing. When I got int o th e 12-second rang on m y fou rth run : a nd th e elevens i m y fifth. t hey had stopped laughing By the tim e I reach ed th e l O-secon range. th e ca r guys had d isappeared St aged for th e 17th run. Two sma a m be r ligh ts at th e top of the startin light panel (which hangs like a traffi signal above th e strip) show that I hav th e front wheel correctly positione ac ross the sta rt ing line p hotoelectri beam. J ust like Ha hn to ld me so man tim es before , I gass it , gassit , gassi each tim e wor king th e ta ch needl hig her, the turbo whining lou d er tha th e exhaust note. Yellow ligh t, gassi a nother yellow light , gassit. ga ssi green light , gol 10,500 rpm shows 0 the ta ch faste r th a n I can get my Ie foot up to sh ift. The front wheel is 0 the ground, but it doesn 't seem t affect an yth ing - t he bik e just lung forwa rd in a stra ight lin e. T he re tire burns, hut doesn 't sound like a c

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