Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

d;1ance to come up with something. If we do not it will not be for want of trying." Rumor has it that Suzuki will show ,an ER-series line of trailbikes this fall. They'll be evailable in three sizes - 100, 125 and 185cc - just like the TS series. The ERs, however, heve MX styling, alloy swingarms and full lighting. HosPITal STOP: John A. Davidson, Harley·Davidson's Chairman on the ~ NATIONAL J ~'PAPERS ~ --'=-'- Roberts, Springer: Who'll take the record? . ; I Who will be the first rider to break the current record of most National wins? Bart Markel holds the record at 28. Bart started the record run back'in Augus! of 1960 when he won what was then called the "Open Class" TT at Peoria, IL. His 28th and tmal win came 12 years later when he won the 1971 Columbus half mile. The previous record holder had been Joe Leonard who came up with ?7 before he hung it up. It took Leonard nine years to get to the mark. .HiS first win came in a road race event, but what seems slightly more than odd js the fact that Joe's last win was the same event at the same location as the ijrst ever won by Markel - the "Open Class" TT at Peoria! Now we have not one but two riders who are dosing in fast. WhiCh one will get there first? Kenny Roberts bagged his 26th National victory in mid-July at the road race meeting at Sears Point in Adapting to a "Sorry, we're out of premium" situation By John Wyckoff By late summer of this year the major oil companies will phase out the production of premium gasoline. If you plan on using your motorcycle for a cross-country trip you had better be prepared _not only for a gas shoqage but a complete ...absence of gasoline with an octane rating in the 90's. Let me give you the reason for this problem and then offer several solutions including one that has some very positive side effects. The public relations department of "Shell Oil Company in Houston. Texas, confirmed what had been rumored for some time now. That is, very shortly there will be no "high test" leaded gasoline. To make matters even more confusing the octane numbers game being played by the oil companies and Board of J;>irectors, underwent open heart surgery on Aug. 2. He's home now; the operation was a complete success. Cards and letters may be sent c/o Harley-Davidson, P.O. Box 653, Milwaukee, WI 53201. bhp et 12,000 rpm and sports a sixspeed gearbox. If it should ever show up in the U.S.. it would be very expensive, rumor has it. Road), and you can get more details at 714/997 -2589 or 213/822-1582. No more riding at Sears Point Raceway - temporarily, at least. New rules will be set up and the park reopened in late September. That TZ125 - the water-cooled, single cylinder, Monocrossequipped road racer Papa mentioned last week that we don't know about yet - is rumored to weigh less than 160 lb., produce 30 Bev Longfellow phoned Papa to remind him to remind all of you about the Aug. 26 Desert Daiseys Bunny Scrambles. There'll be "lots of girls, garters and two 32-mile loops." It all comes down at 8 a.m. at Fremont' Valley (liming from Red Mountain and from Red Rock-Randsburg Sonoma, CA. Jay Springsteen chalked up number 25 at the early August Peoria TT. Roberts says he will not be racing anymore this year in American National events. Springsteen has four half miles and four miles left to go before the season ends on September 29th. So, it appears that Springsteen, who is il:1 a class by himself on half miles and one of the current best on the miles, will become the newall-time winner. . Jay is going to ma~e a serious run at the record and try to do in five seasons what it took the others in nine and 12 years. I Roberts, according to Roberts, will not be seen again on these shores on a racing bike until Daytona next March. Even if he was to win he would only come up to Leo.Jlard's old mark of 27. BUl if somebody from Yamaha were to read this column and perhaps see the possibilities in the yards of publicity that would be gained by them if Roberts were to become the first to score 29 National victories, then possibly we could see Kenny at least at Houston next February when he would get two chances. Daytona would be the third, all in a span of about one month. Harley-Davidson, long the leader in. National race publicity, must be primed and ready as one does not break an 18-year-old record too often. Of course, both Bart and Joe won all of their events riding Harleys, but they all didn't come with full factory backing. On the other hand, Yamaha has spent thousands (millions?) backing Roberts, and all of his wins - AMA and FIM ~ have been factory-backed all the way. Markel started his career racing a BSA Gold Star; Leonard ended his racing days on a motorcycle behind the hand1ebars of a Triumph. Springsteen has won Nationals on a 250 and 7!10cc; Harleys. Roberts has scored on 250cc singles, 500cc fours, 650cc twins, 750cc twins and 750cc fours. Better add a 360cc single to the list while we're at it. Both lists are impressive and both offer a ton of publicity for either company. I'm only bringing it up now because it's just a matter of time until either Jay or Kenny take the record. But both will also be around for several more seasons so it's difficult to say which one will eventually end up with a record that may stand for as long as Bart held it. The prommer that is fortunate enough to host the National that will , find either or both riders entered for a shot at the 29th win better add some extra seats. It could be Syracuse, San Jose or Ascot this year, or Houston or Daytona next year. We think the record will fall this year. But if Springsteen can knock off at least 25 wins in less than five full seasons and Roberts can turn the same amount in five or six full-time seasons and a couple of part timers, then what will the eventual new record total be when·these two retire from racing? I was at Columbus when Markel got his 28th win in '71. It was quite an occasion as he had won only one race in the past two seasons. True, it was to be his last big victory but he rode like the wide open fence-buster that I first met back in the winter of 1960. Jay is trying to do it all in the dirt, just like Bart did. Roberts has won them all on both the dirt and the road courses. Both stilrted on the dirt tracks and the new record should be set on a dirt track out of respect and recognition to all three riders.· All three were first-time winners in the dirt, the type of racing that is truly all American. The next time we can arrange it we will get a picture of all three together, sometliing thar- has not been done, I believe, to date. What a collectors item! Roberts has gone on to become the richest motorcycle racer in the history of the sport, both before and after taxes. Springsteen could well be the most talented all around dirt tracker to ever come along. • motorcycle companies leaves the rider confused. The confusion was not the idea of either of these industries but caused by our government in their attempt to "clarify and standardize" 'gasoline ratings. By federal law the octane ratings of gasoline must be displayed at the pump. Some stations have those ratings clearly displayed but they don't seem to mean much to the average rider. Remember, you old timers, when you used to be able to get 102 octane gasoline? Now most premium is listed as 94 octane. Here is what has happened. There are two methods of rating gasoline. The first is called Research Octane. To arrive at this number, a special single cylinder variable compression engine is used. The intake air is cooled. All conditions are ideal. An instrument is attached to detect engine knock. The reading gained under these circumstances is the higheSt possible octane rating. The second method is called Motor Octane. Using the same engine but less than ideal conditions and varing the engine speed and loads produces a considerably lower octane rating. The government decided neither rating was best. So, in typical bureaucratic fashion, they opted for a rating about half way between-the two. This is known as R + Mover 2. The little stickers on the gas pumps usually, but not always, includes this mathematical formula. Let mf' giVf' you an example of how this works. Suppose we test using the Research m,·' hod and come up with a rating of 99 octane. We then must test again using the MOlor method. This time we will probably come up with a - rating of about 90.5 octane. To arrive at the rating for the pump, we must add the two ratings together (R + M). We now have 189.5. To finish our math formula we now divide by 2 and come up with 94.75 octane which will go on the pump label as 95. The instruction manuals for most of high performance motorcycles call for either super (premium) gasoline as th~ case of BMW or 91 or higher octane as in the case of several Japaneese motor· cycles. From now on there will be little chance of purchasing gasoline with a rating of 86.5 octane. To funher complicate your life, some motorcycle companies, Harley-Davidson for ex· ample, say you sh<;lUld not use an unleaded gasoline. Sorry about that, but the high test Amoco has no lead and should not be used. A phone call to Jim Preisler, the chief engineer and general manager of Drag Specialties, brought Some solutions to the problem. One solution Jim mentioned was to use an additive available from Drag, called Vortex Octane Plus. At a cost of $12.00 per quart, this additive will increase the octane rating of 20 gallons of gasoline to 100 octane or more, depending on the gasoline to which it is added. This might work OK for a rider that stays pretty close to home but I don't think it would be a good idea to carry a quart of this very volatile liquid around in a saddlebag. "The problem." Jim.. said, "is that most performance motorcycles have high com.pression engines. Lf you could reduce the compression you could use a lower octane fule. For example, the Harley Sponster has a 9 to I compression. This could be lowered to about 8.25 to I by increasing the thickness of the cylinder base gasket to about .050." Don't hold me to those exact figures," he said. "1 am just giving you this information off the cuff. But you could retard the spark about 5 degrees and open up the plug gap by about .005". "This will do some very positive things," he went on. "First, you will be able to use regular gasoline. The engine will probably run cooler and it will cenainly last a lot longer." I asked Jim why it would last longer. He told me that with lower com· pression the stresses on the crankpin, rod, wristpin and many other parts is greatly reduced. I asked how it would affect perf01'mance or top end speed. Much to my surprise, Jim said, "The bike may actually run faster at the top end but will suffer to a degree at the low and mid range. The loss of performance would not be very noticable except under extreme loads and I think it might be a good trade-off." I asked if there were any other problems the rider might find. "Be careful not to lug the engine," Jim said. "You could cause a cracked piston, broken ring land or other problems. However, you could have the same problem with a high compression engine too." . With this information in my hot little hand, I went a few blocks down the street where I live and talked to the . owners of Milmeyer Mfg. Co. in Fullenon, California. They agreed to make these special gaskets. By the time this story is printed, these special thick cylinder base gaskets should be available for Harleys, Kawasakis, Hondas and perhaps others. If you must do something im· (Continued to page 17) Seen over the weekend: Returning from the desert, a Datsun mini pickup was observed with a plaque on the tailgate reading, "280 Z - after taxes." • Roxy Rockwood 7

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