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/126433
Tom Elrod's doubltHtngined Kllwasaki set a new A-AG-3000 record and put Tom in Bonneville's exclusive 200 MPH Club. multi-purpose shop selling Kaws, Hondas, Can-Ams and H-Ds. A former Bluff Cycle employee and used car dealer, Charles Toy, just got a Kaw dealenhip a month ago and decided to go for it at Bonneville. Together with Mike, Bluffs service manager, they built a bike which was also similar to Scotty's last year, in a month of long hours. But they developed their turbo kit aroung an S&S carb which flows more gas than the Bendix used by ATP. First off, at Bonneville, they had a piston failure and had to install a spare engine. They did qualify on Thursday and bumped Scotty's open frame record, up a few mph to 189.869. The three are enthusiastic about building turbocharger kits for' the expanding hot street bike market in the prairie states. One rider was going for multiple records this year, Jim Ahrens, a metal' sign maker of Arcadia, CA. At week's end he was the proud possessor of five new Bonneville records. Jim has a 50cc Kreidler, Europe's hot little GP road race engine which never was available as a complete motorcycle until just last year. It took him a year to get his engine, and a box of parts accompanied by a couple of pictures with some German underneath. The distributor, Van Veen, doesn't like to sell to the U.S. because in the conscientious European way, they feel an obligation to support each engine with parts and letten of advice. The bike's brakes, clutch and such came from various European maken and Jim has two custom frames, a road race and a Bonneville which is longer. He road races with the bike regularly. The road race frame fits into Jim's airplane. and two years ago he flew to Bonneville for a day to set a record. This year because he planned a more extensive campaign, he drove. The Kreidler makes 14 horsepower in three cubic inches displacement, or. 25 mph per cubic inch. Compare this to one of your l000cc (or 61 cubic inch) basic road- burners. It also seems to be bulletproof. Jim never appeared to be doing anything but hanging out, but he qualified each afternoon and set a record every morning. With two frames, a fairing, and the option of gas or fuel classes, he had plenty of different records to go for during the week. He probably would have gotten six records, but on Tuesday after record runs and before anyone had qualified yet, the winds built quickly into one of those Salt Flats weather extrava· ganzas, picking up everything which was not nailed down and weighed less than five pounds, displacing crannies to th~ horizontal. sending the concession ladies scram bling after every one of their wayward unsold Tshirts. Runs were shut down for the rest of the day. Other than that. the weather was beautiful. Fall is the best season in Utah, also some Utah Autumns are exceptionally warm and dry and this has been one of them. The change in '77 to the later date for Speed Week was made primarily because tiny Wendover, crowded with tourists in August, the traditional time for the event, doesn't really want racers around at that time, anymore. The change also brought the probability of better weather. . The salt was the best it's been in 10 years, with 11 miles of excellent graded track. Yearly weather conditions within the downhill trend caused by the terrible wasting of the brine and thus the salt by potash mining, have a significant effect on the length and quality of the salt. The BLM. which has been managing the salt for the last five years, now does the day-to-day management of the area quite well; they have not yet been able to do anything about the brine drain which in 1976 was over a million tons a year of salt going away. Attendance by motorcyclists this year was down from the last two especially well-attended yean, to scarcely more than half. Two theories advanced were gas prices and the change from AMA sanctioning. But the motives of the absent riders were mostly unknown. One was reported to have stayed away because of no AMA. One who was there came for the same reason. The Vickerys, who've been active in recent years, are opening a new shop and are thus apparently too busy. A few came to visit who didn't have bikes ready. Some who had said this summer that they were coming didn't make it. Popular AI Ferris, one of the nicest individuals to ever run at the Flats and a meticulous craftsman, was killed riding his street bike last winter - a real loss. As usual, about half the riden were Californians. Motorcyclists were enthusiastic about SCTA"s first-year management of the bi"'es. Motorcyclist board members Yale Camp and Ken Davis worked long and hard. There were zero hassles or complaints. It's true that the Flanders regime did get the results out every morning, dependably and accurately, which was helpful. A Tuesday night meeting at the Stateline was attended by over 100 enthusiastic riders, tunen, crews and hangen-on. This meeting will be annual, to receive input from out-ofCalifornia riden. SCTA president Gordon Hoyt again encouraged riden to communicate with the Motorcycle Steering Committee by telephone or letter, or directly with the SCTA board if they wished. Records are under the auspices of Bonneville Nationals, Inc., the sister organization to SCTA which administers Speed Week. Negotiation is continuing with the National Hot Rod Association, through their branch the National Motorcycle Racing Association, for possible record certification, also. The AMA has shown no inclination, as far as 1 know, to attempt to become reinvolved wit,h Speed Week. Whatever the reason, the motorcyclists at Speed Week this year seemed to be more hard-core than in the last two yean: the professionals, the experts, the heavy-duty enthusiasts. Records per individual were greater than in any recent year, except for last year when several smallbore specialists went for multiples like Jim Ahrens did this year. Other interesting bikes, successes, or commendable efforts: Tom Elrod brought a "KZl1127," a bore so'large there's only about 15 so far, mostly drag biltes. But the pistons they got hold of fint were an off-theshelf kit, not built to their specs, so they'd had to change the heads. These pistons blew, and then they had to grind on the next set because the valves were hitting, another brand that was built to their specs, and the bilte never worked right with this field job. This engine ought to provide some fireworks next year. The crew from Greeley, CO, regulan at Speed Week, did it with their CBX this year. Last year's problem with the bilte was mostly handling at speed. Stiffer fork springs and more oil was the flX in the front, also higher tire pressures and a stiffer setting on the shocks. Mark Jaeger and Joe Lynch from Oklahoma City qualified twice, nicely with a 1200cc bored out Kaw, but didn't get their record. Other friends and mechanics from home had wanted to come but couldn't, so they sent parts, a rim here, an ignition there-so they could be at ijonneville in spirit. Ford employee Mike LaFollette from Detroit set a production 750cc record with a new Honda 750 to celebrate his birthday. Then he set a record with the family's 750 Moto Guzzi, which he and his father have been trying to do for five years. They must have gotten all of the luck that Jack Murphy and ATP couldn't find. Mike has five flat trackers and a Sponster, and three brothen and a sister who race motorcycles, and a father who did. Father rides a 175 Kaw to his engineer job at Ford. 9