Famoso TNT - Saturday - February 15th 2014

[Brakelate]

"Terminators are natural switch hitters when it come to handling multiple disciplines"

I like what you are saying, and have always wondered how much better I could have been, had I stuck to one thing, rather than spreading all my time, energy and money across a vast array of motorsports. But, I have found the Termi to be very good at many things; Drag racing, Open Track, Daily Commute, etc. more often than not, with just a mere change of tires. Sometimes I would run the same tires everywhere, and have literally been at Famoso one night, Big Willow the next day and then drove to work all the following week.

But, I am forced to make compromises simply due to budget concerns.

In the same breath, that is why I love and respect my little DR-Z400-SM over all the other bikes I have ever owned. I have literally raced that thing on road race tracks, kart tracks, run single track trails, ridden double, done sport touring, desert play riding, canyon slaying and ridden in to work and on the freeway for extended periods doing some Adventure Touring. ALL on the same set of friggin tires, never turning a wrench other than to take off the rear view mirrors or adjust the air pressures.
That is the king of versatility!

One reason I preach that the weakest link in any discipline is generally the operator, not the machine.

[Tetge]

........In the same breath, that is why I love and respect my little DR-Z400-SM over all the other bikes I have ever owned. I have literally raced that thing on road race tracks, kart tracks, run single track trails, ridden double, done sport touring, desert play riding, canyon slaying and ridden in to work and on the freeway for extended periods doing some Adventure Touring. ALL on the same set of friggin tires, never turning a wrench other than to take off the rear view mirrors or adjust the air pressures.
That is the king of versatility!

Well said about the DR-Z, although mine has not done all the things that yours has. I sort of forgot about the DR-Z as I take for granted that it is so competent, and so inexpensive to own. But, some of the same capabilities that you mentioned are there in my bike as well, and even I have used it, tentatively and timidly, on some fire roads, and the Old Ridge Route. What one finds out is that it apparently just works for everything, although long flat straights and freeways are no fun. So, it is perhaps even more of a Swiss knife than the Terminator.

Have you changed your mind yet about the go kart picture?

[Brakelate]

Have you changed your mind yet about the go kart picture?

That thing is even too Brutal for ME to look at! It is better left in it's sealed vault.

[Tetge]

Have you changed your mind yet about the go kart picture?

That thing is even too Brutal for ME to look at! It is better left in it's sealed vault.

As I said, you are considerate and a gentleman. But, it is a great pic, all things considered, such as the skill of the person snapping it with a single frame shot. Or, was it fate that clicked the shutter?

[jhwalker]

Have you changed your mind yet about the go kart picture?

That thing is even too Brutal for ME to look at! It is better left in it's sealed vault.

You are truly a man of principle...

The best thing about the consequence of that "I can get thru that friggin corner faster" was that (when I came to) the wreck had cured a bulging disc vertebra problem that doctors had been working on for years, and I could move better after the wreck than when the day started. And it did NOT impact the other 5 fused vertebrae (football injury...).

I bought that shifter kart at age ?62-63? and ran sort-of worn tires on it to help me deal with the "suddenness" of the Radical SR3. And to practice threshhold braking and transition into the corners. A twitch of the steering wheel and that puppy would come around in a heartbeat. After playing with the shifter kart, it was much easier to pull over 1.5 gs in the Radical whose handling felt almost slow after the shifter kart, although that turned out to bring on the motion sickness that had never appeared at 1-1.2 gs. In fact I had never felt motion-sickness when driving a vehicle until an after-midnight Old Topanga to Topanga to PCH run one night in the AWD Porsche Turbo when I broke my own rules about never driving fast on the street. Got to the ocean and realized that I was sick -- and it hit me that it was motion-sickness. That was a life changer. I had fought motion-sickness during the ocean swim part of triathlons, but I had always assumed that I could never get motion-sick in a car as long as I was driving. I sold the Radical right after a Radical group event at Spring Mountain Raceway, running some of the best laps in my life (wearing the electrical stims on both wrists, having scopolamine patches on both ears, and having taken dramamine to try to stop the motion-sickness) when I had to exit suddenly, rip off the helmet just in time and puke over the side of the car. I missed filling the helmet with puke by about 10 seconds. Then I picked up a toy that, at the time, would not corner worth a crap and proceeded to start the handling mods...

Ah, memory lane, a wonderful place to visit. What I miss most about losing SoCalT is the ability to go back and see if my memory has ANY resemblance to what was reported at the time!

[MrCaliKrome]

Guys, just an update.

The Mystichrome Cobra is still down waiting on back ordered part(s). Apparently an OEM bumper is not in stock ready for sale?

In the interim, I'm going to get the blower, tb, and plenum port matched and my guy doing the work is also going to fill in the silencer holes which I'm told will make the blower wine even louder.

I'm guessing I won't be getting my car back for another month or two????

Will keep you guys posted when I get it back and what the plans are in terms of running it.

[jhwalker]

Guys, just an update.

The Mystichrome Cobra is still down waiting on back ordered part(s). Apparently an OEM bumper is not in stock ready for sale?

In the interim, I'm going to get the blower, tb, and plenum port matched and my guy doing the work is also going to fill in the silencer holes which I'm told will make the blower wine even louder.

I'm guessing I won't be getting my car back for another month or two????

Will keep you guys posted when I get it back and what the plans are in terms of running it.

Get dyno results! Good to hear from you.
James

[MrCaliKrome]

Guys, just an update.

The Mystichrome Cobra is still down waiting on back ordered part(s). Apparently an OEM bumper is not in stock ready for sale?

In the interim, I'm going to get the blower, tb, and plenum port matched and my guy doing the work is also going to fill in the silencer holes which I'm told will make the blower wine even louder.

I'm guessing I won't be getting my car back for another month or two????

Will keep you guys posted when I get it back and what the plans are in terms of running it.

Get dyno results! Good to hear from you.
James

Update Alert! Bumper was on major back order because I wanted an OEM bumper, not a reman of a damaged bumper as my insurance company wanted to stick me with. The bumper finally came in and is in process of being painted.

While I've been waiting, had the port work done and threw on the complimentary if not obligatory mod of a 4lb lower. Numbers seem typical for this set up; 500 hp / 530 tq (std correction). Injectors were maxed. Will get 60s to keep it safe.

I am projecting I will see the car again sometime this year!?!?!?

[jhwalker]

Good to see you tinkering. If you have the "lower set", you might want to try 2 lb lower, too. Just for the hell of it. I found that the 4lb lower overheated me way back in the day (10 years ago). But with that lower on I used to sometimes drive around I the SFV at about 3k rpm (armed) ready to repulse sneak attacks... One shot and then a cool-down.

What I miss most about losing SoCalT is all of the info that we published there from our testing Well, also the Hunter S. Thompson-esqe rants and ramblings from various knuckleheads...

"Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!”
― Hunter S. Thompson "

[MrCaliKrome]

Hey Guys, long time!

I did end up getting the car back sometime last July 2014, but it had a crazy annoying squeal that never existed before getting the 4lb lower installed. A rib on the belt ended up torn off. Didn't drive the car much.

Finally took it back to the shop in January 2015 to get it fixed and they just threw on a different belt, which didn't fix the problem except for a couple days. A rib on the belt got torn off again. Didn't drive the car much.

Finally took it back AGAIN last week July 2015 and had to help them trouble shoot the issue. I had them swap out the Metco Alternator pulley. Apparently there had been a design change between the original one I purchased and the latest generation. So far that seems to have done the trick, but I'm cautiously optimistic. Maybe after I put on some serious miles I'll be able declare the problem solved.

Anyway, hadn't been much going on with the car since this thread/trackday about 1.5 years ago. Wanted to say thanks again to everyone for all the great advice as the one thing that made this past 18 months bearable was "that one time I took it to the track it was a great day!!!!" Couldn't have done it without you guys!

Assuming all is well, I'd be down for another track day or for a get together if you guys are having one this summer.