Sprinting

[Quickly]

I've just sent off my forms to register with the National Sprint Association to compete this year. I'll just be doing it on my roadbike, a VFR 400, and only at three or four meetings across the summer. It's something I've wanted to try for a long time, but not something I'm going into with great expectations.

My first meeting will probably be in about six weeks time. I know to tape up the lights, mirrors, check brakes etc - but I wondered if there was anything else I need to know or could do fairly easy. I don't plan to spend a lot, but if there's anything I can buy for around £50 that will help my times etc I'd consider it.

Any ideas from anyone on here? Or indeed, any experiences/tips/thoughts about sprinting at all? Really quite looking forward to the summer now.
____________________
...

[Ariel Badger]

[Ariel Badger]

So did you pop your cherry? How was it?
____________________
Bikers make great organ donors, get 115 on your licence today.

[Quickly]

Unfortunately not. I left home at 6.30 but had to turn back at Carlisle. The weather was atrocious and was forecast to be the same all across the north (including York) all day. The sidewinds were blowing me all across the carriageway - the kind where you have to slow down because just leaning into it isn't enough - and I had to go over the North Yorks Moors to get there. Decided it was better not to risk it.

To be honest I wasn't too disappointed - I wanted to do it today but if the weather was going to be that bad there I'd not be able to top much over 70 mph. Wouldn't be competitive at all over the course of the season, and it's an expensive day out to do basically a RWYB.

Next chance is May 8th at Kirkbride near Carlisle, less than an hour away (there is a meeting on the 18th, but I'm at Oliver's Mount that day). When I first signed up I'd planned Kirkbride to be my first anyway, and it means a few friends can come down and watch too. I've kept your advice written down so will be revisiting it then.



Did you have a run anywhere today?
____________________
...

[G]

On your original question, with my new found knowledge that 'sprinting' is just drag racing.
I'm not sure of the classes they run, but either way, I'd say practice is the most important thing.

I presume you're unlikely to be challenging for titles if it you're not entering a limited category. And if you are (ie 12.5secs etc) it's all about consistency.
The launch is where you really make or break the run and for different bikes you're going to need different techniques.
So try out different amounts of clutch and revs etc. Ideally get to an event/RWYB where they give you 60' (or similar close) data as well, so you can judge the launch better.

[Ariel Badger]

Sprinting is not drag G, it has similarities but it is not the same. For a start we use a different starting system that is not down to reaction time and we race against the clock rather than the next lane ( a lot of sprints are single lane so we go one at a time). Then there are twisties, we sprint for 1/4 mile but with corners
Yesterday I did a hillclimb ( this is in reality a very long sprint with a lot of corners over a longer distance and up a bloody big hill) It was 7/8 of a mile and it was not my best day on the track.
Run one (practice) I was far too enthusiastic and went off on turn 3 and did some off roading but got it back together only to take another bend without enough lean and had to hit the bars to pull me back from the green stuff causing a steering wobble at about 80, then my engine cut due to a broken cable tie shorting my mag resulting in a red flag.
Run two (practice) great run, went through the last bend and over the brow of a hill full throttle towards the finish line only to be confronted by the actual last bend, a 120 degree right hander I had no chance of getting through so I just aimed at the tyre wall and scrubbed speed until the impact (very low speed as hitting a dirt bank first slowed me so no damage). red flag.
Run three (for real) got to the top but not impressed with my time.
Run four (for real) Went for it and dumped the clutch on the line with 5000 RPM on the clock, not much happened except my clutch slipped a then bit but slipped as I powered up the hill so I aborted and returned to the paddock.
Day over.
The motor is running like heaven despite two silly mechanical probs and one rider error
____________________
Bikers make great organ donors, get 115 on your licence today.

[G]

I believe a lot of drag racing is often done on times rather than the winner of a specific pairing (the competitive stuff I've been entered into has been like this).

From the previous thread I had a look here:
https://www.sprinting.org.uk/about.html
The site isn't too useful, but only details straight line stuff.
I had previously thought of sprinting as a hill climb but without having to have a hill - possibly even doing a single lap of a track or similar. However from the above site I presumed it was just straight lines.

The talk of 400hp Busas was the clarification needed that it was probably just straight lines (you can't have that significant corners to make a 400hp still sensibly competitive against stock superbikes that can get down plenty of power and turn corners.)

Got links to any videos of sprints with corners? Youtube doesn't show up much with obvious searches.
(This is 1/4 miles with corners, I'm well aware of the way road hill climbs work ).

[NSR Mick]

[G]

Out of interest, what was your 400m/quarter mile time on the 250?

[NSR Mick]

[Ariel Badger]

I got third in my class at Houghton today despite having the gearing set up wrong. Bring on round 2 in September
____________________
Bikers make great organ donors, get 115 on your licence today.