Video: Twinkle Taylor – World & Australian dragracing champion
Dragracing from the past
Adrian Kelly, FB Holden dragracing, circa late 1960's
Team Catavolt’s 2012 plans
The inaugural 2011 EFXC (Electric Formula Xtreme Championship) series winners Team Catavolt are busily preparing for the 2012 season. Team Owner Jon Eggenhuizen said “We have been developing our revolutionary hub motor in the off season to try and make it run cooler and therefore make more power, experimenting with both water and oil cooling options. We are also excited to be running with a different manufacturer’s frame that will allow us so much more scope to run different battery and motor configurations, whilst having much more improved handling and suspension”.
With the success of the fledgling eFXC/TTXGP 2011 electric racing season, 2012 is looking really bright with last season’s entrants poised to bring their new technology to the race track and show just how much faster they have become.
A number of interested bystanders watched last year’s start-up electric series with keen interest, contemplating starting their own assault on the 2012 eFXC/TTXGP Championship.
Mark Arnold from the Miark Inovation Team, “This leading edge form of motorcycle racing is extremely exciting and has huge potential, especially as the electric machines costs are starting to decline, interestingly at the same time the petrol based machines costs continue to rise and most racers, clubs and promoters are finding it increasing difficult to contain them.” Mark’s team has designed a machine around a Yamaha R6 frame and running gear with a locally sourced high torque DC motor.
Dates and Locations for 2012 eFXC/TTXGP series:
| AFXSBK Rnd 2 Wakefield Park Raceway (NSW) April 20th – 22nd |
| Rd1 eFXC/TTXGP |
| AFXSBK Rnd 3 Queensland Raceway (QLD) July 20th -22nd |
| Rd2 eFXC/TTXGP |
| AFXSBK Rnd 4 Wakefield Park Raceway (NSW) 31st August – 2nd September |
| Rd3 eFXC/TTXGP |
| AFXSBK Rnd 5 Winton Raceway (VIC) October 5th – 7th |
| Rd4 eFXC/TTXGP (TBC – Depends on TTXGP final being held Mid Nov) |
Phase 4 Superbike
Bathurst: Phase 4's Barry Taylor and JB
JB recounted his time on this awesome superbike many times. He’s thinking here … how do I tell this guy this bike is a pig to ride? Barry’s answer was “need more horses?”. JB cracked up and they got on with getting this Kawasaki rideable.
2011 eFXC | TTXGP Electric Motorcycle Championships
Jon from Newcastle’s Team Catavolt is proud to announce that they are the outright winners of the very first Electric motorcycle championship to be conducted in Australia. Well done Jon!
Want it? You know you do, visit: evmotorcycle.org to get your copy today!
Greg Neal’s Throttle Nation report
Greg Neal, of TLN Motorsport reports about his chase of Production Motorcycle land speed records.
TLN 250
We absolutely gave everything we had in us this past weekend. The results may not show it, but the effort was there. The 195.9 on the ZX-10 in those conditions was huge. It was for the most part like running into a wall of water. The N/A bikes could simply not breathe at all. It didn’t matter how much fuel we pulled from the mixture, you would stay fat. Add the fact that the moisture in the air made id impossible to get any traction. The big bike would spin through 3rd gear and was subject to break loose at any moment. While the speed was not what we wanted, for the conditions it was great.
The ZX-6 was just so sensitive to the air all weekend. The 176.6 on Sunday was the fastest of the day, but not good enough to catch the 177.8 Mclean put up on Saturday. We struggled mightily, making change after change. The data logger quit again, so it was all guesswork on the tune. I pulled fuel out every pass with no big change. I did the unthinkable for the conditions and added fuel. The bike picked up. That told me there was detonation issues, so I pulled timing from the top end. Just wasn’t enough. Looks like the head gasket is cracked and at sustained high rpm it starts to leak by. The bike gets hot way to fast and the oil that gets pushed is milky. The oil in the case is fine, so it doesn’t bypass to the oil at idle. This bike laid down on top end one time back in June at Maxton during a run I had to hurry and make. I left the line hotter that I like to be. I think I cracked the head gasket way back then. We haven’t been as strong since, but only ran in Maine after that time. Compression is down across 3 and 4, so it makes sense. Just hope there isn’t valve damage or that bike is out until next year.
October will bring an end to Land Speed racing in NC. Anyone and everyone will be there to close it out. Members of the SCTA 200 club are coming for the closeout party Saturday night. If both bikes are there I will be lucky to get 2 passes on each. The new home in Wilmington, Ohio will be a straight, much smoother course. It gets more rain there, but the surface is cross grooved and will drain much better. The plan for next year is a radical body on the 1000. The engine just gets new valves and springs and the head touched. Same engine work for the 600. Fingers crossed it works out that way. If the 1000 picks up the speed we thing from the aero, the 600 gets the same late in the year.
I am hurting all over today. The effort of last weekend was unbelievable. Every change that could be made on the ZX-6 was done. That bike is very air sensitive and with 94-99% humidity we never found the tune. We were just down on top end. !.2 behind Mclean who did a great job (again congrats). The win on the ZX-10R was big. The N/A engine struggled in the humidity and we were spinning up the rear through 3rd gear, so the 195.945mph pass was a good one. That’s a 203 bike on a good day. Congrats to all the class winners and Thank You Throttle Nation for the event.
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