Chassis fixture

The fixture for the Chassis is complete. Much of its rigidity comes from the integration of our welding table. It holds the front swingarm mount and rear motor and swingarm mount in alignment. We are now filling in the middle.

The central ladder looking piece is the main frame in the center which will be straddled by my legs and chest. Moving my legs more inboard is reducing our frontal area by more than one square foot!

Handsome devil..

This is our new motor. We have yet to take delivery as its being built now and we are saving our nickels to help accelerate our ship date. Rotary valve for the intake and a power valve on the exhaust should yield the power needed to push our streamliner beyond 165MPH in 2010. The BRC motor should also push our 'partial streamliner kneeler' to 145-150 depending on conditions of course, at this years Motorcycle Speed Trials By BUB.
This handsome devil, like the Aprilias, uses a rotax bottom end. We tried in vain to acquire an Aprilia RSA GP motor but it turns out they are unobtainable at the moment with only a hand full being used in the Grand Prix paddock. I have heard HP figures as high as 57. Very difficult to tune and if you get it wrong a replacement cylinder and top end will run you over $5000.00!
In the end the BRC motor and parts are much more appropriate for our budget and goals.

New Motor by BRC

We are planning on stuffing our new motor into the stretched chassis. Our originol plan was to put the new motor into the full streamliner in 2010 but BRC will have it done by mid summer so we will push to get it fitted into the partial streamliner kneeler for this years trip to get some testing under our belts with the new lump.

The BRC motor is right hand countershaft and rear exhaust so some reworking of the motor mounts is called for. Our current honda motor shown in these pics has a forward facing exhaust. The rerouting of its expansion chamber lost us 1.5 HP on the dyno. The rear facing exhaust should eliminate this problem.



















This photo comes from last years GP at Indy. I believe it is an Aprilia Titanium expansion chamber and represents the direction we are looking for.

This shot is from above with the front wheel on your left. The wooden blocks are to help figure out the new rider position. We are concerned about the ease at which a rider can get away from the bike in an accident. We are attempting to bring the riders legs forward with more bending at the knee to avoid the previous stretched out position which leaves the rider a bit vulnerable. I will get a picture together with rider aboard on the next posting.

Stretching

The 2009 effort will involve a complete update of the current LSR kneeler. As you can see from the picture above we have chopped the chassis and are stretching it 42". This will also involve new bodywork and a switch to a water to water cooling system to eliminate the radiators as they account for a horrific amount of drag. With the radiators out of the picture our frontal area is reduced by 1.3 Sq. Ft. Having missed out on the 'Special construction partial streamlining' record three years in a row by only 2-3 mph I am fairly confident this reduction will put us over the top.

New Rear Brake

We have always needed a bit more brake so this year we will be running a larger rotor and a 4-pot caliper. New carriers for the rotor and caliper will be machined in aluminum. Our next event will be at the Loring event in Maine. With a mile to slow down on concrete the extra stopping power should come in handy. I have the new rotor and caliper hanging on the footpeg for comparison.

Current AMA records held by Team Markertek.com:

Scott Kolb______125cc_____A_AG_______ 125.750____ 2008
(Our 2006 record is bumped up from 119.384)

Scott Kolb ______125cc_____A_AF_______ 124.828____2008

Greg Meola _____125cc_____M_AG______ 115.383_____ 2008

Greg Meola______125cc ____M_AF______ 117.221 ____2008

Django Zaloom ___125cc ____MPS-AG _____126.305____ 2007

Django Zaloom ___125cc_____MPS-AF _____128.955 ____2008

Our intent for 2009 is to pursue the two 125cc records that evade us. 'Partial streamliner special construction' and 'streamliner.' We are modifying our current special construction bike for the 09' effort. It will be stretched 33" to help narrow the frontal area and sport new bodywork to clean up the aerodynamics. We have gone as fast as 131MPH in the current configuration, 3 MPH shy of the current record. The new setup should yield 145MPH. The Honda RS125 motor currently used was built up by Bill Himmelsbach. We have 42 HP, documented on a Dyno-jet dyno. Very reliable in this state of tune.

Design has begun on our Streamliner. Previous posts show the 1:6 scale model. It will make its debut in 2010 at Speed week to receive some shakedown tests to help us prepare for the 'BUBS Speed Trials' two weeks later. The current AMA record is 136, and the FIM record stands at 159 and was set at sea level. This is an important note as the elevation at Bonneville is approximately 4500 feet above sea level. This robs all competitors of power and is why we need a new motor set-up because we will need 50HP at sea level to get our streamliner up to our 175MPH goal.
More on my motor search later.

Streamliner video of 1:6 model

A 1:6 scale model

2008 A banner year

Special thanks to our photographer Gregor Halenda for making us look good. Overall a banner year for Team markertek.com Not only did we look sharp, we broke 5 nationalland speed records.

From left to right:

Dan Harper-support crew

Scott Kolb- rider, builder, owner

Annick Magac-support crew

Greg Meola-rider, fabricator

Tom Romano-Lead mechanic, fabricator

Dgango Zaloom-Rider, fabricator

Eric Omland-support crew

Chris bernard-designer, fabricator

Not shown: Mark Braunstein-lead sponsor

Not shown: Chris Cosentino-tuner

Not shown: Gregor Halenda-photographer

Django and Greg secure three records, nice work fellas.

Hurry up and wait, thats racing.

On the starting line waiting....waiting....



Once underway I realize after many attempts we will once again miss out on the 'partially streamlined special constuction' record by 3 MPH. THis record continues to evade me but I will get it in 2009.


Top secret plan being hatched as I type.

Django's ride seizes on course. So we set into replacing the top end. WE do not have a spare cylinder and set Dan and Django on the task that evening, in their hotel room, of etching off the aluminum deposits on the cylinder wall with Muriatic acid. While all of the aluminum comes off we find the Nickasil plating on the cylinder wall has started delaminating looking like bubbles of aluminum foil. We throw it back togethor for a run on the last day only to find no spark. 2 hours of hunting down electrical gremlins and we find a bad condensor. No problem, we pull the condensor of of the special construction bike and he is underway.

As the week roles on we have to really work at it . As greg exited the timed mile and established a new record doing so, the RS's motor siezed. He pulled in the clutch soon enough to avoid disaster. Once in the pits the bike restarts and we hope it was a very light seizure. So we prep the bike for The Partially Streamlined Fuel record, fatten up the jetting, and hope for the best.

The week involves constant tweaking to the bikes, gearing, jetting, and aerodynamic adjustments.

2008 underway

After experiencing horrific conditons in 07' we return to Bonneville to find perfect Salt! Record will fall.

Prep is underway, we are going after 5 records this year using three different riders. The RS 125 is shown unstreamlined. We did our homework and it pays off as Greg manages to break the two unstreamlined records.