Only 6 weeks to go

The start of the 2010 ACU Dragbike racing season isn't too far away, Easter is the first round and my entry form is filled in ready to be posted. It's still looking like I'll be running the old bike despite quite a lot of progress with the new one. Thanks to Roger Upperton most of the parts needed to put the engine back together are on their way, some have yet to arrive from the US but it shouldn't be more than a couple of weeks.

For anyone who's not familiar with the ACU classes i thought I'd put a short guide together to explain what the various categories are:

SuperStreet Bike - No wheely bars, no slicks and the bikes mostly resemble street going bikes, just real low and long. The bikes makes good use of electronics to control power output and typically run 7's with 7.2's at 200mph the order of the day.


Competition Bike - Pretty much an anything goes class. Usually populated by turbo or nitrous wheely bar and slick bikes, but also joined by bikes which cannot enter any other class such as outlaw and methanol specials.Times vary from low 7's to 8's and speeds usually above 160mph.


ProStock Bike - wheely bar and slick bikes that loosely resemble a road going bike, they are not allowed any power adders so the engines are usually heavily tuned and large capacity. Times are low 7's and speeds above 170mph. 2010 could see the fastest bikes break into the 6 second zone.


Funny Bike - Similar to Competition bike but the rules state the bikes must carry a brand and a passing resemblance to a production vehicle. The top class for non nitro burning wheely bar and slick bikes. times are in the mid to high 6 second zone for the top runners and speeds approaching or above 200mph.


Top Fuel Bike - Theses are the fastest accelerating bikes on earth, huge slicks, long wheelbase and wheelybars, they burn nitromethane fuel which produces incredible horsepower. Bikes regularly run low 6 second elapsed times at speeds above 220mph



Additionally there is an 9.50 index class run at all the usual rounds, It's a club series only, not ACU. Also there's a series known as Supertwins which runs at some but not all ACU rounds. More information regarding those can be found on the supertwins website.

The last couple of weeks have been spent ordering parts needed to progress with the new bike. More steel tube, slabs of aluminium, fasteners etc. I also decided to buy a scratch start tig kit for my little DC welder. I had a practice today but I'm still far from getting the hang of it. I have a friend who is rather good at TIG welding so I'll be harassing him for advice.
The warped axle adjuster clamps have been cut off and replaced with new ones. they still need welding properly as do a few other small parts that have been added, like footpeg and rear brake master cylinder mounts. It's starting to come together though. Today for the first time the rolling chassis was complete enough for me to wheel it outside into the daylight. It's the first time I've been able to stand far enough away from it to see how it looks, but it's looking pretty good i think!