Wednesday Night Drags @ Sonoma Raceway 6-6-2018 and 6-13-2018

[HadesOmega]

Took the Empulse TT to the Wednesday Night Drags at Sonoma Raceway.  It was a lotta fun and I learned a lot of about the Empulse on the 1/4 mile.  The biggest thing is that the Empulse has about a 0.5 second lag time between when you twist the throttle to when the power is delievered to the pavement.  0.5 seconds doesn't sound like a lot of time but in 1/4 mile reaction times it is!  I figured if I twist the throttle right when the light turns green I take off after the green light.  Best R/T was around 0.225 seconds.  I made sure to take up the slack in the gearbox by holding the brake when I was staged and giving it throttle.  The second week I also tried to pre-load the motor a bit by giving it a little throttle while holding the brake and it seemed to help a bit. 

Picture's courtesy of Wednesday Night Drags facebook


The Empulse is a solid 15 second bike.  I was getting ET's from 14.8 to 15.4, so you could say the Empulse is a high 14's to low 15's bike.  Not very fast =/  There was a little to a lot of headwind so that might affect the time a bit.



The second week determined to get faster times I swapped the stock front sprocket to a the 1439 13tooth sprocket.  I also took the dual sport visor off my helmet so i could get a better tuck going on so I could be more aerodynamic.  I did have the windscreen installed don't know if it was helping or making it worse.  The bike was more consistent at 15.0 seconds and like I mentioned I managed to get the R/T down to 0.2 seconds.  The guys I was racing were REALLY good they can get a R/T down the hundreth's of a second like 0.05s!  I always started in 1st and I shifted at 6500RPM or 7000RPm.  I hitting speeds of 70mph on the quarter mile.  I would end in 4th gear with the stock sprocket and with the 13tooth sprocket I was ending in 5th gear.  The bike was full charged 100% and by about 6 runs it was down to about 85%.  It doesn't seem like the SOC affects the bikes power much at those SOC levels.  I did notice my fastest runs were usually the first or second runs so maybe it affects it a little or I get lucky and don't have much wind.

I had a lot of fun and learned a lot about drag racing and the Empulse.  I won my first race the 2nd time around.  I beat an old Yamaha motorcycle that was running similar times in the 15's, but I only won because they brokeout their dial in time by a bit.

Here's videos of my runs

6-6-2018


6-13-2018

[jazz999]

Very cool thanks

[Shinysideup]

Thanks for the post and all the details.

Without a clutch to feather on takeoff, I'm surprised that you can't get the jump on ICE bikes, even if they have better rider R/T. In impromptu drag races off traffic signals, I ALWAYS run away from ICE bikes, at least for a half block or so, before their 150 HP kicks in. Twist and go is pretty foolproof for me.

I'm also a bit surprised that the final speed isn't higher. I guess that mostly has to do with the limitation of 54 HP.

Still, I'm thrilled on my 0-30 mph performance, with a 42T rear sprocket, though I've never had it timed. All I can say, after 4 years and 42K miles, it still puts the grin on the face.

[HadesOmega]

Yeah I am surprised how I blow people off the line at a stop light but it seems like a whole other work on the drag strip.  Also the tree we used was the PRO tree.  It goes red, yellow, then green.  Unlike the other tree where it goes red, 1st yellow, 2nd yellow, 3rd yellow, then green.  So it's definitely harder to get a better R/T with the Pro one.  I just have to remember to twist it like right when I see it turn yellow or else it's too late.  I've never jumped the gun, it feels like you would but according to the R/Ts not so.  With the other tree you can pick a yellow light to go on.

The speed is probably due to the headwind.  It was pretty bad.  I'm sure if there was a tail wind i could get a 14 second pass pretty easily.

[Leander]

Does it stop accelerating through to drag or are you running out of RPMs?

[HadesOmega]

It'll keep accelerating sometimes it seems like it kinda run out of steam err electrons.  With the 13T sprockets I will hit 5th at roll off around 90MPH.  I'm going like 70 or 80 at the quarter miles mark.

[Leander]

so you could even fit a bigger rear sprocket so to get to max speed at the 1/4 mile marker I guess?

[HadesOmega]

Yes my plan was to go 13 front and 40 rear from 38 since you wouldn't be changing the teeth much.  You can probably go to a 42 also but the stock chain might not fit.  After riding with the 13t for bit i like it better than stock, the motor seems like it's less strained also.