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Up'ing the Quest to 275

Do what the kids do, get you butt further back on the seat cowl and that will allow you to place your head lower on the tank. Its supposed to make you more aero as well.
 
Trust me guys, Papi knows body position. The bike and diet are the limiting factors here.
 
August 2015 Update

Whoops, I skipped a mid season update or two, sorry about that, been a little busy.

So as most may know by now, SpeedWeek 2015 was cancelled, then the AMA/FIM Bonneville Motorcycle Trials cancelled as well. Major suckage, all around.

The silver lining was the SCTA/BNI folks scrambled and in about a week hooked up with the MojaveMile folks and put together 2 glorious days for time only at the coveted fastest paved mile in the west, The MojaveMile at the Mojave Air and Space Port in lovely scenic Mojave California.

As you may recall, I had a spectacular debut to the MM in 2011 when I crashed there during a Speed Channel show taping for the Adam Carolla Car Guys show. A memory stain I'd love to erase. But back to the present, the event was just fantastic. I was pretty jittery on the way down, but that settled out after we did our course drive on Friday, then a slow speed sighting pass mandated under 150 by the SCTA/MM Officials. And honestly, I'm really glad they did. I blew through mine at a relaxed 122, and that made a huge difference to getting my pavement legs back.

As the day progressed, I ramped up steadily, just really enjoying the stellar weather and conditions all day. The Factory Kawasaki Team was also there, following a stint they did at El Mirage when we ran as well. It was great seeing them there on the Modified H2R with full factory support. As usual, the pit shit talking was strong, placing side bets of who would break out on Sunday first after we all got settled in. By end of day Saturday, our Production "Built" ZX14 was at the same speeds as the Modified Blown Fuel H2R. I was pretty happy with that, and of course, more shit talking between moi and the factory rider from Japan ensued.

Sunday it was a whole new game. After talking with a few buddies, and becoming real comfy on Sundays first pass, an epiphany hit me, but in a real controlled and measured way; I was doing it all wrong. My error was treating the paved mile the same way I would treat the dirty mile, or the salt. I wasn't really turning on the power until the 1/4 mile. And thats when I watched the Factory rider completely change his game to nothing more than a drag race launch and stance. The light bulb for me went off, and I reverted back to the SS Drag position and launch to get my boogie on.

The biggest new issue was keeping the front wheel on the ground. What a pita that was, as the bike is really angry in the lower band. But after another pass or two, it really gelled and I turned up the heat, running only 1.1MPH under our Record Speed at Elmo for a 193.4 in the mile, compared to the 194.4 we set our record on. Man was I stoked. I learned so much about the bike in the last 3 passes (an experience you miss when you eat it crashing) that I really wanted 1 more day to see if I could make some mild changes to me (my head) and the bike.

The event closed up with us running an unbelievable 5 passes on Saturday and 7 passes on Sunday. I was completely spent after that. The tremendous highs of being back there after 4 years, plus really getting it nailed down at the end of the meet was just a super positive experience. I'm for sure going back in April, I cant wait to try the BFA bike there. Oh, and the factory team from Kawasaki on the new H2R (mildly modified) ? 215 baby. Incredible speed for a street bike.

Big thanks as always to Eddie Benson 'n Crew at Fremont Honda-Kawasaki-Suzuki for keeping our Production bike in Kawasaki parts, Jeff Viets/Scott Gooch at Sportbike Upgrades, AKA Viets Performance for stellar Bridgestone rubber, and the many folks like you my fellow barfers for the messages of encouragement and calls to keep my head planted on going faster. You guys all rock, thank you mucho.

Some pix attached below. Cheers :party


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2016 Season Start - 4 years of this journal

Wow, just looked back and I've been contributing to this journal now for 4 years.

4 years of a lot of ups, downs and learnings. I've been lucky enough to meet the fastest people in the world and compete against some of the most talented. We've had some damn lucky days were things just gel and you Go Fast, then theres others you just wished you'd stayed home. But overall, I'm excited to enter the 2016 Season.

For the record; in 1650 Production, we are now the 6x Consecutive Champs and 3x Record Holders in the SCTA. I'm pretty amazed we've done it this long. That old girl is getting tired, but I'll push her one more year. Being top of the class for 6 straight years has been a blast.

But, we have had a couple minor set backs on the Blown Fuel bike for 2016.
The first is I ran out of money for that program. We are about $25k away from being done. This stuff is real expensive, and without any sponsors, we have to mind our pennies. I'm almost done designing our new alcohol tanks from a concept I thought up 4 years ago that nobody has done yet. My first prototype is done, now we are in the middle of changes. You would think something like supplying fuel is easy, but it's not. We re going to pump gobs of alcohol in that thing, and burn nearly 8 gallons in 5 miles. So theres some challenges. We are also scrapping the m84 MoTec and going to a new gen m800 to drive 8 injectors instead. We will force about 1300-1400cc of fuel in each cylinder. So we need faster and better data control of devices that really only the MoTec m800 can offer. Thats another 12k out the window. So needless to say, we'll be happy to take any donations or help we can get.

I'm also working on a new electrical system as we need oodles of power to drive all the high amp modules like a huge weldon fuel pump, water pump, sensors and data aq. Something like the equivalent of two or three car batteries.

We start the season at the Mojave Magnum on April 8-10. I'm just bringing down the Production Bike in a Modified Configuration. The MM Folks eliminated the LSR Class, so I'll be running in the NA Class instead. There are no sanctioned records, just a time slip and lots of fun running on the Mojave Air/Space Port Runway.

Nick's bike is about wrapped also, he'll premier it's new set up also at the Magnum. He's running in the 1350-APS-F Class.
His bike is making great power so far in tuning tests and the new body is tight.

Here's the 2016 Schedule so far:

MKM - Mojave Magnum -2016
The Mojave Magnum is a 1.5 Mile paved event held at the Mojave Air & Space Port in Mojave California
April 8-10, 2016

SCTA (Southern California Timing Association) El Mirage – 2016
The El Mirage season starts and ends with a two day event. All events are held at the El Mirage Dry Lake in Southern California.
May 14 - 15
June 12
July 17
September 11
October 23
November 12-13

Bonneville – 2016
The BNI has two major events each year at the Bonneville Salt Flats outside of Wendover Utah.
Speed Week: August 13-19
World Finals: September 27-30

Alright, that's it for now, I'll post up some time slips from the Mojave next week. Looking forward to another season of fun and speed. :party

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Just want to say thanks for taking us along on your 4 year journey.

Go fast be safe.
 
Another thanks and another good luck with a little kick some more ASS thrown in.! :thumbup
 
4/14/16 Update

I'll be posting up our April 2016 Mojave Magnum results soon. :thumbup
 
Zombie thread but can a Papi Zombie be Mayor of Morgan Hill?
 
Where has Papi been anyway?
He hasn't checked in for quite a while. I miss following his efforts.
 
A little over 8 years ago, I started a journey and story here on barf to go faster than we had done the prior years. So, what has happened in those 8 long years, or at least since the time since I last checked in on teh BARF?

Life is an interesting journey my friends. Filled with roller coaster ups and downs, it challenges you with surprise wins and unexpected losses all the time. Just in the last couple years I faced an immense loss with my Son's death that turned me upside down and wanting to hang up Racing altogether. I was pried out of the hole by close friends who filled me with hope to live again another day. 2018 was not only a horrible upside down year when he died, but through the strength of my circle and racing family, we did amazing things.

Since my last update in this long running thread, I received two lifetime inductions into separate 200MPH Clubs after we banged out a 202 at the Mojave Mile and became the last Motorcyclist ever to be inducted, as the Mojave is no longer. Next, we did it in the dirt with another 202 pass in the dirty mile to become induction #2. Again, ALL Motor, no power adders.

We have accomplished a firm standing in the SCTA regular season with 5 Records in 5 Classes:

- 1650 Production, 2010 to 2020 10x Season Record Holder
- 1650 Modified Fuel - Current Record Holder
- 1650 Modified Gas - Current Record Holder
- 1650 Modified Partially Streamlined Fuel - Current Record Holder
- 1650 Modified Partially Streamlined Gas - Current Record Holder

I feel very fortunate and lucky to have done this so far, and with some set backs, we are moving on to the next and last part of the journey, our path to 275+ and on the way to 300MPH on a sit on Motorcycle.

But this hasn't been an easy journey, nor at times very rewarding. We have banging away on the new bike for years now. Each year we have accomplished something, except riding it! I've been on the NA (Normally Aspirated Bike) so long that I've forgotten what riding a blown fuel bike is like. The last time I rode the BF bike was before we tore her down, and then to build a new program on. If you recall, I took her up to past 180 in 3rd gear and started sucking valves through the tops of pistons as the motor went into over boost. That was another bad day. Nothing worse then smoking a motor as you are in the lane for top speed. It's major suckage.

So, as we started building the new program, we made a choice to go all alcohol for many reasons, but mainly to keep the motor a bit cooler and more stable as we built that package to run between 700-800HP sustained for 6 miles at Bonneville. Keeping a motor together with that much power, and sustaining it, is the biggest challenge I've faced so far. We poured tons of R&D into piton design, cylinder head design, configuration, data aq, racing ecu's, exhaust, plenum and intercooler and so much more. Thankfully, we completed the motor package at last this year and she's ready to go back into the bike. More on this later...

Then last year toward the end of the season in 2019 I started having a severe physical problem which began to paralyze me from the left side of my body down. I began losing my ability to use my left arm and hand. I was also struggling with my walking and gate to even walk straight. Towards the end of 2019, 1 month before Thanksgiving it got worse. My amazing primary Doc got me in right away to see a specialist (Neurosurgeon) after it was discovered my cervical spine was collapsing onto itself. All my disc material was gone and now my neck was crushing the nerve branches. I spent Thanksgiving eve in surgery getting donor bone and a bitchen titanium cage to keep my neck together. The best part though? I regained full use of my left arm and only have about 5% permanent damage left. That means I can ride and race again!

In December, after 1 year post my surgery, I will receive my medical clearance to race again. So, we are back in the game and thrashing on the big bike again to get it back together. We have torn her down completely, getting the frame and parts powder-coated and then the Motor goes back in, plumbing gets installed and then the new racing harness will be built. This bike has 3 fuel pumps, one intercooler pump, lots of new and very innovative stuff never done before in Land Speed Racing. The amount of time, engineering, test to fail on parts and components has been daunting. But now we near the end of all that work to re-assemble one very fast and very powerful bike.

I'll likely also race the old trusty 1650 NA bike one more season as well. At 240HP, she's no slouch and has maybe a couple more records in her as well. But the 1350 Blown Fuel Bike is now where my heart is, and 2021 needs be my year to push the envelope and learn how to ride her past 275. It's a big number, I feel good about it mentally and will train physically as hard as I can post my medical clearance to be ready.

Before I leave you until my next update, we have lost a lot of good people in LSR who have paved the way, and also, paid the highest price when we lost them. Bill Warner, Ralph Hudson and others who have also not come back after their last pass has left an enormous hole in our hearts, and the souls of many. We all go into this knowing that stepping off the bike (or any LSR vehicle) isn't an option at those speeds if you plan on making it home. This is a serious endeavor, I take it very seriously and plan on being as safe as possible. In fact we are designing an entirely different safety suit around me to do it's job if something goes sideways. So we plan for the best, we hope for the fastest, and we pray we make it home to see another day. That's the best any of us can do when we saddle up and ride.

The picture below is Jess Thomas with me at El Mirage in 2018 when we broke 202MPH in the dirty mile. Jess was the first man over 200 on a sit on bike at Bonneville in 1957. He's one of my hero's. Having your hero congratulate you is something I will never forget.

Until next time, be safe, have fun, Go Fast! --Papi
 

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Great to hear the ups are coming Papi.

Glad you are grabbing life by the balls and searching for more out of it.

Wish you the best. :Port
 
It's so good to see you post here again, Papi.
I am humbled by your accomplishments and speechless over the loss of your son.
Keep at it and stay safe. I wish you all the best.
 
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