14 & 15 November 2008
Dragbike Spy this week finally made it to Perth Austraila when there was a round of the ANDRA Top Bike championship being run, but not before the Stud Racing team had run an incredible 227.27 mph, 8 mph above the then current ANDRA national record during qualifying! Arriving on Saturday 15th - elimination day, I was fortunate enough to spend time with the team both before and after eliminations, and what a team they are.
Believe me, unless you have been in the thick of it and getting your hands dirty, you really have no appreciation of just how hard these teams work, both before and in between rounds. Each and every team member has a job to do, and is well directed by the crew chief (and had better do what the crew chief says or else), and yes, I got my hands dirty!
The bike was close to being ready for round 1 by the time I got there 3 hours beforehand. Roger and co had put a good tune-up into the engine, as round 1 was gonna be a toughy up against Ian Ashelford's Harley, and whilst Ian may have qualified at #8, the team know he was well capable of running in the 6.70s, so there no room for complacency in the Stud Racing camp.
Ready for round 1
With a good win and a nice 6.60/222 pass in round 1, it was service time. The engine had suffered damage by way of 4 bent exhaust valves and a couple of inlets weren't looking perfect either. Bent valves were not due to incorrect assembly, but rather the immense cylinder pressures these nitro engines create, and with the cylinder pressure simply holding the valve shut and when the cam says open, the cylinder says go away, and the bend results!
No problem however for this team to pull the head off, replace valves as required, reassemble and get the bike back to the staging lanes for round 2.
Roger and Mike reassemble the head with new valves
The team finish assembly prior to round 2
Now it's time for round 2, and they are up against Mark Ashelford, who qualified at #4 spot with a 6.962, but like his brother Ian is well capable of running the big Harley down the track in the 6.70s. Winner into the final, Roger and the boys fire the bike, and Athol gives the tyre a mild pre-race workout.......
And whilst Mark didn't present too much of a challenge in the end, that didn't stop the big guy from hammering it as hard as he could, and the result was a 6.410 @ 226.70mph, the team have just backed up their 227.27 run from the day before, and are now new
ANDRA Top Bike National MPH Record Holders!
But the engine suffered some damage after the finish line, and now the team had to scramble with a complete engine change prior to the final, and once back in the pits there was less than 90 minutes in which to do so. Working like a very well oiled machine, the team worked tirelessly and completed the engine change ready to fire only 5 minutes before the final. But as lady luck would have it, the ignition timing wasn't right and the beast wouldn't fire, and with no time to correct, the team had to concede the race to Jay Upton, who ran a solo 6.58 at a slowing 180mph to take the win.
But the team's disappointment didn't last long, because they had successfully claimed their first ANDRA National Record, blowing the former mph hour record into history by a full 8 mph...how many teams can say they have done that...it was smiles big all round in the Stud Racing camp!
It was a pleasure to work with the team, and enjoy their success - looking forward to many more successes and I know Stud Racing will have them, it is just a matter of time.
That's it for now, see below a few more images..................
IDH-Dragbike Spy
The record holding RB Performance Limited designed and built engine
Trophy Time
Tired crew having a well deserved sleep-in, after enjoying a few (too many) celebratory drinkies after prize giving, well into the wee hours of Sunday morning.....
And finally, contrary to popular opinion and despite the fact he architected the hoisting of my jandels to impossible to retrieve heights on the Sunday night, apparently Trevor Fellows is not gay!
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