Drum brakes

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I was just typing up the results for NHIS and noticed in the 250 gp I was only whooped by two guys, Eric Pritchard and Phil Turkington, I was beat by Parker but only by about 15 feet. Guys behind me included Rob Opiela on the Ossa 250 (not even visible to me I might add).
I think that makes me officially a freakin fast guy

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You had half the straight on me by the finish, nice job. You've got those little 175s moving pretty fast.

So, did you hold off on passing Mary in the 200GP race? It looked like you could've passed her if you wanted to. I imagine it'd be a long ride back if you had, though.

Gaylord told me they had the Ossa on the dyno. It has a whopping 400rpm wide powerband... 8)

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Rob is that you?

Let me have my moment of glory please. You are one of the guys I never thought I'd ever finish ahead of... please don't tell me it was the bike.

But since it probably was... I take heart in the fact that last time at NHIS you were on the Ossa and beat Matt Camelhairy in 250gp... and he killed everyone in 200gp ...which in my warped mine it means I vicariously beat Matt three weeks in the past even though I didn't make that race.... does the logic makes sense?

Give me something to work with please.
JohnnyB

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Ok, sure. It was raining that first weekend, and I wasn't smart enough to slow down.

You're fast, and those honda launch much better that the ossa does. Look forward to dicing with you guys on it.

I'm sending Gaylord some cylinder head specs I have for reshaping RD350 heads to a more modern shape. Says he might get the Avengers heads welded up and machined to actually have a squish band. Might do the same thing to a spare Ossa head.

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That avenger I think may end up being pretty freakin fast when it's all sorted. I don't know enough about Ossa to know if they ever go fast. But then you don't seem to need a fast bike to go faster than most.

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Well, I think Jim's got the avenger for a ride, and I don't need to be in any more races. My knees were hurting at the end of the day. Was in races 4,5,6 and 8,9.

The Ossa... The engine is great, I just need to launch it cleanly on the start. Hard to do when its got NOTHING under 9.5K.

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I know one thing... I told Mary no more Mr. Nice Guy, I'm gonna kick her butt next time. I gotta let her try out my bike... I know mine's making at least 4 hp more than hers. She's also going to have to start paying me to work on her bike.

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Lol. Its difficult to ride agressively in the USCRA, where you know everyone. I do my best to make clean passes, mostly in 1,2,7,8,9... but sometimes I get carried away.

Tex wasn't happy with me after the 350gp race. If I remember what happened, it was a clean pass, but he still wasn't happy. I think we were running side by side through 7,8 and I was on the inside for 9. With five races in a row, its kindof difficult to remember everything. Or maybe its all that sniffing of 2stroke exhaust...

Have this hanging on the wall in my office. Nate, me, and Jason Porter on the CB450:

http://www.buzzsplat.net/images/bowl_group_2.jpg

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I've told Mary to always try to leave about two or three feet in the areas where the fast guys usually go around. During practice I've had some of the fast riders pass me on the inside just after the exit of six where the grass kinds of come to meet you on the left as you go up the hill. I've found if I leave about three feet there that the good riders will slip right through without disturbing their line much.

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Yeah... you might not want to do that. Its up to the faster rider to get around you, which is pretty easy to do if your predictable and stay on YOUR lines. Besides, you can't be fast if you're off the fast lines.

Plus I try to pass lap traffic when it'll cause problems for the people chasing me...

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Mary and I try to run as far up front as possible...not because we want to win that bad...but because we are afraid of the people behind us

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That's always the case. Its the reason why you try to get out of the LRRS Amature class ASAP.

There was one guy on a guzzi last weekend that had the craziest line into T1 that I've ever seen. At the 4 board, he hammered on the brakes and dove to the left. Then he'd run wide in the corner because he started off too far to the left. I almost hit him twice trying to pass him because he was all over the place.

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It's my first time with drum brakes too. came from the cb350 and 550 brakes with race compound pads, I could stand on it coming into turn 3. now my drum is just as you guys have described, it fades off coming into three. I slid the rear a couple times because the front wasn't doing it. I realized I had to start braking a lot earlier there. Johnny is right about it working well through 6, 10, and the chicane after that though. thanks for the tip, I'm going to try braking a little more going into turn 1. guess I shouldn't have drilled so many holes. btw, its a Kawasaki H1 brake, too much for the bike.

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Hmmm, but I don't want to brake for turn1.

Hey, how do you guys make sure that the shoes are hitting the drum at the same time when adjusting them?