I am against hanicapping full stop its bad enough that in superbike there is
249cc extra capacity between v twins and the 750 inline 4's , were the twins
romp home most of the time now the big H is saying if you can't beat em join
em ie the fire storm ( this is what its called in OZ ) so the advantage this
V&H Hardly Ridable has is outragous I say race like with like not apples
with oranges and if Harley can't cut the mustard on equal terms it should
stick to BOTY or have a class just for Harleys as we do in Australia.
Gary in OZ
----- Original Message -----
From: rtmack
Sent: Monday, 11 February 2002 4:40 PM
To: ardunbill@webtv.net
Cc: RTMACK@concentric.net; bigsid@webtv.net; marco; land-speed@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: Vance & Hines "Harley" Twin Pro-Stocker
Bill, all:
I'm not against handicapping per se-- I just think that in this case there
appears to be a huge inequity. 74% more cubes is just too much. OVER A FULL
LITER ADVANTAGE! And I'd like to point-out some other differences between
this
and the AMA handicapping of the '50s & '60s:
ardunbill@webtv.net wrote:
> I'm sure you know this handicapping is an old, old game and it makes a
> lot of sense from several angles. Those of us who go back into the '50s
> and '60s well remember that AMA Class C motorcycle track racing pitted
> the 500cc British pushrod singles and twins(virtually all BSAs and
> Triumphs) against the Harley 750cc flathead twin KR bike. There were a
> lot of reasons:
>
> 1. It was convenient because the racers were based on current
> production bikes. The various factories could develop them to sell to
> credentialed racers in small numbers without much expense or disruption
> internally.
>
Difference #1: in the NHRA Pro-stock case, all these racers are also based
on
production bikes (motors, at least)-- all except the new V & H machine.
>
> 2. It allowed the Harley to shine, which truly did have a world of
> brilliant development put into it both by the factory and several
> outstanding dealer-tuners.
And that helped the sport a lot, because you could get a KR, if you were
willing
to wait. You might could even afford it. Lotsa luck getting your hands on
that
V & H billet-block!
> 3. The whole American motorcycle movement followed the titanic
> struggles with avid interest, and partisan fervor sold both a lot of
> Britbikes and Harleys.
At present, I don't see how all the hype in the world could sell more
rice-burners or (especially) Harleys. They get a pile of money for them, and
they already sell them much faster than they can build them. It seems to me
to
be greed completely untempered by logic, on Harley's part. I can see the
logic
for V & H, of course: Harley's need "aftermarket" help much more than any
other
brand, if you are interested in performance!
> My late friend Roland Pike, who was the BSA Development Engineer from
> '52 to '57 and a road-race star in England for years before that, had a
> ride on a factory Harley KR at Daytona Beach in the mid-'50s, just for
> fun, and he told me the weight, handling and power were fully on a par
> with the DOHC 500cc Manx Norton of the day. And that's saying a lot!
> But BSA and Triumph were building works specials for selected racers at
> the time just like Harley did, that were much better than the production
> racers.
Although I wasn't close to the sport in those years, I have had a little
exposure
to that rivalry. The first ride I was ever offered on a motorcycle (of any
kind!) was a just-built BSA Gold Star set-up for AMA flat track. That was in
1965, and the owner was a fellow army mechanic in my company at Ft. Benning,
Ga.
He must have spent 6 months pay for that bike, and he offered to let me ride
it
the day he got it. What a guy. I had to turn him down because I had never
ridden
a motorcycle, and... 1. I was afraid I might mess-up his pride and joy, and
2.
I had no intention of having my virgin motorcycle experience in front of a
crowd
of onlookers-- if I screwed-up, my ego would never recover! (had to be
bump-started, of course; I had visions of tumping the bike over and falling
on
top of it!)
You know, I can't remember that nice fella's name. But I will never forget
the
way he described his hero (Britbike ace Dick Mann), and how he had been
putting
it on all the Harley guys-- or how he described the joys of racing dirt track,
in
general. Not long afterward, I began finding out for myself.
Best Regards,
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