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dirt vs asphalt!


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I've assembled and tuned a couple of asphalt bikes for local guys. The main things that I found made a difference were gearing, clutch, less timing, slightly less compression, and tire width. There are two schools of thought. Some guys like to set it on kill and charge hard right from the hole so the bike is hanging it's lungs out at the finish. Other guys like to get to leave ok, and then really charge on the big end. IMO, I've seen faster accelerating bikes MPH less but still be faster, and that's how I like to do it. It's worked for me on two bikes I set up for drag guys, as well as my Oval racing set ups.

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I guess this question is geared more toward builders but all input is welcome. Is there a great difference in the porting and setup of a dirt drag as opposed to an asphalt engine? just cylinder and case setup, I know final drive setup is totally different.

 

I started with a purpose built 1/4 mile asphalt quad. No one had a clue, builder's or BHQ member's. Most still don't when it comes to asphalt. Heck maybe I don't either, but have some good numbers to back it up.

 

Anyway, I got called out/challenged to put it on sand for hill drags. While it wasn't the fastest quad, it beat most up the hill on the big holiday weekends.

 

Then somehow, a few BHQ member's got their feathers ruffled; including myself. I was challenge that I couldn't make a 3 second run within my 1st 3 passes on 300' sand/dirt. My 1st pass ever on 300' was a 4.01 & I weighed 230 lbs. 2nd pass, after a few minor adjustments & my lighter Son (180 lbs.) it went 3.92. I had one pass left with me on it to get into the 3s & got it with a 3.99! The bike got faster the more runs we made on 300'.

 

This was all done with the same chassis, motor set-up & transmission we started with for 1/4 mile asphalt. The key items in precedence besides paddle tires; #1, Gearing, #2 the shorter the distance; the more aggressive you can get with the tune-up.

 

The final & most important key is using your brain for your combo. I find it funny how BHQ member's regurgitate info, but have no hands on experience/clues actually doing it. I still don't have a clue, but at least I've done it! 

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I set up both a lil diffrent with portwork n domes. Like STY I'm coming from an asphault background but build quite a few dirt motors. This is just my opinion. If you can get the motor to make peak hp later later in the rpm curve and pull more rpm then your opponent you will run better et's than most and have a good asphault setup. Can you take this setup to dirt yes . My advice would be build something inbetween the dirt-aspault parameters but don't plan on killing both categories.theres also big things like primary drive ratios/clutch tune/timing curves/effective swinger length

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If you can get the motor to make peak hp later later in the rpm curve and pull more rpm then your opponent you will run better et's than most

 

This is a key statement & we use it on most of our race platforms! Learned that trick from a well known old school car engine builder. I've posted the article on BHQ before, it's a great read & can repost if needed.

 

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