Tom Wisken bought an unloved GSXR7/11 two years ago, last year he dipped his toe in to the world of Run What You Brung, having been bitten by the bug, this year he’s running in Straightliners. Over the winter the bike was stripped and rebuilt, but the fiddling isn’t over, the latest modification is a long swing arm to get to grips with. Tom will be updating us with his progress in 2013.
Destination Santa Pod.
We left Peterborough at 8:30am, me, my dad and his best mate Chris Edwards, between them they have over 80 years experience in the biking world, they are also enthusiastic about drag racing, and they are good company, which I need when racing.
Arriving at the Pod the weather was looking up, there was a good mood in the air and the first job of the day was to get the bike out the van and have a brew. Whilst my dad was the making the tea I decide to go sign on, which was a joke it took ages, I wasn’t very happy about this but never mind, I just hope it’s not like that all the time! I left a few quid lighter but with my day’s race number B3.
I went back to my bike and got my leathers on, and headed towards the start line. I was very nervous about how the bike was going to perform with the new 68 inch wheel base, as I have never ridden such a long beast before. I got to the start and straight onto the track with no waiting. I reversed into the water pit and did a big smoky burn out in 2nd gear, as the wheel was spinning I started to pull forward and as I reached the start line I put it in to 1st and got into stage, I didn’t look at who I was up against, because I was focusing on my own run.
The lights went green, the back-end sat down and the bike just screamed all the way to the end of the strip, I was happy with how this went, so I went back round for another try, this time I felt like I was trying too hard and made a right pigs ear of it on my run, on my way back to the start my the bike started to run a bit rough and I could smell petrol, looking down I noticed there was fuel coming out of the breathers from the carbs, so I headed back to the van. My dad came and told me that I my first run was a 10.65 @130 second run was a 10.76 @130 I was happy with that.
I took the tank off the GSXR and started to tinker. I couldn’t really see any problems, just thought it could have been the Pingle fuel tap pumping too much fuel? With help from Chris we put the bike back together and had a brew and a little chat about the bike. I did a few more runs 10.490@130, 10.464@132. I then decided not to do a burnout, just to see what it would do, remember I’m new to this! I launched it and the back wheel just lit up and I didn’t go anywhere, I ran a 10.87 @130. I then tried just a small burn out on the next run, the same thing happened at first, again the wheel spun up instead of me shutting off to get traction the bike found its own traction and shot off like a bullet out of a gun, result was a 10.71@132.
I then opted to do a massive burnout and launch it really hard which did, it really paid off, and I managed to run a 10.37@131. My dad came running over with a big smile on his face, telling me the good news this made me really happy, so I headed back to the track for one more run and ran another 10.38@132. All in all it was an excellent days racing, especially considering the changes I’ve made in wheelbase since I last rode it. It all appears to be heading in the right direction, so far.
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