The McLean Racing team competes in the ACU 8.50 and 9.50 championships and is made up of father and son John McLean Snr and Jnr. I’ve been Facebook friends with John McLean Jnr for a couple of years, and I’ve watched him muscle up the quarter at Santa Pod dozens of times. Somehow though, I’ve never met him in person, as by the time I’ve run to the pits, he’s disappeared back into the pairing lanes for another attempt at a perfect run!
Luckily he was kind enough to answer my questions, and I’ll make sure to buy him a drink next time I visit Santa Pod.
Here’s a video of him in action at the Summer Nationals Qualifying, running an 8.64 at 132mph.
What do you do when not drag racing?
Machine/Crane Operator.
What are the best bikes you have owned?
My current Suzuki GSXR1100, my Ex South African Superbike Suzuki TL1000S, Aprilia RS125 and Suzuki RF600/750R
When did the drag strip addiction begin and what were you riding?
I was on my 93 Suzuki RF600R road bike at a RWYB for my 18th birthday when i first got on the strip, but drag racing has been present in my life since I was around 5 years old as my dad used to bring us to events at Santa Pod so the seed was sewn then.
Current best time and speed and what’s the aim for the future?
My current best time was set when my GSXR was still my road bike, 8.82 @ 155mph, But although ive only done 2 full passes under power on the new and improved race only bike, I’ve already gone 8.84 @ 157mph and that was with a spin up off the line, looking back at the previous run, if it had hooked up it would have been somewhere in the high 8.50’s/early 8.60 area….. and we’ve not even set the chassis up yet.
Plans for the future is to develop it to run in the 7.90’s with the setup we have, but as for other plans, we don’t know, we could put a bigger motor in it and try Superstreet Bike or Comp bike, but I’ve also got another project starting soon which could be used in either SSB or comp bike as well. I’d like to try ProStock bike or Funny Bike though, but that’s a distant dream at the minute…
There has been a lot of advances in drag bikes over the last few years, what single factor do you feel has given the most noticeable gains?
It’s hard to pinpoint really, and it depends on what class as well, but for the street bike classes, I would say the most noticeable factor would be down to chassis tech and understanding weight distribution, but also understanding power control and what the chassis can handle at a certain point without it becoming unridable. This is something I really concentrated on the most when building the current bike.
The big one, without giving too much away, can we have a quick spec on the bike itself? Estimated power, frame, suspension, etc?
There really isn’t a lot to my bike, motor wise, Compression hiked to 14:1, 81mm MTC pistons, Carillo Rods, Flowed head, stock crank, stock gearbox, stock valves, APE H/Duty valve springs, Stock cams. Mikuni RS38 carbs, Warpspeed Racing exhaust system, Dyna 2000, NX Nitrous system. Estimated power I’d say is around 165bhp+ at the wheel plus up to 200hp nitrous if we need it. It’s currently at 80hp but I’ll end up using 200hp at some point.
Chassis wise, shortened gsxr1000 forks, Warpspeed Racing 4130cr swingarm, Custom built Nitron track shock, Stock frame, home-built subframe, WSR front subframe, Marchesini M5 Magnesium WSB wheels. And it really is as basic as that, although I still plan to develop the chassis further and modify the frame some more.
In no more than 10 words, explain what the perfect run feels like
Smooth, controlled, and slower than you think.
Want to keep up with McLean Racing this season? Well, if you really can’t wait for us to do a follow-up, then show your support by heading over to their Facebook page and giving it a good Liking. https://www.facebook.com/McLeanRacing
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