Highest Speeds on Sidewinder/Thundercat

[Fleecer]

Well boys, as I write this, sledding has been over in Maine for two weeks. The season started mid January, and ended at the end of February. Not only was this the shortest season I can remember, but the riding was less than stellar.

Due to work, the short season, and lack of good conditions, I was unable to do any conducive testing in an effort to reach my goal. For years, that goal has been simple......to own a 150 mph trail sled. What constitutes a "trail sled" is very subjective and could be argued for years, which IS NOT the purpose of this post! As this is a personal goal.....here are the parameters that I set for myself.

I wanted a trail sled capable of a 1000 mile saddlebag trip, run on pump gas, have full warranty, provide a comfortable ride, and still click off 150 mph when conditions permit. This needed to be done with a stock motor, stock turbo, factory clutches, and a simple off the shelf tune with associated hardware.

Over the last 6 years, what started as a simple goal metamorphosed into an obsession. Those in my circle that know me well, can attest to the sleepless nights I endured and the piles of parts I've tested over the years. When asked, "Hey Fleece, you been riding? ". My answer has always been, " I don't ride, I test.".

As luck would have it, for some reason I was awake yesterday morning at 3 AM. I thought....geez if there was snow outside, I'd get up and go riding, but unfortunately, that isn't an option. As I lay there, I remembered seeing a post on Space book earlier in the week, where some friends I camp with were riding on the lake. With no other options, I decided to haul my sled out there and do some riding.

I made my way down to the garage and proceeded to prep my sled. I pulled out my ram air that I built, which has an exterior 6 inch bellmouth intake and put it on the bench. Next, I grabbed the remote to my hoist and was gonna jack the sled up to suck in the limiter straps for more efficiency and speed but stopped myself and thought, "Wait a minute....I don't trail ride this machine with a ram air hanging out the front, I don't trail ride it with the limiter straps tucked in, or the skid squatted, or the front tied down. How I trail ride it, is how it sits. To make any changes, would sway from the original goal I set for myself years ago.". So.....I didn't touch it, I left the gears I ran in it all winter, I left the skid the same, the clutching, the skis...everything. I put 5 gallons of 93 octane in the tank, added 2 ounces of boostane for safety, loaded the sled in my trailer and headed out.

I arrived at the lake and was content with the conditions. It was all white with small patches of ice here and there from the thaw the day before. Although there were some small bumps and ripples, it was hard as rock and safe to run speed. Biggest issue was cooling, and I had to ride with scratchers down all the time.

As luck would have it, 5 minutes out, my O2 sensor decided to quit and the AFRs went into failsafe mode at 8.0. I disabled the CL, put the FPR at 45 lbs and continued searching for a good spot. After about 30 miles of searching, I found a large cove that was smooth enough, turned around and fed the winder a full can of beans. After the run,the sled was thoroughly heat soaked and I struggled to get temps down below 200 degrees.

Once temps were in check, I dug out both GPS' and they both read 149 mph.......I was pissed.....still 1 mph short. I checked everything over and noted that at idle, the FPR gage was only reading 43 lbs of pressure. I thought, how can that be, I just set it at 45?? Maybe the gage is off or fluctuating? I took my tools out and added 3 more pounds, setting it at 46 lbs.

Although the stretch I utilized was good, there were some small ripples/bumps that I would have wished didn't exist. I did some more riding and headed further down the lake in hopes of finding a smoother area, but to no avail. I turned around and as I headed back, my fuel light came on. I thought, "Holy crap, I'm still 9 miles away from the pickup and I'm low on fuel. I've got one pull left, before I spend another year short of my goal.". As I approached the initial area, I thought, "Man....I hate to beat my sled like this, but I'm holding it WFO, and I ain't letting go till the Speedo stops climbing!!!".

I fed the winder another can of beans and let it eat! After a little bit of cool down......I stopped and pulled both GPS' out of my pocket. As soon as I turned them over, I heard the voices of 10,000 angels SCREAMING at the top of their lungs, " HALLELUJAH!!!!" Both GPS' read 150mph!!!! By golly....I did it!!

So let's recap:
1. Stock motor, stock piston, stock rods, stock valves/springs, stock cams, stock head studs, stock head gasket. The engine is virgin and never had a wrench on it.
2. Stock turbo, stock wheel, stock housing, virgin untouched turbo.
3. Yamaha clutches: Primary is off a viper and was machined for overdrive by TSP. Secondary is original factory roller with Yamaha straight 35 helix.
4. 1 inch snow track.
5. Muffler: TD 3 inch intimidator

Other numbers worth mentioning: As soon as I let off the throttle, I immediately looked at my Razorback Belt Temp gage. The highest it went was 168 degrees fahrenheit. Once loaded up and home I looked over the clutches. They were nice and clean with zero evidence of discoloration or slip. I was pretty happy about that.

In looking over the datalog of the run I noted the following: When I grabbed full throttle I was rolling approximately 60 mph. From there, it took me 13 seconds to hit 150 mph. Once at 150 mph, I held it there for an additional 11 seconds, for a total of 24 seconds wot. In that 24 second timeframe I had 0 knock, and zero timing retard. Kudos to TD for making tunes that rock.

Most on this forum are much, much smarter than I.......and even utilizing the parameters stated above, will go much faster than I have. Please send me a PM when you do, I'd love to hear from you and converse about the challenges and frustrations.

 

[DennyTuna]

Just wow Fleecer, well done! Can't even imagine going that fast, I start getting scared once over the century mark.

 

[Turboflash]

Well boys, as I write this, sledding has been over in Maine for two weeks. The season started mid January, and ended at the end of February. Not only was this the shortest season I can remember, but the riding was less than stellar.

Due to work, the short season, and lack of good conditions, I was unable to do any conducive testing in an effort to reach my goal. For years, that goal has been simple......to own a 150 mph trail sled. What constitutes a "trail sled" is very subjective and could be argued for years, which IS NOT the purpose of this post! As this is a personal goal.....here are the parameters that I set for myself.

I wanted a trail sled capable of a 1000 mile saddlebag trip, run on pump gas, have full warranty, provide a comfortable ride, and still click off 150 mph when conditions permit. This needed to be done with a stock motor, stock turbo, factory clutches, and a simple off the shelf tune with associated hardware.

Over the last 6 years, what started as a simple goal metamorphosed into an obsession. Those in my circle that know me well, can attest to the sleepless nights I endured and the piles of parts I've tested over the years. When asked, "Hey Fleece, you been riding? ". My answer has always been, " I don't ride, I test.".

As luck would have it, for some reason I was awake yesterday morning at 3 AM. I thought....geez if there was snow outside, I'd get up and go riding, but unfortunately, that isn't an option. As I lay there, I remembered seeing a post on Space book earlier in the week, where some friends I camp with were riding on the lake. With no other options, I decided to haul my sled out there and do some riding.

I made my way down to the garage and proceeded to prep my sled. I pulled out my ram air that I built, which has an exterior 6 inch bellmouth intake and put it on the bench. Next, I grabbed the remote to my hoist and was gonna jack the sled up to suck in the limiter straps for more efficiency and speed but stopped myself and thought, "Wait a minute....I don't trail ride this machine with a ram air hanging out the front, I don't trail ride it with the limiter straps tucked in, or the skid squatted, or the front tied down. How I trail ride it, is how it sits. To make any changes, would sway from the original goal I set for myself years ago.". So.....I didn't touch it, I left the gears I ran in it all winter, I left the skid the same, the clutching, the skis...everything. I put 5 gallons of 93 octane in the tank, added 2 ounces of boostane for safety, loaded the sled in my trailer and headed out.

I arrived at the lake and was content with the conditions. It was all white with small patches of ice here and there from the thaw the day before. Although there were some small bumps and ripples, it was hard as rock and safe to run speed. Biggest issue was cooling, and I had to ride with scratchers down all the time.

As luck would have it, 5 minutes out, my O2 sensor decided to quit and the AFRs went into failsafe mode at 8.0. I disabled the CL, put the FPR at 45 lbs and continued searching for a good spot. After about 30 miles of searching, I found a large cove that was smooth enough, turned around and fed the winder a full can of beans. After the run,the sled was thoroughly heat soaked and I struggled to get temps down below 200 degrees.

Once temps were in check, I dug out both GPS' and they both read 149 mph.......I was pissed.....still 1 mph short. I checked everything over and noted that at idle, the FPR gage was only reading 43 lbs of pressure. I thought, how can that be, I just set it at 45?? Maybe the gage is off or fluctuating? I took my tools out and added 3 more pounds, setting it at 46 lbs.

Although the stretch I utilized was good, there were some small ripples/bumps that I would have wished didn't exist. I did some more riding and headed further down the lake in hopes of finding a smoother area, but to no avail. I turned around and as I headed back, my fuel light came on. I thought, "Holy crap, I'm still 9 miles away from the pickup and I'm low on fuel. I've got one pull left, before I spend another year short of my goal.". As I approached the initial area, I thought, "Man....I hate to beat my sled like this, but I'm holding it WFO, and I ain't letting go till the Speedo stops climbing!!!".

I fed fed the winder another can of beans and let it eat! After a little bit of cool down......I stopped and pulled both GPS' out of my pocket. As soon as I turned them over, I heard the voices of 10,000 angels SCREAMMING at the top of their lungs. " HALLELUJAH!!!! Both GPS' read 150mph!!!! By golly....I did it!!

So let's recap:
1. Stock motor, stock piston, stock rods, stock valves/springs, stock cans, stock head studs, stock head gasket. The engine is virgin and never had a wrench on it.
2. Stock turbo, stock wheel, stock housing, virgin untouched turbo.
3. Yamaha clutches: Primary is off a viper and was machined for overdrive by TSP. Secondary is original factory roller with Yamaha straight 35 helix.

Other numbers worth mentioning: As soon as I let off the throttle, I immediately looked at my Razorback Belt Temp gage. The highest it went was 168 degrees fahrenheit. Once loaded up and home I looked over the clutches. They were nice a clean with zero evidence of discoloration or slip. I was pretty happy about that.

In looking over the datalog of the run I noted the following: When I grabbed full throttle I was rolling approximately 60 mph. From there, it took me 13 seconds to hit 150 mph. Once at 150 mph, I held it there for an additional 11 seconds, for a total of 24 seconds wot. In that 24 second timeframe I had 0 knock, and zero timing retard. Kudos to TD for making tunes that rock.

Most on this forum are much, much smarter than I.......and even utilizing the parameters stated above, will go much faster than I have. Please send me a PM, I love to hear from you and converse about the challenges and frustrations.

What track/studs?
What was highest coolant temp?
Congrats!! That's a major accomplishment!

 

[Motorhead]

Yep, that's cranking WOT for an extended period, and takes some shut down time at that speed. I'm very envious of both, having a spot to do that at and having a set up that will do that! Didn't get a chance to make it to the county this year because of the super short season we got dealt with, but yeah we usually find many spots to TEST the extended WOT experience. Crazy extra speed with a 1" on ice with your gearing and other implements. Congrats!!

Did you mean stock muffler when you said "Stock Can"?

 

[Fleecer]

What track/studs?
What was highest coolant temp?
Congrats!! That's a major accomplishment!

1 inch snow track with 116 studs.

Iats were in the 160s when done.

Coolant temp hit 178.

 

[jonlafon1]

Very impressive. Lots of work/ testing to get to this. Guessing the gears are LARGE for those numbers. Congrats.

 

[Fleecer]

Yep, that's cranking WOT for an extended period, and takes some shut down time at that speed. I'm very envious of both, having a spot to do that at and having a set up that will do that! Didn't get a chance to make it to the county this year because of the super short season we got dealt with, but yeah we usually find many spots to TEST the extended WOT experience. Crazy extra speed with a 1" on ice with your gearing and other implements. Congrats!!

Did you mean stock muffler when you said "Stock Can"?

Stock cams

Muffler was TD 3 Inch Intimidator

 

[Motorhead]

Stock cams

Muffler was TD 3 Inch Intimidator

Yes I may need a new set of reading glasses! Old 2 stroke days, calling mufflers cans!

 

[Fleecer]

Yep, that's cranking WOT for an extended period, and takes some shut down time at that speed. I'm very envious of both, having a spot to do that at and having a set up that will do that! Didn't get a chance to make it to the county this year because of the super short season we got dealt with, but yeah we usually find many spots to TEST the extended WOT experience. Crazy extra speed with a 1" on ice with your gearing and other implements. Congrats!!

Did you mean stock muffler when you said "Stock Can"?

Next time you're in Aroostook County, look me up, maybe we can grab a beer?

 

[Motorhead]

Next time you're in Aroostook County, look me up, maybe we can grab a beer?

Sure thing Fleecer. Always enjoy the County rides in late March when many have called it quits, and the trails are a bit icy because of the warmer days, and still very cold nights which make for what I call, bullet proof trails! I only got 8 rides in this year trailering an hour or so from home, so many of us are in a state of disbelief or denial!

 

[sideshowBob]

Great job!
What tune are you running and whose header?

 

[Fleecer]

All Turbo Dynamics.

 

[justinator]

Mark my words.........he gets 150mph before winters over.

I am just quoting myself for a friendly reminder of who believed in you and offered emotional support during your journey to earning the crown……unbelievable work to become the “King”. Well deserved!

 

[KnappAttack]

Way to go Glenn! You have that thing cranking for sure and I know the time and effort you have put into doing that.

Imagine if you had a Doo dreameter on there what it would have said on there.....

 

[Hammer70]

Wow that’s awesome you put the work in that definitely shows your going to get a lot of pms now good job.