Highest Speeds on Sidewinder/Thundercat

[stone88]

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 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 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 when you do, I'd love to hear from you and converse about the challenges and frustrations.

Would love to see this on a dragy thats a little to fast for a pump gas tune in that distance but hey what do I know.

 

[justinator]

Would love to see this on a dragy thats a little to fast for a pump gas tune in that distance but hey what do I know.

What distance are you referring to? He squeezed it and held it as long as it took to hit full speed. This wasnt a predetermined length……..just a wide open run till the sled hit its full speed.

 

[stone88]

What distance are you referring to? He squeezed it and held it as long as it took to hit full speed. This wasnt a predetermined length……..just a wide open run till the sled hit its full speed.

Referring to 13 seconds to hit 150 then another 11 seconds at wot. T

 

[Fleecer]

Would love to see this on a dragy thats a little to fast for a pump gas tune in that distance but hey what do I know.

With all due respect, I can attest I did not run any race fuel and here's how I know......because I don't own any.

Do you run Turbo Dynamics tuning? PM your phone number, maybe I can help get your sled to to run.

 

[DMCTurbo]

Would love to see this on a dragy thats a little to fast for a pump gas tune in that distance but hey what do I know.

It took 13 seconds after he went full throttle Ernie. He went full throttle at 60mph. Proud to call Glen my friend. I've had many late nights talking setups with Glen. Knowing the work he puts in, the chassis setup, the little things that nobody thinks of, the clutching, the magical gears... Congrats Glen! Very happy for you!

 

[stone88]

With all due respect, I can attest I did not run any race fuel and here's how I know......because I don't own any.

Do you run Turbo Dynamics tuning? PM your phone number, maybe I can help get your sled to to run.

I never accused you of running race fuel just a unstudded track going 60-150 in 13 seconds is far fetched at pump gas levels even if your cheating the boost up over 22# that's all I'm saying the minions will believe anything I don't and that's why I rarely ever post just becomes a pissing match that I have no time for. Enjoy

 

[DennyTuna]

that's all I'm saying the minions will believe anything I don't and that's why I rarely ever post just becomes a pissing match

I can see why! Just saying....

 

[Simplespeed]

Congratulations, now thats a feat that deserves everyones respect and to do it with a stock motor built by Yamaha and you to never gave up you are the Man period… its not often that I read something as impressive as this achievement and I can only appreciate the work that was done to finally get there… Enjoy your success you certainly earned it ….

 

[Hammer70]

I never accused you of running race fuel just a unstudded track going 60-150 in 13 seconds is far fetched at pump gas levels even if your cheating the boost up over 22# that's all I'm saying the minions will believe anything I don't and that's why I rarely ever post just becomes a pissing match that I have no time for. Enjoy

I believe him and I’m not a minion just saying looks like he did his homework.

 

[Slow998]

I can tell you that sled is fast. Mine isn’t the fastest sled at around 140mph gps and fleecer blows doors off. We don’t call him the king around here for nothing

 

[sideshowBob]

There will always be skeptics on any performance claims that were not achieved at sanctioned and witnessed events and so it should be. I have not done radar runs since the early 90s but at the power level and performance level my sled is at I do believe that if I were to concentrate on achieving terminal velocity it would be a very impressive number and my sled is no where near the hp levels a lot of the 998 people are running. My sled with a 1.75" track and trail setup will run well in excess of GPS 120mph in almost any conditions so I can see how guys like DMCturbo and Fleecer are hitting these astronomical numbers.
Bottom line...these 998s are freaking fast and even faster in the hands of the masters.

 

[Slow998]

Fleecer, you forgot to post the pictures.

 

[Fleecer]

Fleecer, you forgot to post the pictures

Oh..... I thought I did. Thank you and thank you to all on this forum for the kind words and support over the years.

 

[markt111]

Amazing accomplishment Fleecer!! I ride Maine too, the Moosehead area, I would love to see this in action. Best I have seen is 128 on my trail sled across the lake then I let off, I do not have it set up for top speed nor do I intend too. It's quite a handful at near 130.

If you don't mind me asking what do you do for work? Are you an engineer? It seems you have the focus, diligence and knowledge that most don't to dial in a machine for a goal such as this.

 

[Simplespeed]

I never accused you of running race fuel just a unstudded track going 60-150 in 13 seconds is far fetched at pump gas levels even if your cheating the boost up over 22# that's all I'm saying the minions will believe anything I don't and that's why I rarely ever post just becomes a pissing match that I have no time for. Enjoy

Sometimes in life we hear and read things that are in some cases unbelievable and you have every right to your opinion… I have followed this site for more years than I care to admit.. I can tell you that when Fleecer tells you something you can count on it to be true.. He has nothing to gain by any of his claims other than sharing a goal he reached… This is no reason for a pissing match and hope you understand… I for one know what he accomplished is possible and if its possible its more than likely true….