Shoot out on OTIS Reservior,. what a day!!

[Otis RX]

Hello TY Friend's from beautiful OTIS Reservior Mass.
WOW!!!!! I'm not sure where to start, but I'll try from the beginning.
Festivities began as rigs started rolling in about 9:45 this morning.
It's hard for me to remember all the names, so please forgive me if I forget to mention you by name, there were just too many. If you were here you'd understand.
SRXMAGIC & SRXROCKET were one of the first to arrive. There was a nice guy from NY state that also arrived at about the same time. They got the best parking! The rigs just kept coming!! :shock: :shock:
I helped everyone place their rigs and unload. I tried to get to everyone personally to explain that there was one open area on the lake about 1-1/2 mile from where we had set up to race that was unsafe. You know what's coming don't you??
Ya....I missed one that got unloaded and went down to the race area while I was still parking rigs. The early birds picked up on the race area as I had set up a starting line with cones at 660" and 1,000'. They quickly began to informally race. Snowmobilers.....we're all alike !! As I arrived at the entry to the lake , I noticed one of the guys asking where his buddy was!
Long story short.......... the one poor fellow that showed up to "just ride" (didn't care about racing) decided to venture off on his own. He dropped the sled and himself though ice, a spot that had just froze over night. We ended up pulling him out but not a minute too soon! After 2-3 minutes in 35 degree water at 5 degrees, you lose your strength quickly. You think you're going to die there! I had a rope on my sled and ice picks in my pocket. A couple guys helped and we were able to pull him out before things got really bad. We could have lost him! We didn't!!!
We took him (I'll leave the names out) back to my house where we gave him dry clothes, a hot gas stove to warm up by, a hot cup of coffee, and 2 advil for the extreme head ache from the cold water. Unless you've been in water that cold, you have no idea how bad it really is!! He's okay but the sled is sleeping tonight on the bottom of the lake. He's okay so that's really all that matters!! We'll pull the sled from the lake later this coming week. Not a good start to the day!! :?
Before long there was 35-40 sleds there, mostly Yamaha's.
The conditions were perfect with 10" ice (where we were) and 10 degree mercury.
Ride Blue showed up as did Butch Wells. Freddie DID show about 10:15 with the RX-1 that he had been working on yesterday when he posted. Was it loud!! The White Knuckle (hope I got it right) exhaust was way too loud! Good for the lake only, not for the trails. Ride Blue's Bender exhaust was "sweet".
Others showed up from New England Cycle with their Red Rx-1. Many others, with RX-1's and SRX'S as well as a couple of Ski-Doo's. One 800 HO but wasn't studded. :shock: He just spun all over.
Some locals showed up with a T-CAT and an XCR 800 both stock. There was one fully mod SRX there that had so much nut that he had he worked hard to just "hook up". After some minor work he got it hooked up and it screamed. Strictly a drag sled. There was a Polaris Storm with a 1000cc PSI that easily pulled 126 radar. We sent him home!
The meat of the matter............................
We came here to see if the filter kits would prove that they truly made a difference.... in at least mid range. Well......... the jury is still "kinda" out! Sorry!
The only sled with filters that ran well was from New England Cycle. This sled had 240 race chisle studs, geared down, with ??? motor work? It hooked up!! :shock: :lol: No one could catch him in 1,000', but was done by the time he hit 660'.
OTIS RX lost (to other RX-1's) only to this one sled! All others, stock or filtered were handled easily! It was strickly "hook up" and "clutching"!! At 660' I was climbing on N.E.C. quickly. You could see the lower gear!! Filtered or special exhaust, it didn't matter. My stock 03 shorty with Heelclickers and TEAM secondary made it clear that RX-1's (short of major motor work, turbos, superchargeres, NOS) just need "clutching to make them run!! Then, they will still only go so fast!
Now don't get me wrong........RIDE BLUE spent time in the garage and jetted up from 165 to 170's and picked up 4 MPH on top from 109 to 113 on radar.
He was still not running to par against a stock T-CAT (119), XCR800 (118) Stock SRX (114), or OTIS RX (114).
I think it shows that the filter kits may still have real potential. There needs to be more lake work done to "dial" them in to the conditions and altitude.
All in all, the day was fantastic. Everyone was great! Except for the early morning swim, everything went great. We all had a great time.
For some reason the site won't allow me to post pic's.
Thanks to everyone that showed up. We all had a really great time!!
Yamaha guys are the best!! :lol: 8) :lol: 8)
OTIS RX

 

[welterracer]

How did the sled freddie tuned yesturday par up against the other rx-1s..?

How many studs were you running??

 

[RTX Meirda]

Sounds like a great day!!!

Just wondering if you guys marked the distance...1500ft...or 2000ft.

I think that if you reset the speedo when in MPH....and drive until 0.4, I think that is about 2000ft.

Did anyone have a stock air box and install the ECP kit on the same day?

Any rolling start races to eliminate the traction factor?

I also feel that egt's are going to be nessesary to get the proper initial set up.

I am a beleiver in increased air flow....when combined with the right amount of added fuel...the power should be right there.

Thanks for the info.

 

[longshot]

shoot out on Otis reservoir

Dear Otis- Glad to see the day was co-operative weatherwise and that no one got hurt. Also good to see real world testing on aftermarket equipment. Funny, I wonder why the red "mod" rx wouldn't drag you from a rolling start. Must be some kind of gearing in that thing. Also shows you what a "sport" the guy must be. One thing is obvious, sounds like the factory wasn't too far off on the motor of this thing. I'm kind of curious what the 200+ people who spent $200 to go slower think now. Maybe some incantations, a sprinkling of chicken bones and a $200 bottle of snake oil towards an upgrade would fix the problem. It will be interesting to see some of the posts on this as well as some of the explanations. Tx again Otis you're a stand up guy that offered his facilities for the betterment of the group and for that you deserve recognition.

 

[192 Woodys]

OTIS, you had said that there would be a sled with the exact same clutch set up as you but with the kit, did this race take place? If not were there any comparable sleds in this mix? Was Freddies just with the kit and exaust or was the sled clutched. Was his the only one with the filter kit or were there more kits with different clutch set ups available for testing?

 

[1xr]

Guys my real world test of these filters is this, I had to give them alot more fuel than what is sugested. needles raised all the way and jetted at 180 for them to perform. Sleds that I could not even smell before now I can run with or beat.

 

[adirondac blue]

Otis rx not telling all the truth.

Otis forgot to mention that he had half chisels in his sled. There is no doubt that the filter kit sleds will be faster when the little fine tuning is complete.Ride blue let me now how far you are going with jetting.(170, 175, 180.)javascript:emoticon('')
javascript:emoticon('')

 

[OTIS RX-1]

My home phone line went dead last night so I had to reregester this morning from my office computer. I still am OTIS RX .
iI'll try and answer as many as possible, but I need to get out of here for a business appointment.
There were many RX-1 there in various forms of "stock" conditions. meaning clutch and filter work only. I didn't see any known mod MOTOR WORK.
Ad Blue is correct, that I do have 48 Thrusters in addition to 144- 1175 woody golddiggers. No doubt about it. That being said I had the opportunity to do many (at least 8-10) rolling starts from say 30-40 mph that still showed no improvement in the filtered sleds vs stock and clutched only.
As longshot stated the kid riding the N.E.C. sled that killed averyone in an up and up drag from a dead stop, would not entertain a rolling start.
We did not set up 1,500- 2,000 ft as it really didn't seem to matter much.
We had plenty of opportunites too race just out side the drag area for full 1 mile top speed runs. The outcome remained the same!
After talking to some of the other guys that live here on a the lake, it seems that us "lake people" have an unfair "time" advantage to allow for more tuning options vs the standard flatlander that can only tune in his garage or on a stand. A corn field test doesn't cut it when it come to lake races.
Look...... We all had a great time and Freddie really is a stand up guy. He does lots of work for the benefit of the sport and Yamaha riders.
Sunday proved that more work needs to get done.
I'll get back on later, but I must leave for work.
OTIS RX

 

[Ride Blue]

First off I would like to thank Otis RX for a great day.
It turned out to be only a day for testing. Without the use of chisels
there is no way to get a comparison between sleds. Otis Rx sled works
very well in these conditions. He is running half chisels and half trail
studs and hooks very well. What I found was that I was running a
little lean. With 165 jets I could only post 109 on the gun. Changed
to 175s and went 113 which was a good speed considering that I
am geared down one tooth to 23-38. The gains from the ECP kit
can not be realized on ice without the use of chisels. This kit makes
a lot of midrange power that just goes up in smoke on the ice. I also
got to test a Team secondary that I got from bender and just to let
you all know I have my stock secondary back on with bender helix
and spring as it crushed the Team. Stock secondary setup 96 in
1000 ft, Team 90 in 1000 ft. Top end seemed to be the same but
no comparison in acceleration. Again, Thanks to Otis Rx we had a
great day.

RB

 

[welterracer]

First off I would like to thank Otis RX for a great day.
It turned out to be only a day for testing. Without the use of chisels
there is no way to get a comparison between sleds. Otis Rx sled works
very well in these conditions. He is running half chisels and half trail
studs and hooks very well. What I found was that I was running a
little lean. With 165 jets I could only post 109 on the gun. Changed
to 175s and went 113 which was a good speed considering that I
am geared down one tooth to 23-38. The gains from the ECP kit
can not be realized on ice without the use of chisels. This kit makes
a lot of midrange power that just goes up in smoke on the ice. I also
got to test a Team secondary that I got from bender and just to let
you all know I have my stock secondary back on with bender helix
and spring as it crushed the Team. Stock secondary setup 96 in
1000 ft, Team 90 in 1000 ft. Top end seemed to be the same but
no comparison in acceleration. Again, Thanks to Otis Rx we had a
great day.

RB

How did you know it was running lean?? I too have the 165 jets and am not getting the top speed is should!

 

[Ride Blue]

Welterracer, It just felt flat after 1000 ft so I gave it a shot with the
175s and it woke right up. 170s may be a little closer but I did not
feel like do any more work on the sled.

RB

 

[Ted Jannetty]

Thank you Otis RX for a fun day at the lake.
I and my son Teddy came out with my 04 Warrior one of only 2 that I saw. the other one was new with just 40 or 50 miles on it.
I had the chance to test Matt from the speed shop clutch kit, will talk about this another time after I get to talk to Matt.
I am running the ECP filter kit, and Heavy Hitters with 168 1.325 Mega bite trail studs, this is 3 per row on a Warrior long track, took the clutch kit off.

Drag racing sleds on hard ice with trail studs is not a very good comparison, and even makes it very hard to clutch properly.

If you spin the clutch upshifts and bogs the engine, so going from a roll may be the only fair comparison.

This is shown by the Dave Barnums Red RX1 This thing left like a rocket, 240 chisels leaving at 7000 rpm, Very hard to catch even if you have alot more power, His performance is a tribute to his dedication to snowmoble racing, I have had the honor of knowing this Generous man about 6 years.

I beleive my Warrior performed very well given the conditions, In between the very troublesome Bog I experienced which I think after talking to Ride Blue may be the TORS JUNK.

One pass the sled ran perfect, the next it would just about shut off when going to full throttle. :x :x

We are happy to report in between bogs, that we did see the highest mph on our speedo 122 previously to the filter kit 113.
I am sure that some of this is conditions and clutch changes that I made.

Either way 9 mph is a lot to gain.

One more thing I am running 170 mains due to the testing we did on Saturday at ECP.

 

[SUPERTUNER]

OtisRX...thanks so much for allowing us access to the lake. We are all very grateful to have a nice guy like you willing to do this.

My take on the whole thing:

I said this at the lake and will say it again here...you can't go to a gun fight with a knife! I was under the impression everyone had trail sleds. Dragrace chisels tooth studs definately work!!! My friend Dave Burnham's red RX1 with an air kit was absolutely, positively the quickest and fastest sled there...bar none...for the intended use of the sled's setup which was dragracing. Dave is a seasoned veteran of Drag racing and knows what it takes to get down the other end and he did it better than anyone else Sunday in Otis Massachusets. Absolutely no denying this...bar none!

Alan Gragnani (Ride Blue) was the fastest RX1 there on the radar. I watched the radar gun real, real close and the purported stock RX1's went around 107 MPH top speed on the radar, but the elapsed time it took to get to this top speed was a lot longer than the air kit equipped RX1's. RB's sled reached 110-111 MPH and then slowly climbed to 113 in the last part of the radar run. The other purportedly stock sleds needed every bit of the full radar run length to go 107 MPH as the radar gun would just squeek to 107 as the rider(s) were passing the gun...RB was at 113 MPH well before the radar gun. I would say that RB was reaching peak speed probably 600-700 feet sooner. This means his elapsed time to reach peak is quicker. And this is exactly what the dyno shows when adding the air kit. I never claimed of major HP gains at peak. Every one I have jad the luxury of predynoing then after dynoing shows a 4-9 HP gain at peak. But the midrange absolutely slays the stock airbox in terms of the amount of time itr takes to get to peak. The dyno graph states exactly what we are seeing out in the field.

Once again, I would like to thank OtisRX for his hospitality...do you think next time we could have a pig roast too? :lol:

 

[192 Woodys]

I think this " testing" is comparing apples to oranges in trying to find out the performance gains of Freddies kit. Unless you used the same sled with and without the kit for a base wasn't this just a weekend lake race with some sleds having the kit and some not?

 

[Mighty]

I agree 192 woodys.