The forecast was for rain :(
The rain radar looked good though, so we headed for the track with the
KillaCycle safely tucked up inside Athol's
Stud Racing rig.
Once the rain cleared Bill and the team bought the KillaCycle out for everyone to see. A few people who knew what the KillaCycle was came over to have a chat while the bike was prepared, but most of the big crowd wandered by.
Just before lunch the weather and the track had dried up enough for us to give the thumbs up to the track officials. Athol made sure Scotty was primed for the Meremere track and everything was ready to go.
Sadly just as Scotty was about to do the run the rain started again! Bill called the run off as it is not safe to run any bike even with the slightest amount of rain on the track. The bike was taken back to the gazebo to keep it dry.
Now that the crowd knew about the bike, we started to get a bit more interest. The message was out!
After lunch the weather cleared again and we planned to do a burnout at the very least and if the rain held out to do a run as well. Luck was on our side this time.
Being the first ever run for Scotty and the Bike at Meremere, Bill had setup the Zilla (the controller on the bike that feeds power to the motors) to provide a little over half what it is capable of. The end result a 12 sec run. Nothing world beating, but everything was still in one peace and Scotty had a feel for the track now (he wanted more power from Bill!).
Back to the pits to top things up and wind up the power a little more (Bill pushed it up to about 80%).
The 2nd run was faster out of the hole, but one of the motors gave up and spat out some plasma half track. Not a good sign, the run was clocked at 10 sec.
Back at the pits you could smell the dead motor. Bill had been running new high voltage motors for the first time so it was a bit of a learning experience here (not as good as he hoped for). The afternoon was getting late, so not enough time left in the day to change the motors so the decision was made to pack up.
The 4 and Rotary Nationals was fun and the young crowd seemed to appreciate what the KillaCycle is all about. Just a pity it didn't reach its potential on the day.
The good news is that the bike is now all fitted out with the good old tried and tested motors (the same style as used for the record setting 7.8 sec run in the US). We head to Nelson today, so expect to see the 10 sec time set at Meremere beaten by quite a margin on Saturday!
The KillaCycle team arrives, unpacking...
Tom and Bill getting things ready. Charge those batteries :)
Wet that tire
Scotty - Just warming it up
"Launch"
Caning it!
