| Author | Message | ||
     José_Quiñones |
The DCBRAG Battle2Win archive is now back in its "Secure, Undisclosed Location" but featuring MINT copies of Volume 1, Issue 1 and 3. Thanks Court! | ||
| Rick_A |
Well, I have a huge smile on my face hearing about the 200+ mph record. That is simply awesome. I hope you'se guys still have that record come tomorrow!  | ||
| Jvv |
TEAM ELVES................WAY TO GO!!!!  ride safe........Jack | ||
| Ferris |
tick...tick...tick...tick... | ||
| Imonabuss |
Darn, it's too bad Court can't type as fast as he can talk! | ||
| Court |
Okay....bear with me, I'm so wound up I can't stop shakin'. I've talked to everyone and I'll tell you what I am hearing at the moment. Someone, I'll let Pammy decide who, had built a very highly and professionally developed motorcycle for ONE reason....to snare our piece of meat. The bike's been kept in a trailer and, in Aaron's words "actively hidden", kept under a tarp, not pre-entered and not a word said. Fireman Jim Higgins (who will be awarded the FIRST Team Elves Covert Surveillance Medal) happened on the damn thing entirely by accident. This motorcycle has a host of "one off" parts including a dual runner one of a kind fuel injection system. OK.....our Elf-Spy races to the pits and reports to a relaxing (quote again) "kickin' bakc" Aaron, who...had "the engine in a bushel basket from Tech Inspection" at the moment. The sun was already falling in the Western Sky as he began putting the Wes Brown Miracle back together. In Aaron's word's "it had to be done FAST and PERFECT". They go to the line and luck was with the Elves as the official dropped the arbitrary "end of the day" rope on the ass end of the Buell. Team Elves Pilot Extroidinaire Richard Nallin would be the last bike down the course for the day. He could take a time at either Mile 3 or Mile 4. As the engine was fired, suspense once again rared it's ugly head as the NO2 system failed to fire. Aaron (wouldn't you know it) had a spare switch and as Richard screamed placed it on the bike. Off he goes...... At mile 3 Richard sensed the bike was still accelerating so he stayed in it....turns out he did the right thing as he was "only" going 205MPH at that point. Richard has just relayed to me that life doesn't change at 200, it changes above 204MPH. He said the BUELL was "straight as a string and rock steady". He reports his hands were just laying on the bars, but his neck was straining and he feared the strap on his helmet would yield the pull was so strong. Well, Elves, Wes did his thing.....Aaron did his thing and Richard did.... . . . . . . . . . . . . 208.540 as he crossed the 4 mile marker and took his time slip. Aaron tells me he's very confident that the cool morning air will allow them to make the back-up. And, when Richard told me today "Court, I'm pissed. I'm gonna call ya'll tonight and I'll know what the terminal velocity of this motorcycle is" he was right. This is it.....we've found the top. So....I'll leave you with that. I've told Aaron to avoid this board which has turned into a world wide chat room of support and enthusiasm from around the globe, and go eat dinner, relax, get some sleep and get out there, for all of us, and pop the top on the last "can of whoop ass". Quoting Aaron for the last time..."this is the most suspense the high desert's ever seen!" Court | ||
| Edmanning |
GO ELVES, RIP IT RAW!!! AND OUR NAMES ARE ON THE RIDE. YEEHAW! HILLBILLY | ||
| Ferris |
sheesh, he can barely THINK as fast as he talks! | ||
| Ferris |
Team Elves, the Fastest Ass-Kickers in the West! Court, again, thanks for the words, and for letting the boys know we're here pullin' for them. and hey Court, remember when i called you on the phone when you were still in Topeka, a couple months before the first Blue Groove back in '96? dude, i had no idea what kinda ride i was in for -- this is fantastic! FB  | ||
| Imonabuss |
You're forgiven, Court. 208.5, good grief, that's fast! Oh, I'll bet that would be fun to be on. Unless you lifted your head up, that is... Wasn't there some kind of string on one of these pages about the RR fairing being an antique and incapable of getting to 200MPH? | ||
| Rattler |
ABSOLUTELY awesome Elvers.....now this bike of Brian's is making it real interesting. He busted an engine last Sept at the Salt. Kudo's all around to the Team. Dale A. | ||
| Edmanning |
Hell Ferris, I rememeber calling you; and you talking me into buying a Buell in 97. Right after I joined PACBOG and started ridin with our Bro Bantz. The rollercoaster's still on the tracks, Boy can those Bama boys ride! Ed "HillBilly" Manning | ||
| Court |
>>>>Wasn't there some kind of string on one of these pages about the RR fairing being an antique and incapable of getting to 200MPH? If there was, it would be highly inaccurate information. I have, just moments ago, had a talk with a fellow who is quite familiar with the design of the RR and I'll offer up one last quote (paraphrasing as best I can recall) for the evening.."people just have to understand that motorcycles are "sub-sonic" science. If I'd intended it to go 700MPH I would have made it pointy" Court | ||
| Jake |
Congratulations Aaron, Richard & Team Elves - XLent job & it looks like you're not done yet! We knew once Aaron put his mind to breaking 200, that was all she wrote. We'll get there next year, but revel in your accomplishments now. Feels pretty good to be the target of the high-dollar boys, don't it? Best of luck tomorrow! - Art The Sportster List Race Team | ||
| Pilk |
Very emotional time at the Pilkington household right now. The whole family is excited. I so wish we could have done it in Sept. Aaron thank you. Team Elves you (we) ROCK !!!!!! Court, I will meet you in person one day and you will tell Erik what a great thing he has done in my life. (I'll explain in person) Pilk | ||
| Ferris |
Hell Ferris, I rememeber calling you; and you talking me into buying a Buell in 97. in my best Steve Erkel: "Did I do that?" my ride has had it's share of ups and downs, Ed, but it's stuff like this that makes me glad i'm still on-board. GO ELVES! FB | ||
| Eeeeek |
Damn, that's cool. | ||
| Blake |
And from the cagy Cajun's neighbor in East Texas was heard to report... One question, can/will Aaron bump up/down the final drive ratio and recapture the gas record as well. Take no prisoners and all that.  Did the competition (Brian) get in another run this afternoon? What class? How fast? Outstanding effort Aaron! Ask Brian if he will give us a copy of his dyno chart to post online. Only fair eh?  Imonabuss, It's all about Reynold's number ain't it. I'm with you. Participated in that debate. | ||
| Fogcity |
You know, with all the "other chat" I read last week, the excitement, accomplishment and speed I'm reading about now really makes me proud of the bike I ride. Thank you everyone involved. | ||
| Hans |
335.61 kilometer/hour. ! 335.61 km\hr !!! | ||
| Rocketman |
Where are the pic's of the ENEMY ??? Rocket  | ||
| Tripper |
From a basket to 208.5 in an evening. These guys are incredible. Everyone on the 5th floor of the Toronto Hilton just got a wake up call as I stomp around the room jumping up & down. Congratulations again Team Elves! | ||
| Pammy |
Actually, Brian Perkins ia a true motorhead like a lot of us here. I have the utmost respect for him. As I have heard from a few folk...his entry makes things a bit more interesting. Another guy I know at S&S builds some pretty fast shit as well. I can't mention his name though(James S.)If he found out I said anything good about him, he might have a stroke or something. Blake, Aaron did not mention trying to take the gas class. I suppose if Brian doesn't enter the fuel class and cause some grief, it would be possible. I hope they back up the 208.5 with at least a 210....THAT would be the shite! | ||
| Road_Thing |
Congratulations, Aaron! Wish I could have seen it in person! Everybody involved in this project (especially the ones who have actually laid hands on the equipment) should be VERY proud! Adult beverages are on me when we finally meet in real space! r-t | ||
| Smoke |
SUPER HIGH SPEED BUELLERS- ONE MORE TIME, ONLY FASTER!!! TOO COOL. CONGRATULATIONS ALL | ||
| Court |
Good morning and welcome to the Saturday "Team Elves Play by Play". It's 4:30am in West Wendover, UT with light winds at 3mph from the WNW. The air temperature's at 41oF (6oC) and humidity @ 35% as the sun comes up on the Eastern horizon. If we got to choose the weather, we could do no better, as today's Elf-Showdown on The Bonneville Salt Flats approaches. Team Elves, a rag tag group formed on the internet, has over the past 3 years, added a chapter to Land Speed Racing and powerfully illustrated the changing times as they pioneered what can only be termed "global collaboration". Team Elves is made up of enthusiast members from around the world. Team Elves quieted all doubts about first year "Salt Virgins" being over confident when they laid to rest every record they sought to break in their maiden voyage to Bonneville in 2000. By the time the 2001 event ended, they upped each of those records and added another with Susan Wilson scribing a Buell BLAST in the stone tablets of speed. This year, as Elves from 7 countries traveled a combined to/from mileage approaching 250,000 miles, they were met with disappointment as the World of Speed event was cancelled due to poor course conditions at the last moment. Team Elves, in the spirit that took Buell motorcycle company from a pipe dream in a barn to one of the most technically innovative manufacturer of wheeled vehicles, quickly ditched their plans in favor of BBQ (prepared by Steve from Belgium and Paul from Australia), drank beer (specified by the Dutch), wrangled Police Officers from the Netherlands from the grip of the Larimer County Sheriff and pushed their chairs away from the table to watch a dancing British bloke in a skirt. These folks, if they'd done nothing else, have raised the bar in terms of doing anything you do with vigor and passion. Spinning the clock to the present..... The last chance of the year for Team Elves to mount their assault on the elusive (perhaps a weak word in that all prior attempts have concluded it impossible to reach 200MPH @ 1650cc displacement) was the SCTA sanctioned World Finals. Masterful craftsmanship by a tuner known to the world only as "Pammy's husband", in concert with meticulous preparation by Aaron Wilson (arguably joining Erik Buell among the world’s most anal retentive persons who do not own a neck tie) did their magic again as they handed Richard Nallin, in the books as "The World's Fastest Cajun", a perfectly prepared Buell to once again show his gift. Nallin, time and time again, has proven his ability as several of Team Elves gifted engineers in Texas and Colorado crunch a thousand numbers to calculate the fastest theoretical speed the bike can reach and Nallin, apparently lacking an appreciation for their elevated ciphering, goes 7 MPH faster. It takes little time watching this slow talking Cajun to understand he could care less about numbers, he's there for one thing...TO WIN. He’s the perfect surrogate for what Erik Buell would do if he were riding the bike. So, we've got the bike, the tuner, the engine builder, the rider and perfect Salt. Team Elves points themselves at the 157MPH record and rolls a 188MPH first run, backs it up with a 181MPH, which they are still struggling to understand. Next it's Nitrous time as Team Elves takes their first shot at the Golden Ring they came for, to put the Buell S2 Thunderbolt, with Nallin aboard, in the 200MPH Club. As cops in Holland lost sleep and a customer waiting at the counter in a battery shop in Australia was ignored, the paper ticket came out reading 203.128MPH. They'd done it. It was backed up the following morning with a 202.851MPH opposite direction run, yielding an average speed, and a new Land Speed Record of 202.989MPH. Life was good, the pressure was gone, and phone calls and cheering drowned out the crunching of the salt as the Buell was rolled to impound to be torn to bits. The "Elf Intensiometer" dial returned to the safe green range. Sometime later, the bike was returned to Wilson as a rolling chassis and a basket of pieces. It's been prodded, cc'd and had the moto equivalent of a rectal exam and was found to be clean as a baby’s breath. At about that moment, Fireman Jim Higgins, an Elf who has been known, after hours, to have his keen sense of observation dulled, saw something. Out of a trailer that had been carefully kept from the crowds with a mysterious bike, covered and protected from prying eyes at all times, rolled a bike that suspiciously looked like it could be modified with about 19 seconds work to be in the same class as Team Elves' 202.989 record. It was a carefully, and skillfully I admit, planned strategy intended to lure the Elves into simultaneous conditions of complacency and "bike in bucket" status. The Fireman sounded the alarm. If we were dealing with mere mortals, I'd be writing the last paragraph. I learned, neigh on 15 years ago, a lesson about being around ANYTHING Buell that eventually yielded the term ELF. These folks never surrender and always play to win. The stealth folks could never imagine what the Rancher and the Cajun would do next. Wilson's own word's sum it up....."I had one hour to build the fastest PERFECT Buell in the world". The ticking of the clock echoed off the Cliffs of Dover, the Wasatch Mountains and The Great Barrier Reef as Global Elves monitored the situation. The first race was to the starting line. Alongside the Team Elves transporter was the pickup carrying the official who would drop the velvet rope, signifying the last contestant allowed down the course. The rope hit the ass end of the RR-1000 bodywork as Team Elves slipped in. Nallin's run would be the last of the day with an engine whose pistons and connecting rods had been sunbathing less than an hour earlier. The objective: Do everything within our power to create the largest possible gap twinsxt the 191 that S&S had tossed out. Even the best of planning begs a thickening plot . . . as Nallin tested the NO2 system....nothing...nada! Wilson reached in his pocket...this guy is good.....VERY GOOD...and pulled out a spare which, in concert with the judicial application of duct tape, had all systems go in what can be described as "just in time" racing. The Elves were locked and loaded as the signal came. Going 200MPH earns you several things at Bonneville and one of them is the choice of being timed at either the 3rd or 4th mile marker. Nallin felt the Buell accelerating as he passed the 3rd and begin to "bend the stop on the throttle" and he demanded the Buell do everything it could. In a phone call, 30 minutes before the run, Nallin told me "Mr. Canfield, I'm gonna call you in two hours and tell you what the terminal f***** velocity of this thing is". He did, it was 208.540 Miles Per Hour. He'd done it again. Smart Texans and Cagey Coloradanians had calculated the "terminal velocity". They'd multiplied Pi times stuff I can't even pronounce, factored in derivatives and coefficients of everything from friction to drag to fusion and solved for X n and Avragado's number...It took Nallin but 17.27 American seconds to make fools of them and their high powered computers. Well . . . now it’s 5:30 and Richard and Aaron are awake. Today’s Elf Mission is to back up yesterday’s 208+, running in the opposite direction. Thanks to all of you for your support and I’ve kept Richard well informed of your comments and enthusiastic support for him. The next time we decide to take on a Bulletin Board Group Hobby, I’m thinking arts & crafts. Don't touch that dial. . . . Your humble scribe and Team Elves NERVOUS Manager, Court SACBORG DISCLAIMER: Before I get accused of being off my medication again....the "facts" in the above epic novel are true as best I know them at the moment. Details, such as the LAST digit on the 208.54?, are sketchy and I'm getting bits of broken and frequently interrupted conversations from failing batteries on cell phones in LA, UT and WI and speed dialed calls from the desert with a muffled voice inside a helmet. I've exercised court-style "Gonzo Journalism Fact Embellishment" <Thanks to my pal Hunter S.> to fill in gaps....trust me they NEVER put 110psi in the tires of the red shark. I'll clear up details after the dust has settled, but I've spent a good part of the night answering questions and phone calls from around the globe and wanted to have an update here...... | ||
| Road_Thing |
Good morning, Dr. Canfield! You have outdone yourself with that last post, but I must pick one tiny little nit: it's "cajun" with a "u". Short for "Acadian." They're also known as "coonasses". 25 years ago, you could start a fight in New Iberia, La. by using that word (never mind how I know) but now it seems to be acceptable even to coonasses. Click here to learn what a cajun is. Vas y, Richard! r-t | ||
| Court |
Road Thung: As a former STATE SPELLING CHIMP, I do NOT need a Texican telling me how to spell....Bill Gates does it for me! Court | ||
| Ferris |
Well . . . now it’s 5:30 and Richard and Aaron are awake. Today’s Elf Mission is to back up yesterday’s 208+, running in the opposite direction. we're ALL awake, and very tuned in! Court, thanks again for reminding me why i seem to have no other discernable life. Elves, let's roll. Godspeed. FB | ||
| Court |
>>>>>thanks again for reminding me why i seem to have no other discernable life. Yeah...well, I'd have given you all the reasons, but I was limited to a paltry 1,200 words |
