2013 - Speed Weekend, Orsa, S
The almost inglorious previous history:
Friends of quick and cold pleasures will remember with a shiver our little outing to the central Sweden village of Orsa in long obsolete 2012. There we had ventured, home-brewed spike tires and a modified Sportster by the name of "Big Boar" in tow, just to find out that we had drilled 200 holes for the spikes more or less in vain. Even at a very early phase of acceleration the Boar started to wobble most alarmingly, and our flat track proven ice rider had to abort the speed trials lest someone might have been hurt.
The Orsa adventure ended glorious anyhow: we got to know Tom and John from Denmark, who took us along to Bonneville, where they carved racing history into the Salt Flats (Check our archive if you want to know more).
Orsa reloaded, or rather respiked.
The Orsa dishonour smoldered on below the ashes.Tirewise this time we got hold of the good advice of Jens Krüper, who, in the middle of nowhere runs his shop NCCR, where he wrenches Harleys and other useful vehicles and has a ton of experience with ice racing.
So first thing we went to Delsbo (incidentally the place where Flathead Power was founded, yep, right here in Sweden) to pick up a set of serious snow/spike tires for the Boar. The tires feeling great, we packed up again and were on our way to Orsa, Jens and his crew tagging behind, having locked their shop for the weekend. Spontaneous Swedes!
Four hours later it is deja vu on the frozen lake. We unload the stuff, set up camp, have the bike inspected. We get the #590 and are approved to race. We melt away the mountain of time that separates us from the first run around our BBQ with eating, drinking Wrecking Brew and talking ice, power curves and lubricants.
At last, Friday. 9:50, the flame is on,
9:55 the coffee goes down the gullet, 10:00 it’s drivers’ briefing on the track. Start at 11:00. The first run is here at last. The marshal waves us clear, first gear, the spikes bite into the ice, the acceleration is good. 2nd, 3rd, feeling good. The Boar prances grunting over the ice, content and happy. Shift up to 4th, going strong. Perfect!
From a distance, a frozen lake looks like the ideal track – no bumps, no holes. But, the reality is different. When we watched others go down the track we were kinda puzzled by the engines periodically over-revving. Out there, we quickly find out what’s happening. The surface is undulating to the point that vehicles just lose traction as they partially lift off. Plus, the spikes are following every crack, track or step in the ice. Trust your bike in moments like this, keep open that throttle, keep your eye on the part of the track where you want to be and hope for the best.
Our plan is to see a top speed of 200kph on the ice. From run to run we build up that trust in the bike that lets us keep her open for longer. 167kph is all we can manage for the day though. The light is fading and we decide to do a little maintenance on the bike. After 7 runs a little attention surely won’t go amiss. When draining the primary case – there were odd noises before – we see evil stuff in the oil. Holy magnetic drain plug, what’s that? Right, off with that primary cover, pull that clutch and Bingo! Some of the alternator magnets have vibrated loose and got stuck between rotor and stator. What the … Magnets are much overrated. We decide to rely on the battery to power the ignition. On the plus side we now have a couple of horses more to go to the rear wheel instead of being turned into heat (and some amps) in the alternator.
Another BBQ. Another night filled with talk about power, traction, wind and bumpy ice.
Saturday morning. It is colder now, the ice is harder,
which is good. But the wind is stronger today, that’s bad. Which is irrelevant for the placings, because everybody has the same trouble, but a problem when you are looking for top speed. The first three runs are disappointing. The bike has enough power, but the crosswind keeps pushing us off the track and forces us to close the throttle. On the 4th run we keep all the way to the right. This time, not only the bike lifts off the track, the rider too loses contact to the seat. This feels fast! And what do you know, the speedo shows 203kph! Yay! Once the eyes are again focused on the track, the wind has pushed us all the way to the left. Under full power there is now way of getting straight again, so we reluctantly close the throttle. Not bad though.
All saturday we try to get to that point again, but nothing doing. So we decide to concentrate on the timed kilometer - If we can average above 170kph, there is a chance of getting onto the podium. A final 169,491 kph gets us 2nd place in the 6A class for naturally aspirated bikes over 1000cc. Mission completed.
Orsa was loads of fun again, we improved considerably compared to last year, we met a bunch of really friendly people and we are happy with the results. After everybody has gone home, we get onto the ice again and play around a little, before in a couple of weeks the lake will be liquid and us riding on spikeless tires again.