Lagavulin

The bike:
http://www.yamaha-motor.com/products...cy&cid=5&mid=6

Specs:
http://www.yzf-r1forum.com/specs.html

We were on our way back from Road America late Sunday afternoon licking our wounds as us Wisconsin 928 guys had a rough weekend. 928 #1: Tim Murphy and Jim Page, 928 #2: Hacker Pschorr, 928 #3: myself and Z.

Saturday morning on the way to Road America, the 26 psi Red S4 finally blew a head gasket on cylinder 4. Sunday on the way to Road America, Tim contracted a weeping head gasket at 14psi trying to unsuccessfully pull away from me. During the race, Jean-Louis was driving fabulously and crunched the passenger side in the ‘Kink’ after the car ahead of him went off and on the track dragging debris onto the track; JL ‘slowly’ drifted through the dirt at 110-120 mph finally hitting the wall.

*EDIT*
The car ahead of Jean-Louis blew an engine, and it was an oil slick and off-road debris that he encountered on the track.

We were in the middle of nowhere in rural Wisconsin without another car in sight when we came across a pack of about 10 Harley Davidson’s 2 abreast in the right lane. Tim slowly passes in the left lane and is finally out in front of them as does Hacker Pschorr, when I notice at this point the lead bike on the outside squirts ahead and matches speed with Tim.

I jab Z and say, ‘Crap, that guy wants to race Tim!’ It then becomes apparent the bike isn’t a Harley as it’s blue, full fairing, a huge rear tire, and a single large exhaust sweeping upward on the right side of the bike. I’m thinking to myself, oh man, I hope Tim doesn’t try to race him with his bruised head gasket.

I was clueless as to what was going to happen until I see Hacker Pschorr’s hand come out of the driver’s window waving me forward. I’m thinking, oh man, do I have to race this guy?

Next I see Tim’s hand come out his window waving me forward! I’m thinking, ‘Holy ****, I have to race this guy!’

In the meantime, Tim slows up so he can get behind the bike in the right lane so that I can move to the front in the left lane and stage, but the bike slows down too and matches Tim’s speed as he thinks Tim is getting ready and staging for the start.

As I squeeze by Tim, I double clutch from 5th to 4th, and 4th to 3rd matching my revs to my speed, and am now spinning around 4k RPM, right in the sweet spot. I get in front of Tim, and the bike catches on to what's happening and squirts up to the passenger door; Z has a front row seat!

We settle in at around 60 mph and I lean forward to look at the bike and rider, and the rider is crouched forward with his left hand off the bars and behind his back. I was thinking at the time he was doing that for aerodynamics.

I see the bike jump, I nail the throttle, and we’re off!

Out of my peripheral vision, I can’t see the bike. I keep my eyes on the road and tach, and pull a clean shift at 6.4k RPM. With the shift complete, I look for the bike and it wasn’t until I looked in the rearview mirror when I finally found him quite a way back; smoked him! I notice he has two huge headlights which appear slanted somehow.

I slam on my Porterfield R4-S brakes and haul it down to 55 mph; good thing Z has his seatbelt on. I wait and see if he wants more. After about 4 whole seconds, I see his headlights bob up and he sprints towards me very fast. I’m wondering whether if he’s going to fly right by me, but he slams on the brakes, settles in, and matches speed with me. I double clutch it down to 3rd again. I did not know it at the time, but all the 928’s and bikes did the same too to watch 'Round 2 of the SuperCar/SuperBike Showdown'.

Again I lean over to look at the bike and rider, and this time he’s crouched and has both hands on the bars. He looks over at me and then ahead, I see the bike jump, and it’s on again.

I nail the throttle, and the car is pulling like you can’t even believe. However, this time around, it’s a bit different.

The bike is hanging with me as he’s at my front tire. Then all of a sudden, he’s gone!

What the?!

He dropped back during his upshift! I see him creeping up again and he makes it to the middle of Z’s door, and he disappears again! Finally I see him again and he only makes it to the rear of the door and he’s gone for good as I see him now in the rearview mirror; I glance at the speedo and we’re going 150+.

I slam on the brakes, roll down the window, and repeatedly pump a thumbs-up out the window. I look in the rearview mirror, and the rider proceeds to do a power-wheelie; that boy is downright incredible!

I must be honest and state that I was not expecting that outcome, and neither did the rider as he originally thought he could beat me with 'one arm tied behind his back'.

So now we have an idea of just how fast a MURF 928 SuperShark is; WOW!!!

I’ve got 4 witnesses and a whole pack of bikers who saw the whole thing, but I hope I *NEVER!* do something like that again.

But what a rush!

Lizard928

I know the feeling man, I went up against a 600cc crotchrocket, and he pulled slightly ahead of me till 140kmph then I pulled away from him and once we hit 220 I owned him

Jadz928

Great story Lag! Impressive.

Sorry to read about the wounds n woes... esp for JL. Will he be able to salvage his racer?

Lizard,
What vehicle were you using to race the bike?

Lizard928

an 86.5 928S, Vin after 1000

hacker-pschorr

One part he forgot to mention was the rest of the "biker gang" changing lanes and trying to get between Tim and I to watch.

About the Tim vs Lagavulin contest. Nothing short of a Ferrari F1 car sounds as incredible as being 2-3 car lengths behind these two guys at 55mph when they drop the hammer. Ever see the into to Top Gun when they launch the F-14's? Its a lot like that.

Tim Murphy

Lag, I'm glad you were there to stick up for me when that big, bad, super bike was picking on me.

It was absolutely beautiful!!!

We'll be talking about this one for a long time.

SharkFan

Damn, sounds like it would have been a helluva day to have that in car video camera setup.....

Sorry to hear about the gasket problems. I am trying to recall from the previous post on this, but did the 26psi car or you Tim have an upgraded head gasket or were they both stock?

Z

I've got to say it was a pretty unique experience to be able to see a bike like that, just to my right on the other side of the window, doing it's absolute best, and loosing ground. I would have loved to hear the conversation with him and his buddies later on.

He's not sure yet, but it's definitely bent.

Z

Both cars had the stock Porsche 928 head gaskets. The goal was to keep as much stock Porsche 928 stuff as possible, and basically experiment to see how things go at higher boost levels. The only non stock 928 parts in the 26psi car's engine are a set of stock Porsche 944 turbo pistons. It looks like the problem may have been at least somewhat related to a problem with the inherent design of the stock fuel delivery system on the engine. A fix for that is already in the works, as well as probably a much stronger head sealing method for on that 26 psi car. Once that's finished, and the fuel delivery system modification has been shown to be sucessful, more boost?

Gregg K

TWENTY SIX PSI ?!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WTF?
I thought you'd blow pistons thru the oil pan at pressures like that.

SharkFan

Thanks for the info Z. I'm sure you guys will get things worked out. I will be looking forward to see Tim work out that 85-86 MY intercooler issue. My wife has been bugging me to visit her parents in Franklin, WI and I am stalling in hopes that there will be reason that I would want to go as well. LOL

Tim Murphy

I just talked to the 26 psi guy and I don't think this guy ever sleeps. Some really innovated things are already in the works. The cylinder that had the problem is the farthest one for the fuel to get to and it had detonation which blew out the head gasket. More to come later. (I'm glad I'm not the only one trying to figure this stuff out)

Z

Nope. The stock S4 rods, crank, heads, head bolts, and stock 944 turbo pistons seem to be pretty happy after a while of 26psi boost. Even the stock 928 head gaskets didn't have a problem the whole time the engine was at 21psi.

There have been a couple of ideas kicked around that I think will put some smiles on the faces of those 85-86 owners that are thinking about supercharging.

George 911-V8

Tim sounds like you need marcus from california to get you straight. They claim he has the baddest 928 blower car in the country hands down thats according to the california crew.

George

Tim Murphy

George,
I've talked to Marcus a few times over the years, great guy.
Still waiting to see the tell all dyno sheet. That will tell who's the baddest in the land. No offense to Marcus but I'm guessing he hasn't beat the 525 number yet or we would have heard.