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World's worst kept secret at this point, this past weekend I through intelligence to the wind and raced with MotoAmerica at Circuit of the Americas in Texas. This series of bad decisions started back before the Classic as a haha funny idea that it'd be a riot to try and race a SuperHooligan event... at the classic I talked to a few current racers running the series and the itch turned into a proper drive, with a small sense of urgency as the rumor mill was saying this would be the last MA event at COTA so if I could, that would be the event to hit.
To pull this off I'd need a legal bike, I'd need a license, and I'd need a plan to get there, do the thing, and get home. If you only care about the racing, skip to the next post.
The bike I initially thought would be the 'easy part'. I joked about converting my Pan America, but that idea had already been shut down when I bought the bike last year, my wife was NOT amused with the idea that our two up machine would suddenly get absconded with for nefarious other uses so it was out. Reviewing the rules, going into the 'American Air-Cooled Twins' subclass eliminated a whole list of restrictions and requirements, no need to worry about minimum weights, no concerns about any unexpected engine mods being illegal, the rules for this class basically boil down to "Make it safe, come play." So, converting an HD Big Twin is a level of lift that I'm not interested in, that basically leaves Sportsters and Buells... I knew of one already converted, heavily built Sportster that would absolutely decimate the class, but it wasn't available, so I instead decided to chase down a former race Buell with the idea that the cheapest way to build a bike is buy one already built and Buells were already in 'sportbike-y' form out of the crate so, easy, right? Turns out... there aren't that many still kicking around in race trim, I did locate one locally but it turned out to need WAY more work to bring back to life than was going to be possible in the rapidly shrinking time window I had. So, wanting seat time sooner rather than later, I opted to find a street bike, and went with a 2008 XB12XT 'Ulysses Tour'. The 08's were the last revision of the Buell engine with an improved crank and oil pump system, the Ulysses Tour having the Lightning Long chassis and swingarm which has more 'traditional' geometry other than being an inch taller and ultimately, there are a TON of these bikes in New England so finding a used example for a reasonable price without having to have it shipped was possible.
The build was going to be simple - Do the bare minimum to make the bike go around a track safely as per MotoAmerica rules, and wherever possible make all changes reversible so I could revert to street setup and resell if possible after. My new machine also came with a few issues to sort, it felt like the steering stem bearings were notchy, the front brake had classic Buell judder, and as I discovered on my first proper street ride it would shut down on moderate throttle once warm. I also needed to source a bellypan 'cause I'm not a fabricator and couldn't find a used one anywhere. What I thought were bad steering stem bearings was actually a rear tire that was near flat, correct pressures and it was good. A fuel pump rebuild (what a PITA, I *HATE* the design) and replacement ECU later, the bike ran reliably. The front brake fought me, caliper and master were shockingly clean, like, if it wasn't for a worn pad pin I'd have sworn they were new, the master's insides were still shiny like it had never seen brake fluid. The rotor was an aftermarket EBC, the mount system to the wheel is goofy, I was pretty certain the rotor was warped but decided to rework the mounts to 'float' the rotor to see if that would help. TLDR a trashed rotor is trashed, this didn't work. I did my NYST with this juddery mess, it likely contributed to my ooopise... Factory pegs were LOW which made for a comfy bike but no good for the track. I rushed to NYST with the bike in OEM trim on Shinko 705 dual sport tires to get seat time and feel it out, rode over my head and dumped the bike there on my third session trying to push. The good - the bike felt WAY better than it had any right to on original suspension and those tires, the bad I broke a peg bracket and cracked the front headlight bracket.
Ok, bike has potential, but now I *need* parts and again not much time. Turns out a bike that went out of production in 2010 is hard to find OEM parts for, oddly though this American brand has a MASSIVE following in Europe? I ended up getting most new parts from Sweeden, Greece and Italy. Back in the day Woodcraft made rearsets for XBs, they've long since run out of stock and without a major revival in demand aren't doing another run so... the one option available is Chinese copies so I held my nose and ordered a set. They're... well... the machining is good, the design is based on a good thought, the execution is bad. Just, not usable in my opinion. I had to plan B and get OEM Firebolt brackets (Two sets, first arrived bent, fixed with my press, who knew you could bend cast aluminum?!) plus Chinese straight 'race' pegs, a lot more epoxy than I should admit rebuilt the headlight bracket. I tried a couple different Renthal bars and opted for slight rise with the 1in riser blocks mostly 'cause I couldn't force the stock Ulysses cables/lines to work well any lower. Ergos are cramped, switching the bike from feeling like a heavy wide supermoto with no ground clearance to a heavy, wide CRF70 with ALL the ground clearance, but it all worked reliably. Suspension never got touched, it's what shipped in 2008, seals, oil and all. At NYST turning a slow pace it felt good so? The bike had a Drummer SS muffler and K&N filter, so that was the extent of performance mods it'd get, I sourced a used STM slipper clutch 'cause I've never learned proper downshifting and was terrified of blowing a downshift and either dumping or over-revving and wrecking the motor. I did put a new aftermarket clutch pack in as they are notorious for eating them when raced and a slipper just makes that worse. I ordered a belly pan from Airtech who quoted 4 to 8 weeks, with 8 weeks meaning I'd get it the week I had to leave for Texas, and one from Italy. The one from Italy arrived in 2 weeks, still don't have one from Airtech... Lights were stripped off the bike, along with the awesome sourced from Germany for Buell luggage, and that was the entire 'build', never even got a chance to swap tires so it was going to Texas on Shinkos.
Never got a second chance to do a track day before racing, so my 'race' bike got a short test ride around Waterboro with no lights... don't tell anyone!
On the licensing front, for MotoAmerica I needed to show my prior sprint racing history as I never renewed my NEMRR license, so a hand cramping amount of prior results transcribing later I got that paperwork filed and it went through without issue. During this process I had a contact at MotoAmerica and a contact at Roland Sands who runs the SuperHooligans series, they were both AWESOME to deal with. At no time did I ever encounter anything resembling push-back or friction anywhere in either org. Everyone wants to see people participate, when there were potential issues or friction points they were all about trying to figure things out to keep things progressing. This extended to my interactions with staff and officials at the track, and really everyone at COTA. The SH side of the house in particular really goes for a 'have fun first' feel, the point of the class is we're doing things wrong on purpose, enjoy and embrace the goofiness that causes.
Now, MA on the other hand is a professional series that answers to the FIM plus a TON of sponsors, so some things have to be taken more serious. I needed team uniforms with specific branding, though as a SH rider they really just wanted to see an effort made instead of holding me to the same standards as say Eckstar Suzuki. I initially started the process of ordering shirts online only to get told AFTER committing payment that "Oh, yeah, we can't actually do what you want..." The good news is they didn't push back when I canceled that order, I got bailed out by the local graphics shop who made me WAY better shirts in half the time for less money. TLDR shop local. The paperwork to specify my pit area needs is more than a year's race entries club racing for example... Again, MA was awesome to deal with through the process.
I booked my hotel in Texas about a month ahead of time to get a better rate, spent over a week in Austin and never got to see much of the city, bah.
I held off on putting in my entry for COTA, hotel, shirts etc until I was confident I'd be able to have the bike legal and viable, which meant I was close to the MA deadline for the event and sweating getting my shirts, bellypan, etc, the lack of which would have meant a lot of wasted money with no race. I spent the last two months in a hurry up and panic wait firefight mode, stress levels pretty high. To add to it, I found out about two weeks before I was to be on the road that we'd be going through some drastic changes at work... so much for being able to sleep for awhile.
While panic prepping the bike and 'team' I also had to improve my trailer setup. My test trip to NYST resulted in my generator tipping over and dumping oil and gas everywhere so I had to R&R the generator, clean out the trailer and get the gas smell out, and figure out better ways to transport things. I also had to R&R my airconditioner as mudwasps had moved into the fan causing it to try and shake itself apart when I first tested it. Had to R&R many marker lights, still have one fender light that isn't happy but whatever... much test fitting, adding d-rings and straps later, I was able to fit things in and secure them mostly. Had to get an EZ UP, needed a rear stand that'd work on the Buell, needed a way to keep my fridge/etc running while my generator was running warmers on hot pit, needed a scanner as per MA rules to hear announcements, for the past couple of months a lot of things were just put on the CC without doing the math to just get it done.
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Originally Posted by Pookie
