Navigation Menu
RG Racers: Juha Tanila
A wildly creative fellow with a red beard, doing crazy stuff out in the frozen wilderness. That about covers it.
After building his one-off, 90 degree, stroked RG550 screamer, Juha did what one does in these situations and took it drag racing.
Here's a clip from the dragstrip:
From his notes:
60' 1.869
330' 4.723
627' 6.758
660' 6.963 sec, 177,45 km/h (110.9 mph)
1000' 8,912
1220' 10,083
1/4 mile 10.597 213,53 km/h (133.4 mph)
second eighth 3.63 seconds, gained 22.6 mph
"It was cold & wet so getting of the line without wheelspin was just abaut impossible. I also had terrible problems with shifting, looks like I have to do something about my worn gear linkage, also the lever was somewhat hidden inside the fairings.
Oh yeah bike has swingarm extensions making it about 7 cm longer.
Mr. Kynkäänniemi had 1,5xx if not even 1,4xx 60 ft times, I believe his record was 10,2 something. I already teased him will he start racing again if I break his record :)
I weighted the bike for 157 kg with fuel etc after the race. I started building new racer. Fairings on my bike could easily go over inline 6 six and are rather heavy too, I have some old RGV fairings I will try on. At the same time I get to ditch parts not needed while racing. Most of all, clean up wires etc, maybe then the bike will be serviceable again..
Funny thing that it is finally somewhat ready. I remember when I raced it 2000-2002 and races then had index for different bikes. 2-strokes 401-600cc so I thought I'd add 100cc to engine, get some more hp and still keep the same index. My oldest daughter was born on the same year I sold one RG and engine of the racer with it. She was 7 when I first fired up the engine and blew it instantly. She was 10 when I first raced the bike and it ran like shit. Now she turns 13 in few months.. Stroking the cranks and 90 degree firing was the stupidest idea ever. But I guess the saying is true, if you bang your head into a wall long enough it will break. The wall.."
Editor's note! My bike (The Delta) is not set up for drag racing, but I do have acceleration data on it. My best uncorrected 1/4 mile is
60' time 1.82 seconds ( I know, I know)
0-60 3.56 seconds
1/8 mile 7.32 @ 110.4 mph
1/4 mile 10.905 @ 137.2 mph
at 1200’ altitude, 89 degrees F, 75% RH, 29.90 “ hg pressure
So, Juha has me covered by 0.308 seconds, PLUS he had to deal with a wet track. Maybe we can tighten this up a little bit in 2019, although I have a feeling his bike will go even faster and quicker than before. 8-) The Delta has been detuned slightly on this build, so I'm not sure I can match that performance. We'll see!
Randy Norian -mailto:rg500delta@mac.com