| Author | Message | ||
     Hans |
I dunno, but PPiA would have been an hour on his plane now at flight 1247 from Chicago arriving at Salt City scheduled at 7.38 estimated at 7.31 but the flight status tells me NOT departed.  Hans | ||
| Bluzm2 |
Damn post office! We got back from the salt too late. Po is closed. Will have to check first thing in the AM. Peter is here, still waiting for Josh. Choptop, Choppop and the super modcel arrived as did Snail, Roc and a bunch of others. Sorry for the short note, I'm late for um, ahh, er,, I'm late for dinner! Yeah, that's it, I'm late for dinner in the bar! More soon! Brad | ||
| Dbird29 |
Stopped by the Team Elves rig at the Salt Flats today. Looked like everyone was having fun! Met Henrick(?) from AUS, saw Paul and the Suziki 1000. The RR ran once while I was there. Bought a shirt and hat, very nice. What a beautiful day! DBird | ||
| Essjay |
made it home after a long ride from the salt. essjay shane and macy | ||
| Snail |
We're home. What a marvelous adventure. My top speed of 179.3 was two mph off the record for one class, and three mph on another. More later, I have some salt to deal with. Fantastic group! Paul | ||
| Rocketman |
Sorry I couldn't make the 'Shoot Out at the Colorado Corral' this year guys. I heard a rumour the locals fucked off salt racing so I decided to stay home, go figure?  Rocket  | ||
| Paulinoz |
FMJ and Paul In Oz in Cali got home OK. What a twenty four hours. Starts with getting into the 150 club on the RRS2 race bike ( Thanks a heap Aaron for the chance to ride such a machine) Then I go canyon carving on XB12R trying to keep up with a Fireman who still thinks he is on the salt but with turns thrown in for good measure. Funny at the dealer I get a lecture about how powerfull the XB12 is and be carefull, didnt tell him that the last bike I rode had 160 at the rear wheel. That was a scary bike to think about riding, the actual riding was a hoot.( What a motor) I wish to Publically thank all those who kicked in and helped with the food prepartion at the salt you were great, you know who you are and I blow you a big kiss even Steve P Te Grill man. Without all these people I would not have been able to do what I did THANKYOU VERY MUCH. To the rest of you good to see you all and will catch you all later. | ||
| Firemanjim |
Got in late last night and spent most of day unpacking and de-salting EVERYTHING. What a great time!! First,a BIG thank you to all of those that helped out with this effort at the salt,Philly and Jen acted as my personal drivers and pit crew as we were getting 3 bikes and riders back and forth from pits to starting line--great job. Tom McCarroll for saving me all that time by picking up James at the SLC airport--cuz I was bustin' butt getting through tech(can you believe a 50cc bike MUST have steel valve stems so they don't rip under extreme speeds?) And everybody else--thanks!!!! Race report: first day I got Henrik and James down to line,Henrik was piloting my E-bay Turbo Seca and James the Derbi.Henrik went 111 on an open record,so off to impound.James first run was 61 --12 under the record,so back to pits. Then we got my bike down there,took off and ran real strong through 3rd and then died off--back to pits.Changed gearing on Derbi and found bad electric fuel pump on Buell.Auto parts store closed for the night and not open at 0700 as they said. Henrik backed up his run with a 108,so into the record books for MPS 750 F.So we changed classes and took James down to the line. Philly got me a fuel pump from the parts store. I told James to just run down the Salt easy to get the feel and he blasts out a 125mph run.Off to impound. Derbi goes again and runs 60,then 59,as we change gearing and carb AGAIN.Finally give up after 4 runs with no gain. James backs up his run with another at 123,a record in the book. Fuel pump in and the Buell is back down to the line for the last runs of the day.I baby it and we go 167 on a 122 record--off to impound. Down to Monday morning--last day of meet.I give it some more go and run 173,(had to get off throttle 2 times because it started to get slappy)so a record in that class.I change from fuel to gas and go again--more steering dampner dialed in and run straight as an arrow at 177.7,YEE-HAA!!!!Run back and get in line for back-up run.I got out in the middle where the cars slop things up and had a couple of more slappers so only went 175--but another record!!So we came away with 4 records on the 2 turbo bikes. (Mind you,I bought that Turbo Seca on E-Bay fro 700 dollars and the most expensive prep was the fall off kill switch,made an exhaust dump,and bagged 2 records,could have had 2 more but no time.)A real good time,gonna go faster next year,,Oh,did I mention I now have my B license so I can go long course and ride over 175!!!! | ||
| Josh_ |
FMJ, Congrats on the speeds, it's good to see that beautiful bike go as fast as it looks! | ||
| Peter |
Oh,did I mention I now have my B license so I can go long course and ride over 175!!!! Ditto  I'm back in Tappo's office at Schiphol airport. Still got a 100 mile ride to home and bed. A HUGE thank you to Aaron for letting me ride his M2, and the race bike, to get into the 150 club, and also my 175mph license. Will write more later.... I'm going home. | ||
| Phillyblast |
>>Oh,did I mention I now have my B license so I can go long course and ride over 175!!!! dare I say it - 2 club a goal for next year? | ||
| Aaron |
Well, the trailer is unloaded, the salt is washed off of everything (man what a mess!), and SteveP is on his way to Knoxville. Today I tear down the bikes and evaluate the possibility of a return trip to the salt next month. Y'know, a year and a half ago when we made the decision to broaden the Team Elves effort, never in my wildest dreams did I imagine it would come out this good. It was amazing to see a 200 foot long Team Elves camp with numerous race bikes and 130/150 club bikes of all brands. And it was absolutely priceless to see the faces of people like the German family after setting two records, FMJ after he got his arms around the issues and start knocking off records, Snail having the time of his life reaching for 175 and then 180, Peter making the 150 club, PaulinOz making the 150 club, several folks making the 130 club or having the time of their lives trying, etc etc. Very, very satisfying to me to see this transformation of the team actually happen and happen tremendously successfully. Common comment heard in the camp: "this stuff is harder than it looks!" Comment from a USFRA official: "You're with Team Elves? You guys are our best customer!" Actually I heard a number of positive comments about us from officials. They seemed genuinely appreciative that we were there in force, and they seemed to be enjoying having us as much as we enjoyed being there. We really ought to make up an appreciation plaque for those folks, they put on a hell of a great event. They understand what it's all about. Not that I dislike the other sanctioning body, mind you, but the USFRA folks just approach it from a whole different perspective, one that makes the event much more fun and makes us WANT to do right by them. As far as my own personal effort at this year's event, we certainly have some good things we can point to (the M2 and S1), as well as some disappointments (the RR). The disappointments though seem so insignificant that they just don't bother me in the slightest. Besides, even though we didn't achieve the goals we set out for the RR, we did get some tremendous success from it, as Peter and I got our "B" licenses on it, Paul made the 150 club with it, and all three of us had big smiles after running it. And I think I had an epiphany of sorts: Record tallies are not the only measure of success! In fact, many other things are much more important. I have a whole new perspective on this stuff. What happened with the RR? Well, we went with some unproven things, including some one-off prototype stuff. It looked GREAT on the dyno. But when we got it out there in the real world, some of it gave us some trouble. That's how you learn I guess. In any event, I'll be tearing it down today and evaluating what I can do in a month's time. If the damage isn't too bad, I may be backing out some of the new stuff and going back to proven things and drag it out there again. The M2 by comparison was flawless. I put a 1250 kit and a set of XB heads on this bike last spring. I've never split the cases on this bike, hell, I've never even had the engine out of the frame. I've ridden it all summer, it's a hoot to ride around on with 120+hp on tap. Preparation for Bonneville consisted of taking off the mirrors and putting numbers on the side. Peter and Paul flogged it on the salt and after a slight gearing changed ran as fast as 153mph! I'll put the mirrors back on it today and it's back to being a street bike. The heads on this bike are what we're digitizing for the CNC machine, anyone can buy an exact duplicate of this set of heads from us. Susan's S1 proved that it has the right stuff, too. The goal was the 166.590 mph 1350cc M-PG record. It takes a SERIOUS race motor to go that fast at 1350cc with no fairing, and we built one. We decided to run it in the M-PF class first to get the tuning dialed in while running against a softer record. Well, the bike ran 167, and we set the M-PF record at 166.9, so we knew the M-PG record was within reach. But the performance of the bike started degrading and we were getting oil out the breathers. Something was going wrong. In hindsight, we should've gone straight for the M-PG record. But it's always easy to talk about what you should've done. We'll be back. edited by aaron on September 24, 2003 | ||
| Choptop |
Thanks a TON to all that helped out with the Team Elves effort. The overwhelming feeling in on our ride home was how we couldnt do it without all the support. Going it alone would be VERY difficult. Plus, having everyone there to share it with makes it MUCH more fun. BIG thanks to Aaron and crew for all the work that goes into Team Elves, and again to everyone involved. Pics to come soon. | ||
| Phillyblast |
"this stuff is harder than it looks!" That may be the biggest understatement of the year. Man, I knew in theory it was hard, and I know from experience building cars for various stuff, drags to demo derbies, just how much work goes into racing of any kind, but LSR is hard. I'm so proud to be able to say I contributed in some small way. Even the guys that ran on open or "soft" records were waaaay serious. FMJ ran 170+ on a 123 record - he passed on a qualifier in the mid 120s just because there was a lot more in the bike. He might have broken a soft record, but he sure didn't set one! Like Ray German said to me a couple of times this weekend - sure, it was an open record, and people are going to go after it in the future now that it's set, but he wanted to make sure whoever does has to spend some money to get there. No one is going to look at his nearly 100 mph with a hack and say that's a "soft" record. Me, I've found a couple of open records that I'd like to shoot at, but I'm only going to try if I can do it all the way.} Aaron, good idea on the plaque. Let me know I'm up for contributing to it. Philly | ||
| Court |
>>>We really ought to make up an appreciation plaque for those folks. Totally doable deal....and certainly justified. These folks fall right in line with WHY we went....FUN. The "harder than it looks" harks back to all the "Salt Virgins" barbs we endured the first year. The Year that Ellen and Co. dubbed Team Elves "the best organized team to ever arrive at the salt". The records are on the mantle, the Guzzi folks silent, the friends made for life and the beautiful music that flows when lots of talented folks each play their instrument well. And....by the way KILLER TUNING! I think the las couple years performances have evolved as the benchmark standards for V-Twin performance. Congratulations to all.... Court | ||
| Essjay |
Here is a couple shots from the long cut we took through central oregon on the way home. Needless to say it was a gas. shane   edited by essjay on September 24, 2003 | ||
| Newfie_buell |
Congratulations to all, But I have one question? What do you use to wash the salt completely off the bikes? Up here in the winter we use salt as ice control on the roads and it gets into everything and makes a big mess of vehicles. Some days I swear you can hear the salt eating away at the metal like a grub eating a nice green leaf. Congratulations once again. | ||
| Josh_ |
Salt-Away Team Sponsor. Or just buy lots of margarita mix and throw a party. edited by josh_ on September 24, 2003 | ||
| Rex |
I agree with the plaque. count me in, and let me know what it will cost. I know that Woz , Jack, and Fireman Jim would probably be in for it too....and in fact, Woz was trying to recruit everyone to attend the banquet. Tickets are fairly cheap to salt lake from northern cal. we could all wear our team elves shirts, etc. Next year. I was too busted up this year to ride. I could have, but it wouldn't have been too smart....so I will wait till next year...130 club for sure, and who knows...the 150 is next, and I need to get one of those record books to start looking for a category to run......REX | ||
| Snail |
Hmmmm...Oct.? Now if I just slam and strecth that Gix, and pop the 38t rear sprock. on there...Oct.? Hmmm, no, no way could I possibly make the finals. Wouldn't take long, I have my B license, all I'd have to do is: 1. load bike and haul it to Bonneville 2. smash record 3. return home with trophy Paul | ||
| Phillyblast |
As promised here's TinyTot on her first "motorcycle" ride.  | ||
| Firemanjim |
Just dropped Paul in Oz in Vallejo off at the Ferry Terminal for a ride to San Francisco.Chaffeured him there in the fire engine.We had a great time here.Yesterday we cleaned salt off of everthing,went to Vallejo Buell and took an XB12R for a nice long test ride,went and watched James and friends at the skate park,had a nice dinner out and then slept like logs.Now he's on the first leg home. | ||
| Gwcrim |
Aaron admitted: "In hindsight, we should've gone straight for the M-PG record." Man Aaron. With your track record of success, I'm surprised that you didn't go for the big enchilada off the bat. I hate the fact that Carl still owns that one. Go back next month and wipe him out. Congrats to all the Elves for having a successful trip to the worst place on the planet other than the Middle East. Bummers for Dale for showing up with 10 extra ponies but finding lousy conditions. Bummers for me as Whiplash eked out a tenth or two on my remaining record. Oh well.... it's still in the "Team" hands. ~Crim~ | ||
| Josh_ |
>Bummers for me as Whiplash eked out a tenth or two on my remaining record. Ah, was that you? I heard him saying something about "slowpoke didn't show up" Hey did ya hear? Someone told me Sportsters are girls bikes, so I sold mine to my mom. Josh  | ||
| Bluzm2 |
Josh, I need the pics from your camara! I forgot to pull them before you left. Email me or call me! Everyone else.. Man, what a great time! I am in total awe of the effort put forth by all participants. I cannot thank everyone enough for their support and company during this past week. I'm already plotting for next year. Special thanks to Aaron and Susan for letting us crash at their place on Tuesday night. A special huge thanks to Aaron and Brian Nallin for the dyno tweeks to my M2. Without them I wouldn't have made it into the 130 Club. My goal was to make the 130 Club on my own bike. Because of you two talented wizards, I am now the envy of the office. A big thanks to Richard Nallin and others for the secret riding tips to eek out the last 3/4 MPH that I needed. It was a very genuine pleasure to finally meet everyone in person. I can say without exception that all attendees are some of the finest folks I have ever meet. Way too many to thank personally as I'd for sure leave someone important out. I arrived home last night around 7:00, then spent the next 1 1/2 hrs unpacking and washing salt. As Aaron said earlier, it gets EVERYWHERE!!!! I can't wait until next year to get everything all salty again! WaaHooo! The clock is ticking!!!!!! Brad | ||
| Fssnoc2501 |
Yo all you Team Elves Fans, This is also in the general discussion board. I finally got home today after 2500+ miles ans (2) records. This stuff IS NOT as easy as it looks. I came here with two goals that was to set two open records and to set the bar high enough that someone trying to beat me had to spend some cash to beat me. I think I achieved this, but it took alot out of me and several other folks. With this I feel that I should thank some people who helped along the way. First, is Aaron Wilson, who spent many hours prepping my bike to achieve this effort. Brian Nallin, whose expertise at head porting was great along with his brother (Richard) gave me great advise on the proper way to go down the salt. Then there is my sponsors, Nallin Racing, J&M Machine shop, TDS Customs, Powersposts Alley, Team Evles, and all of you on the Bad Weather Bikers. Then there was the food crew which included Paul from Oz, my mom Barbara German, and many others that I can't remember. The pitcrew of Dick German (my dad) and Anastasia German (my daughter). Snail & I voted and decided that we had the best looking pitcrews because of our daughters. The support I got from Paul form Oz, Paul, Peter, Henrick, Philly, Josh, Tami, Art, Aaron, Richard, Steve, Susan, My family, ans so many others that I forgot that it is too long to list. The sporster list folks were wonderful also. This was a wonderful experience, please do not think that it was easy, but it was wonderful none the less. BTW: I backed up the first Team Elves record, but that was just from the luck of the draw not skill. Ray | ||
| Timbo |
Wow! What a great time! It was great to be back out on the salt with old friends, and to meet in person many of the folks who post here. Even though we didn't recapture our record in the 1000 P/PP class, we did have lots of fun trying and came very, very close. Hey, we got our moneys worth out of that event with twenty or so runs on that record alone, lol. On behalf of Sportster List Race Team I would like to give a big thanks to Team Elves for making us a part of the family. Actually I was glad we pitted together because I wanted to spend time with everyone from here too. I felt like I knew many of you before we ever met in person and being out there together is just icing on the cake. I truly enjoyed the event. Thank you Timbo | ||
| Rattler |
Well, what more is their to add to all the comments. It was great meeting all the Team Elves again, plus some new ones. Many thanks to Aaron & Susan for their wonderful hospitality, their just aren't that many folks on the planet as good as they are. Thanks Nallin Racing & Brian for your dyno tuning & for putting up with our cantankerous, fluid venting machine. It was wonderful seeing so many new people out their getting themselves some records. Team Elves certainly has set a standard of measure out on the Salt. I want to thank Aaron personally & Fireman Jim for the use of some of their equipment & parts. Jim, it was totally worth the trip to see your smile with that high new record on your beautiful machine. Brad, you get the most persistent award from me for going back at it on the 130 Club & Paul is the runner up in the 150 club. Ray, I know this was such a special time for you & your Dad & his obvious pride in what you accomplished. Jim, I think you just created a new generation of salt fanatic with your son James. Peter & Paul & Henrick...great to see all of you again. I hope your trips home were great. Shane, it was so good to see you again to. Thanks friend for all your help out their. It was nice to meet your wife Macy, this time also. Dave & Gordan....you guys are it! Thanks so much Dave for that special plaque you gave me...it will have an honorable place on the "WALL"! Timbo, amigo, you certainly can fly & ride a bike on the salt like no other. Thanks for all your efforts. I especially appreciate how well you tune into the bike & report back on every detail. Oh yeah, Timbo, now known as "Timmy", certainly earned a special place in the hearts of the ladies at the timing tent. They were rooting him on every time he made a pass the last two days. I really think they wanted you to get that qualifying run more than I did! Well, after a 28 hour ride home, & cleaning salt out of everything, I am exhausted. Lots of things going on now with my family, lots of health issues, so I'm pretty certain, October salt racing will be out of the question for me, although I'd fancy in trying once again! My congratulations to everyone with Team Elves for your fine performances. Just remember, you now have to work harder to keep em! Dale A. Sportster List Race Team | ||
| Jazzbluesman |
Will the http://www.teamelves.com/ site be receiving further updates about daily activities on the Great Salt Adventure? Quite different than prior year reporting activity. | ||
| Josh_ |
We'll be moving updates posted here over to there, I don't know if anything new will be written. This year was mostly a photo-documentary, tho I should have video up by the weekend. |
