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Buellshyter
| | Posted on Saturday, March 11, 2006 - 05:22 pm: | 
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I thought I saw Eric Buell in the background, just on the other side of the fence, when McWilliams was having all those problems in the pit. |
Typeone
| | Posted on Saturday, March 11, 2006 - 07:25 pm: |
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McWilliams' interview before the race was a downer for me, he was just sorta like, 'yeah, whatever'. didn't talk about the bike, the team, etc. until White probed for info. only quote i remember... 'it is what it is, a Harley V-Twin'. hmm.
the other riders ALWAYS talk about how the bike is doing, the team, the sponsors, etc. made me feel like he wasn't very confident or interested in the Buell effort. maybe that's too much to ask, i dont know. just an observation. |
Mr_cuell
| | Posted on Saturday, March 11, 2006 - 09:07 pm: |
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I felt differently about McWilliams - I thought he was trying to deliberately fly the company flag, and re-inforce the concept that this was a hot rodded XB. It seemed to me that he was defending the effort and saying hey its not some "new" model. |
Typeone
| | Posted on Saturday, March 11, 2006 - 09:16 pm: |
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hmm, maybe i only saw a different clip (?) either way, good to hear you got a different impression, i was routin' for him thats for sure! that damn pit stop was MURDER. grrrr. |
Hogs
| | Posted on Saturday, March 11, 2006 - 10:05 pm: |
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http://www.barbermotorsports.com/
Someone said this is the next AMA race will the Buells be there??? April 21???
(Message edited by hogs on March 11, 2006) |
Cochise
| | Posted on Saturday, March 11, 2006 - 11:22 pm: |
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BTW, it's Erik with a "K" Carry on  |
Steve_mackay
| | Posted on Sunday, March 12, 2006 - 02:16 am: |
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Typeone, you didn't hear him remark about the "amazing torque" figures?  |
Buellshyter
| | Posted on Sunday, March 12, 2006 - 09:12 am: |
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I got the same impression as Typeone. It looked as though McWilliams was covering his bases in the interview. He didn't show much enthusiasm other than to say they used a larger tire because of the torque. I think he sensed the effort was not up to speed. However, I'm glad Buell keeps making the effort - quitters never get anywhere in life and I have to believe that one day Mr. Buell's train will arrive. |
Eexb
| | Posted on Sunday, March 12, 2006 - 09:29 am: |
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What a bunch of "negative nellies" !!!
I think many of you guys are interested in the Buell teams doing well just so you can brag "I own one of them there MCs" !!!
Buell has chosen to compete at the highest level in American road racing and the very fact they qualified in the top ten is a MAJOR accomplishment.
They are racing against teams that have totally new bikes almost every season. Hi-tech stuff that cost millions upon millions of dollars. And Buell is racing a MC that VERY closely resembles your street bike.
If the ZTL brakes were a problem for quick front tire changes and Buell decided to run other brakes - then some would be whining "I guess they're no good, cause the factory don't run 'em on the race bikes".
The brakes are a non-issue for the rest of the season - the other races will not require front tire changes.
McWilliams may not have sounded like a Buell "salesman", but they couldn't have chosen a better rider. Give the guy a brake, it was his FIRST race at Daytona and he had more to think about than make you "feel good" about telling you how great your XB is.
It's a fact of life that Buell is competing with a mostly "stock" bike that was designed 5 years ago. There are racing billion dollar corps that sell their bikes based on their racing performance and they (Japs) spend whatever it takes to win. So just "being there" is a big accomplishment for Buell and top ten finishes will be like winning against the teams they race.
The others have a "hard on" for Buell because of the engine size (600 vs 1200+), so just imagine how bad it would be for XBs in the Superbike class against the GSXR 1000s !!!
I for one think they did OK, and that they will do better in the shorter races.
Everyone here should be hoping that McWilliams will be back, Buell will need a rider like him to compete in the other races.
EE |
Typeone
| | Posted on Sunday, March 12, 2006 - 10:25 am: |
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McWilliams may not have sounded like a Buell "salesman", but they couldn't have chosen a better rider. Give the guy a brake, it was his FIRST race at Daytona and he had more to think about than make you "feel good" about telling you how great your XB is.
never said he wasn't a great rider or that i wanted him to sound like a salesman... just an observation about one of the quick interviews. thats all.
i don't need anyone, racer or salesman, telling me 'how great' my XB is, doesn't make a difference to me. i bought the bike and enjoy riding it, end of story. and yeah, i get all your points, EE. i'm psyched to see Buell in the mix, so we had a difficult weekend, thats racing! |
Thepup
| | Posted on Sunday, March 12, 2006 - 10:28 am: |
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"It's a fact of life that Buell is competing with a mostly "stock" bike that was designed 5 years ago. There are racing billion dollar corps that sell their bikes based on their racing performance and they (Japs) spend whatever it takes to win. So just "being there" is a big accomplishment for Buell and top ten finishes will be like winning against the teams they race."
This bike is nowhere near stock,you may want to do a little research. |
Eexb
| | Posted on Sunday, March 12, 2006 - 10:51 am: |
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"This bike is nowhere near stock, you may want to do a little research."
I don't need to do any research, you need to READ what I wrote and not nit-pick my wording.
You know my point was/is, the Jap bikes get updated pieces any and everytime the teams need them. The FE bikes are built for the race teams and then those mods become "stock" street bike items. If a FE bike doesn't steer the way the riders like, the street bike is changed accordingly.
Buell took a street bike design and turned it into a racer, starting with MANY stock parts (frame, swing arm, etc). They did not (like the Japs do almost EVERY year) start with a clean sheet.
I rest my case with a comparison between the XBRR and the new Yamaha R-6.
EE |
Isham
| | Posted on Sunday, March 12, 2006 - 12:12 pm: |
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What the hell happened to McWilliams? He was doing really well. Even though the buells didn't finish I think they did really well and Erik should be proud. They held their own amoung some of the best bikes and riders. McWilliams was battling it out and didn't really lose any ground the whole race until that problem he had.
Man I love the race and it was well worth the ride to meet some of our bad webbers and to show the rest of the racing world some support for buell. |
Windaddiction
| | Posted on Sunday, March 12, 2006 - 12:28 pm: |
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Okay I didnt see much of the race, I only tuned in to see the buell fall off the stand and have trouble with the front tire, But when it rode away wow, how cool was it to see a buell racing gets me really excited to see it race, and also we all know that at least some lessons learned at the track make it to the street! Way to go guys |
Isham
| | Posted on Sunday, March 12, 2006 - 12:34 pm: |
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Dude tears of joy came out of my eyes and I wouldn't admit that to anyone. It was well worth it for me. Go Buell!!! |
Anonymous
| | Posted on Sunday, March 12, 2006 - 01:24 pm: |
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OK guys, here's the inside deal. One bike qualified on the second row, and the other three in the fourth row. Only Honda and Yamaha in front of McWilliams. That was a huge success. Note that these bikes were qualifying with stock engines, not qualifying engines.
The plan that all the teams had was to run slowly and carefully in the beginning and push during the last half of the race. Yet in the race Jeremy ran as high as 7th and Rico and Crevier were up to 11th and 12th during the first half. Big success.
However, in the race two bikes went out with broken clutch hubs, Mike and Rico. Inspecting the broken parts showed huge amounts of porosity, so they were just bad castings. Easy to fix.
Jeremy's bike broke a timing wheel, which were last minute parts that were laser cut because the production parts hadn't arrived. The laser cutting on this part had made a sharp notch, and the wheel cracked there. Won't happen again.
Steve's bike we don't know yet. But I'm sure there's nothing significant to worry about; we'll be back and competitive at the next race.
BTW, for all the ZTL doubters, the brakes worked superbly. And, Jeremy had no problem with his front brake, what happened was that Cicotto's crew wanted to help at the second pit stop since Mike was out. Unfortunately, they used their front tire stand.
Their tire stand didn't fit into the fork stem on Jeremy's bike because the hole in Jeremy's stem was smaller, so the bike was falling off the stand while they were working on it. In retrospect, when it didn't fit, they should have tossed it over the wall, and gotten Jeremy's stand. Monday (Sunday?) morning quarterbacking is easy. But they chose to try to do the tire change while balancing a bike that was falling over.
Aren't you glad you read BWB for the facts?!! |
Isham
| | Posted on Sunday, March 12, 2006 - 01:48 pm: |
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See all Minor problems... Anyone have video of the race from speed? I'd like to see it again from that vantage point. |
Diablobrian
| | Posted on Sunday, March 12, 2006 - 01:57 pm: |
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Thank you for the clarification.
Hmmmm. I wonder why the other teams don't use pre-production prototypes?
Maybe because their tire budget is larger than the whole race budget for Buell?
Ben Spies pretty casually tossed out the number $350,000 for a FX bike.
By my figures you could buy 11 XBRRs and have money left over for the price of Miguel's "A" bike.
A lot of people need to lighten up. This was a great first effort, especially on the (relative) shoe-string budget. |
Cataract2
| | Posted on Sunday, March 12, 2006 - 03:32 pm: |
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Anon, I'm hoping you can give us an update on what happened to Steve's bike as soon as it's known. BTW, will you guys be switching to slipper clutches in the future on the XBRR's or not? |
Pupu
| | Posted on Sunday, March 12, 2006 - 04:00 pm: |
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so nice to see someone with some inside info to straighten all this out. i dont think it was a bad showing, showed we are capable and now we just have to work out the bugs and move on. |
Anonymous
| | Posted on Sunday, March 12, 2006 - 06:42 pm: |
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Slipper clutches would help lap times a little, and be easier on the drivetrain, but nothing would have made these bad castings last. Mike's lasted a total of three laps; it was brand new at the start of the race!!! Not because we had problems with the castings before this, just because we wanted fresh clutches for the plate wear. Now THAT is bad luck!
Also, there is no current slipper clutch that will hold up to the torque. The best we could get our hands on was good for about 5 laps. So maybe a slipper clutch in the future, but before that we will definitely have better parts in the bikes in the two problem areas. We would have definitely had three finishes, and they would have been good ones. |
Diablobrian
| | Posted on Sunday, March 12, 2006 - 06:57 pm: |
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"Also, there is no current slipper clutch that will hold up to the torque. The best we could get our hands on was good for about 5 laps"
That's just plain scary.
I wonder if Jeremy could lay hands on some MotoGP "spares". Either that or have Erik dial
up Kenny Roberts about an inside line to the manufacturer he was using for his GP engine. |
Mr_cuell
| | Posted on Sunday, March 12, 2006 - 06:59 pm: |
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Sweet - anony is kicking butt! 
Thanks for the info - we would have a tough time finding this out anywhere else this quick
I can't wait for next race, and I wish McW were staying. this was a one shot deal right? |
Diablobrian
| | Posted on Sunday, March 12, 2006 - 07:02 pm: |
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Jeremy was pretty tight lipped about the future last weekend. He said something along the lines of "we'll see how things work out" |
Chadleys1
| | Posted on Sunday, March 12, 2006 - 08:17 pm: |
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Thanks for the posts Anonymous. I have been freaking out for 28 hours, not knowing what exactly happened. We all appreciate you letting us know what's going on with the privateer race teams. I will be the happiest one in Texas when one of those XBRR's is in the lead pack of a race and the cameras have to follow it for more than .4 seconds. Maybe next race? Who knows? I am in it for the long haul! |
Buellgirlie
| | Posted on Sunday, March 12, 2006 - 09:53 pm: |
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the 4 racers ran well (and our club level privateers too!). the bikes did great and were fast. they ARE some durability issues that WILL get worked out. buell factory folks have been working night and day and are to be commended for their dedication.
mcwilliams, crevier, penzkopfer, and cicotto are great guys and i hope that buell can convince them all to stay with the program and help get some buells on the podium!
on another note, the 50 production ones will start being built in april - and we'll all start seeing these at the club level racing circuit soon |
Brucelee
| | Posted on Sunday, March 12, 2006 - 11:01 pm: |
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Hats off to ANON and the Buell effort.
Onward and upward. |
Blake
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 15, 2006 - 03:29 pm: |
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Thanks for the inside line on the situation. Bad luck indeed. I sure hope Hal's and Dealy's are able to go the full season. Would be really great to see Warr's and Hanover back for a few races too, maybe at Elkheart Lake? |
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