We loaded my beat-up, 220k mile truck, hitched the flat trailer with diesel Sportster, and began our journey with the traditional 2 hours of gridlocked NYC traffic.
After putting some mileage between us and the city, we stopped at the Red Rooster in Brewster, NY for burgers and fries. The food was delicious, but unfortunately this was where we discovered our first mechanical malady of the trip.
After getting out of the truck, I immediately smelled gear oil, and noticed spray marks on the trailer. Upon closer inspection, I discovered that the rear differential was puking oil from the cover gasket and front seal. The fluids had been topped off earlier that week, so I chalked it up to overfilling, wiped it clean, and continued our drive.
We arrived at our first destination around midnight, where some friends outside of Boston graciously let us crash in their guest room. By 7AM the next morning, we were back on the road, and digging in to breakfast at a Cracker Barrel.
I inspected the rear differential after breakfast, and it appeared that the leak had resolved itself. However, by Portland, Maine, the leak was worse than ever. Driving in the cool weather the previous night had only lessened the symptoms.
At a rest stop, I called my mechanic to diagnose the problem. He recommended that I inspect the axle vent, so we parked behind an Auto Parts store in Augusta to repair the issue.
Removing the vent released audible pressure, and the vent itself was fully plugged with rust. The store did not carry replacements or plumbing fittings that fit the thread, so I disassembled the vent, cleaned, and reinstalled it.
Once again back on the road, we made our way up I95 to Bangor, where we stopped for lunch at the truly excellent "Whoopie Pie Cafe". They have good lunch options in addition to dozens of varieties of Whoopie Pies, and I highly recommend the visit.
Leaving Bangor behind, we continued north to our destination in Presque Isle.
Friday dawned cool and partly cloudy, with a good tail wind and low humidity. Absolutely perfect conditions for racing, so we left the hotel early and rushed to the track. The bike breezed through tech inspection, and we attended the morning drivers meeting, set up our site, and wandered the pits admiring the other high-speed machinery on display.
After prepping the bike, we rolled over to the staging lane and joined the queue. The first run went extremely well, and I beat the previous top speed by 7 mph. However, while riding down the return road, the engine started spitting oil out of the crankcase breather and coating the left side of the bike.
The engine was originally equipped with a system that directed crankcase gases into the intake, drawn by the vacuum. This system has to be disabled when an engine is supercharged, because there is now a positive pressure in the intake. I had installed a breather filter, but now discovered that this was insufficient at high power and rpm.
We quickly drove to an auto parts store in Caribou, and purchased 3/8in fuel line and zip ties. These supplies, combined with a used Gatorade bottle, make a halfway-decent crankcase catch-can. Tech inspection cleared the modification, and we rolled back out to the track.
During the next two passes, the Sportster performed flawlessly and achieved a maximum speed of 96.8mph! The drivetrain was geared to 102mph at a redline of 4200rpm, but the engine peaked at 3800rpm and couldn't go any faster.
The supercharger produced 7 pounds of boost and 150F at the intake, and the high-temperature exhaust coating burned off the headers, indicating an Exhaust Gas Temperature (EGT) well over 1000F. Typically, the EGT for diesel engines is limited to 1250F to prevent thermal damage, so the engine was performing very near its failure limit.
After the third run, we were confident that the bike was at maximum power, and any further runs would only risk causing engine damage. We packed everything up, loaded the truck, and watched other teams race the course before driving back to Presque Isle for dinner.
Having finished with the bike on Friday, we decided to spend Saturday as tourists. We returned to the track to watch more racing, visited the historical society for the airbase, and drove to the former ammo dump on the far north side of the facility, now converted into a wildlife sanctuary.
On Sunday morning, we began our journey home with a few obligatory tourist side-trips along the way, such as Stephen King's house in Bangor, and an excellent roadside seafood shack for lobster rolls. By dinner, we had gotten back to the outskirts of Boston, where we visited some other friends before bedding down for the night, and continuing home the next morning.
Despite falling slightly short of my goal of 100mph, this year's race was still a complete success. We set two new records for a 1000cc biodiesel motorcycle at 96.8mph, suffered no major mechanical issues, visited beautiful destinations, and found time to enjoy a thoroughly unique road trip. The bike survived the ordeal, and lives to be modified and raced another day. I'll treasure the memories for a lifetime, and wouldn't trade any of it for that extra 3.2 mph....no matter how much that number will annoy me!
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