Kawasaki ZX-14R at the strip
I grew up as a fan of roadracing, so dragracing used to seem boring to me. Not anymore! This was now my third time aboard a ZX-14 at the strip, and it’s always proven to be super exciting and intensely complex, as a rider endlessly struggles to gain tenths of a second, then hundredths. Our time at The Strip on the 14R confirmed that impression.
It’s the launch that determines 90% of any run down the quarter-mile, and the ZX’s excellent clutch and torquey motor makes it as easy as possible for a bike with perhaps 210 crankshaft horsepower. On my first full run down the strip, I clocked a 9.91 ET while going through the traps at nearly 148 mph – this is a serious dragstrip weapon..
To cope with such high-performance use, Kawasaki has made numerous updates to the ZX’s drivetrain. Newly designed forged pistons are said to be stronger yet weigh 6 grams less than before, and they’re now cooled by a new system that directs oil to their undersides, which is said to lower engine operating temperatures “considerably.” The crankshaft’s main journals are now thicker, and the longer con-rods are made of a stronger material and have “beefier” small ends. Transmission gears get more durable thanks to heat- and surface-treatments. Kawasaki had five bikes at the strip being run all day, and they performed flawlessly despite ham-fisted thrashing by mechanically unsympathetic journalists.
None of us would’ve gone as quick as we did without the expert coaching from Gadson. Anyone interested in learning about the art of dragracing should look up the website for Rickey’s school. Amazingly, he advised us to launch with just 3000-3400 rpm on the tach, aided by a launch lamp that’s programmable to any rpm zone. This sounded like an absurdly low amount of revs for a high-G start, but the R’s torquier new mill easily pulled it off.
The ZX’s more powerful motor makes getting away quickly a little more difficult as its front wheel wants to leave the ground in first and second gears, limiting the acceleration that can be applied. I kept the traction control set to TC1 to help limit the variables, but it doesn’t prevent wheelies like TC2 does. After the initial launch, the hardest part is getting your left leg to overpower the G forces and get to the gear lever before the shift light illuminates.
When I got the balance between the clutch lever and throttle just right, I knocked out a best run of 9.77 seconds at 148.9 mph. This is an impressive stat for a bone-stock production bike, but it’s even more remarkable when the atmospheric conditions are factored in. The dry desert air combined with the track’s 1800-foot altitude equated to a 3000-foot elevation. Corrected to sea-level conditions, our times would drop by about 2.5 tenths of a second. Under ideal conditions, a 9.5-second ET is within the realm of possibility!
We got a chance to see Gadson in action on a lowered 14R, which was otherwise completely stock. He clicked off a pair of 9.31 ETs on a track that was getting more slippery as the sun began to set and temperatures dropped, showing the tremendous potential of the platform. It’s quite possible a lowered 14R could achieve a time in the 8-second zone with just the addition of an aftermarket exhaust and ECU upgrade if conditions were perfect.
It’s the launch that determines 90% of any run down the quarter-mile, and the ZX’s excellent clutch and torquey motor makes it as easy as possible for a bike with perhaps 210 crankshaft horsepower. On my first full run down the strip, I clocked a 9.91 ET while going through the traps at nearly 148 mph – this is a serious dragstrip weapon..
To cope with such high-performance use, Kawasaki has made numerous updates to the ZX’s drivetrain. Newly designed forged pistons are said to be stronger yet weigh 6 grams less than before, and they’re now cooled by a new system that directs oil to their undersides, which is said to lower engine operating temperatures “considerably.” The crankshaft’s main journals are now thicker, and the longer con-rods are made of a stronger material and have “beefier” small ends. Transmission gears get more durable thanks to heat- and surface-treatments. Kawasaki had five bikes at the strip being run all day, and they performed flawlessly despite ham-fisted thrashing by mechanically unsympathetic journalists.
None of us would’ve gone as quick as we did without the expert coaching from Gadson. Anyone interested in learning about the art of dragracing should look up the website for Rickey’s school. Amazingly, he advised us to launch with just 3000-3400 rpm on the tach, aided by a launch lamp that’s programmable to any rpm zone. This sounded like an absurdly low amount of revs for a high-G start, but the R’s torquier new mill easily pulled it off.
The ZX’s more powerful motor makes getting away quickly a little more difficult as its front wheel wants to leave the ground in first and second gears, limiting the acceleration that can be applied. I kept the traction control set to TC1 to help limit the variables, but it doesn’t prevent wheelies like TC2 does. After the initial launch, the hardest part is getting your left leg to overpower the G forces and get to the gear lever before the shift light illuminates.
When I got the balance between the clutch lever and throttle just right, I knocked out a best run of 9.77 seconds at 148.9 mph. This is an impressive stat for a bone-stock production bike, but it’s even more remarkable when the atmospheric conditions are factored in. The dry desert air combined with the track’s 1800-foot altitude equated to a 3000-foot elevation. Corrected to sea-level conditions, our times would drop by about 2.5 tenths of a second. Under ideal conditions, a 9.5-second ET is within the realm of possibility!
We got a chance to see Gadson in action on a lowered 14R, which was otherwise completely stock. He clicked off a pair of 9.31 ETs on a track that was getting more slippery as the sun began to set and temperatures dropped, showing the tremendous potential of the platform. It’s quite possible a lowered 14R could achieve a time in the 8-second zone with just the addition of an aftermarket exhaust and ECU upgrade if conditions were perfect.
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