Total Motorcycle Community Forums

i was watching some motorcycle drag racing tonight, and was wondering. do they shift at all? i didnt see any foot controlls and their legs seem to just hang helpless the first few hundred feet. also couldnt hear any shifing going on. do they have hand controlls for shifting?

The big boys use either air shifters or fully electronic shifters ........ they can shift much faster and without error than a person can. Just puch a button when the shiftlight comes on and the rest happens by itself.

Come on!

What's the point? Electric controls.. wheelie bars.. The incredible forces keeping the bike upright during flight?

They don't even need riders anymore. Throw about $100 worth of Radioshack equipment onto it and it could all be done via remote control.

thats what i was thinking when i watchd them. be interesting if someone did make a computer controlled drag racer. but that will never happen as it would steal the human factor out of it and the sense of danger seeing a guy on one of those bikes.

im sure we arent giving the riders enough credit, but from what i seen i bet it would be easy to learn and easy to be good at if given the same bikes/crew as the pros.

Telesque wrote:Come on!

What's the point? Electric controls.. wheelie bars.. The incredible forces keeping the bike upright during flight?

They don't even need riders anymore. Throw about $100 worth of Radioshack equipment onto it and it could all be done via remote control.

The rider is there basically to cut a good light. After that, he is almost just a component, doing the proper thing at the proper time. The less 'proffesional' classes require a bit more from the rider, throttle and clutch control and the like.

BuzZz wrote:The rider is there basically to cut a good light. After that, he is almost just a component, doing the proper thing at the proper time. The less 'proffesional' classes require a bit more from the rider, throttle and clutch control and the like.

what better way to get a jump on a light than a computer? no thing can react faster.

Well, you see...

If you remove the rider from the bike, and something happens, it's the 'controllers' fault. He just F'd up, and maybe endangered some fans or something.

If there's a rider on board, no one really cares that he F'd up because they're all worried about whether he survived.

iwannadie wrote:

BuzZz wrote:The rider is there basically to cut a good light. After that, he is almost just a component, doing the proper thing at the proper time. The less 'proffesional' classes require a bit more from the rider, throttle and clutch control and the like.

what better way to get a jump on a light than a computer? no thing can react faster.

But then the NHRA would have no reason to exist, and they ain't gonna be having any of that. There's too much money at stake....

Drag racing woould become an engine building contest...... and the dyno-drags have that covered already....

imagine how cool it would be though with no risk of human life on the bike how fast and dangerous they could push things. maybe even do some chicken races ; )

Telesque wrote:Well, you see...

If you remove the rider from the bike, and something happens, it's the 'controllers' fault. He just F'd up, and maybe endangered some fans or something.

If there's a rider on board, no one really cares that he F'd up because they're all worried about whether he survived.

of course it comes down to putting people out of jobs/loosing money. just funny how they can pick and choose which levels of technology to put to use. like why do they even bother with a twist throttle. why not just have a push button computer control throttle to go with everything else ; )

seems the rider just sits on it burns the tire to get it warm, then reacts to the light the bike does the rest. might as well be a motor build contest without the reaction times. seems like a very minor thing to make a winner/looser. also seems like a boring sport to follow when you realize how little the human is doing.

BuzZz wrote:

iwannadie wrote:

BuzZz wrote:The rider is there basically to cut a good light. After that, he is almost just a component, doing the proper thing at the proper time. The less 'proffesional' classes require a bit more from the rider, throttle and clutch control and the like.

what better way to get a jump on a light than a computer? no thing can react faster.

But then the NHRA would have no reason to exist, and they ain't gonna be having any of that. There's too much money at stake....

Drag racing woould become an engine building contest...... and the dyno-drags have that covered already....