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Father and Son Know Nuts and Bolts of Motorcycle Racing
Hidden on Springbrook Road in Westerly is Johnson Engine Technology (J.E.T.), Inc., a business perhaps unknown to those outside the world of motorcycle performance.
Rhode Island - The 10-year-old small shop has grown from a one man, backyard operation to an established company that is ahead of the rest of the industry in the work the company performs and its knowledge of motorcycle performance.
Robert Johnson, son of J.E.T. owner Bob Johnson, said he wanted to get into motorcycle racing ever since he was a child. Now, after developing a race bike with his father at J.E.T., the dream has become a reality.
Johnson began racing his Buell XB9R after spending the winter designing and reconstructing a bike he says started off as theft recovery.
"It was stolen at a bike rally in Myrtle Beach and it had been abused extensively," said Johnson. "We had to strip it down so no two pieces that were originally together were left intact and then go through and rebuild it all."
The rebuilding process included everything from completely replacing the bike's transmission to detail-oriented work such as providing specs for a custom set of cam shafts.
The result is an American bike that has allowed Johnson to be competitive with opponents riding high-end Japanese bikes that are designed for racing. An American bike, such as Johnson's Buell with its Harley Davidson engine, is not designed with racing in mind. It is more commonly used for aggressive street riding.
"We (he and his father) got into the Buells because they have kind of a performance deficiency compared to a lot of other sport bikes", Johnson said. "That's where we're able to shine in terms of the work we do here."
Because of this, Johnson says his bike requires more maintenance than a Japanese sport bike to keep it running and in racing condition.
The engine in Johnson's Buell has been converted to 1,200 cubic centimeters and competes with Japanese production sport bikes that are 600 to 1,000 cubic centimeters or even smaller.
The smaller engine size allows a Japanese sport bike to rev up to 16,500 revolutions per minute whereas Johnson's Buell only revs up to 7,200. While this would seem like a performance disadvantage, Johnson says everything equals out.
"My bike's large displacement gives us an advantage for the area where it will generate more torque and I can get more acceleration off of corners," he says. "Our bike makes 100-105 horsepower and I'm competing against bikes that make upwards of 140 to 150, so a big part of it is how the bike makes torque and the ability to carry corner speed.
"The track we race has a lot of corners and it really benefits someone who can ride corners quick on a bike that accelerates really hard like this one does."
The work Bob and his father put into the Buell XB9R paid off three weeks ago at the Loudon Classic, held at the New Hampshire International Speedway. Johnson entered four races and came home with four trophies.
Johnson's awards included a first, a third and two fourth-place trophies, quite an accomplishment for someone who has only six races under his belt and who only began practicing with racing in mind last July.
Those unfamiliar with motorcycle racing may try to compare it to NASCAR racing. According to Johnson, the two could not be more different.
"In car racing, you really don't see what the driver is doing," he said. "If you watch motorcycle racing, you can see all the struggles they're having on the bike. It's a lot more physical than car racing.
"It's been described like this: In car racing, 80 percent of it is the car and only 20 percent is the driver. In motorcycle racing, it's the opposite."
Johnson says the many different types of street bikes are broken up into classes at races. On a race day, there may be 10-12 races going on and inside of those races, there are upwards of three to four classes competing. Standard races are eight laps around the 1.6-mile course and GT (endurance) races are 13-14 laps.
"The races start off in two waves, but there's still upwards of 30-40 people on the track at the same time," he said. "But you're really only competing against the people in your wave."
Racers are grouped in novice, amateur or expert categories, with expert being the highest category and the different classes according to type of bike within each category. There are certain requirements to be met before a racer can move up to the next category. Johnson is currently a novice racer.
Before he could start racing, Johnson had to obtain a racing license. He received his license from the Penguin Road Racing School, which is based out of Mansfield, Mass.
"It was very simple stuff," he said. "If you go through the day without crashing or causing anyone to crash, you'll get your license.
"I would recommend the class for street riders, too. They don't have anything like that for them. Anyone who wants to can go out and buy a motorcycle and get a license through the state."
Johnson is already looking ahead to July for his next races. He says he hopes to move up to amateur but after that, is unsure if he will go further.
"I'm not sure if I'll ever get that good but you can always train," he laughs. "I'm just having fun right now."
This article contributed by editor on Wednesday, July 05, 2006 (21:00:00)
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