Spark plugs for Mirage

lavgert said:
Hi Steve, these are Cinque Anelli rearsets.
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Hi Gert,
Thanks for that, interesting. From my brief look at the PK bike I thought the pegs were in the pillion peg holes anyway, so was not sure why the aluminium bracket. Clear now. Yes, they look rather high and rear - acceptable when you're in your 20's, less so a few decades later! :D
Cheers
Steve
 
He said springs from a Fiat rally car,didn`t say which one.Standard Le Mans peak power at 7300rpm according to Moto Guzzi,mind you Guzzi speedometers were notorious for over-reading so maybe that applied to the tachometer as well-Whatever,he reckoned these springs gave a considerable boost in revs which was vital to keep it competitive as altering the gearing was obviously out of the question.
Squawking it through the gears like that obviously paid off as the Guzzi grabbed the championship in `77, spoiling the Laverdas 76,78,79 run.
He also said ground clearance and handling was better than the Jota.And engine life wouldn`t be too much of a concern when your entrant is the importer.
A Triumph Bonneville won the 750 class in `78,leaving CB750`s and GS750`s scrabbling behind in it`s wake,and Mike James (GS1000) reckoned his Suzuki handled better than the Jota`s but was down on power compared to the triples.
I remember the the Guzzi importers advertising in `77,celebrating the championship victory,and saying "Whatever happened to Suzuki,Honda,Yamaha-Fast?-Superbikes?"Nice while it lasted.
 
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For what it's worth and the original topic....I've been told that non - resistor plugs are likely to be phased out of NGK's range.
There are very few - if any - bikes or cars now that still come with non-resistor plugs.

Production race rules - Ha bloody ha. I' scrutineered here for years and I reckon I saw nearly everything you could do.
There is a one make, bike supplied class running here for young riders. The speed differential is amazing, LOL.
The MNZ Tech steward is a friend. He showed me the areas they can check. I wrote down the areas they should be checking.....
There's no appetite for looking too closely at the class. Sad as it doesn't set the right example.
 
rocketonarail said:
A Triumph Bonneville won the 750 class in `78,leaving CB750`s and GS750`s scrabbling behind in it`s wake,
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Ha! Maybe it wasn't a fluke that the '78 Bonnie I rode in the Castrol Four Hour in West Oz was coming 3rd in the 750 class ... before it spat out a couple of head bolts 😢 But it was still 3 sec a lap slower than I was doing on my (not quite production) SF at track days.
 
Steve Trasler won the class on the Bonnie-hard to believe it got the better of the GS750`s and CB750F2`s but it was fitted with clip on handlebars-he said brakes,lightweight and handling gave him the advantage at certain circuits.The worse thing was hoping it would start first kick (dead engine starts) which was also what buggered up the Ducati 900 SS`s chances.
I always used NGK BR8ES in the Mirage (is there any practical difference between resistor and non resistor?) and those and B8ES still seem to be readily available on UK eBay.
 
rocketonarail said:
Steve Trasler won the class on the Bonnie-hard to believe it got the better of the GS750`s and CB750F2`s but it was fitted with clip on handlebars-he said brakes,lightweight and handling gave him the advantage at certain circuits.
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Doesn't surprise me at all - back when I was a spotty yoof I bought a 750/4 and my best friend spend a similar amount of money on a 650 Triumph. I was very annoyed that it not only handled better than my H*nda but had a higher top speed and was quicker off the line. Guess the 12 years from new had been kinder to the twin than to the four...
 
'Cept that a twin cam GS750 Suzi or Honda was a big leap from the orig K1/2 Hondas. The Bonnie was certainly nimble and easy to ride on the track, and the exhaust system would have had to be replaced after the race if they wanted to sell it because I'd ground it from the front of the headers to the end of the muffler on every corner.
 
The 750 Triumph as it came was detuned. A soft exhaust cam made it last. Replace the mains with better high duty ones - and put the right cams in on the right timings and away she went... I've got a Ray Knight track test here somewhere of a properly prepped one. All the options for the 650 were listed for the 750 too.
Back in the day, here, the local Triumph dealer had a high spec Bonnie on the floor. He entered it in one of the first 1 hour proddy races here with a staffer on board. The staffer was a multi NZ title winner.....Won of course but as PB2 notes, the pipes were totally worn out by the end.
 
And i also suspect that the 'prep' guy that 'tuned' the Bonnie prior to the 4 Hour might have had a play around in there somewhere (might explain why the head bolts came loose - head been off but not retorqued?).

Maybe not, cos I had nothing to compare it to, never having ridden one before., but it did seem to rev cleanly to decent rpm (and it definitely didn't have an air cleaner in it - discovered that after the race!
 
Looking back the Avon series was probably one of the closest things we`ve had (in the UK) to a "pure" production race series.One thing I believe Slaters and Pete Davies were unhappy about at the time was the insistence of the use of road tyres.which they thought compromised safety.
If you fitted Avon Roadrunners you received a cash bonus.
The Jota didn`t like Roadrunners and Slaters fitted Pirelli Phantoms.
The writer LJK Setright picked up on this in Bike magazine saying what are we to make of a machine (the Jota) which was unsafe to use on standard road tyres and adding that he had to put a front racing tyre on the Jota he borrowed "to make it steer".
Roger Slater replied that it was ridiculous to draw a comparison between road use and racing and no-one it their right mind would find the limit of the tyres the Jota came with on public roads ,but as far as racing was concerned Avon should allow the use of appropriate tyres for safety sake.
 
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CLEMTOG said:
bog stock standard production racer?
well I am only going to say one word and its SNIP
CLEM
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Yes, you'd be amazed what went on (as Greg T points out) - the really serious competitors with a good chance of a podium had devious secret methods (eg cut a fuel tank in half, add a middle section and weld back together - holds a little more fuel and might get you 3 stops instead of 4). I think the Bonnie was in there as 'display only' and wasn't expected to be in the running, so they were obviously very lax in prepping it. All I was asked to do was get on it and ride it.
 
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