Awesome. I like the gains you were able to get even with the stock exhaust.
R3 Race Report!!
Hi folks,
I finally had a chance to race my YZF-R3 this past weekend at Thunderhill Raceway at AFM's 3rd Round of the season. I raced the first 2 AFM rounds on my Ninja 250, so it's been great to be able to compare that bike to the R3.
I'll start with bike set-up:
I've been working with Gregg at Spears Racing to get this bike built and ready for racing, and we started with the basics...all of which I purchased from Spears Racing: Suspension, rearsets, brake line, chain and sprockets, and a power commander to get the most out of the stock exhaust.
Front forks: Up front, we installed cartridge internals by Andreani. This is a really nice kit that comes with springs suited for the rider's weight, and gives you preload adjustment as well as compression and rebound adjustment.
Rear shock: Out back, the stock shock was ditched for a fully adjustable Spears Racing shock. This thing is a full 2 pounds lighter than the stocker, and gives the ability to adjust ride height (to raiser the rear over stock), and has a wide range of preload, compression, and rebound adjustability. Really nice quality unit.
Rearsets: A set of Sato Racing rearsets helped get the foot pegs into a much racier riding position. These are really high quality, have bearings in the lever pivots, and result in basically zero slop in the shift linkage. Super sweet!
Brake Line: Obviously I'd need a braided line for the track, so Gregg hooked me up with a Galfer superbike brake line for the front brake. This really helped to get some more brake power and feel. I can't wait to see how this feels once we get some EBC race pads on this bike. For now, the stock pads will have to do.
Final Drive: Gregg at Spears Racing installed his 415 chain and sprockets for me and then did a dyno run to compare to the stock setup. This bumped us up to 38hp from the 37hp that the bike had off the showroom floor:
![Text Line Diagram Plot Design]()
He then installed the Dynojet PCV and quick shifter and was able to get an additional few Hp and a bit more torque out of the bike...all with 91 pump gas:
![Text Line Diagram Font Design]()
With a bit of safety wiring, numbers, and some much needed go-fast stickers, I was ready to go racing! Friday practice was the first time I'd ever ridden the bike, and right away I could tell this thing was going to be great. I immediately felt comfortable, and with a some suspension adjustments I was quickly down to some competitive lap times. We ended up raising the rear of the bike a lot, and also raised the front end a little in order to gain some much needed ground clearance. That stock exhaust was dragging all over the place!
On to Saturday, and we entered the 350 Production race. The grid was pretty full with 12 experts and 12 novices entered. I managed to get a good start and had some amazing battles throughout the race, ending up in 2nd. Not a bad debut for an all-new bike that still has the stock exhaust!!
On Sunday I entered the 500 Twins and 250 Superbike classes which the R3 is also legal for. Again some great battles ending in 2nd and 3rd place finishes respectively. Woohoo!
I am super stoked about this little bike. With the mods from Spears Racing, this thing handles like it's on rails. Of course a set of Dunlop racing slicks helped a lot, too. I'm running a Moto3 style setup with a tiny 95 front tire and a 120 rear. These things have incredible grip, give amazing traction feedback, and make the bike really easy to flick into the turns.
All in all, it was a great weekend of racing. Huge thanks to Gregg of Spears Racing and to Jason from Dunlop. I couldn't have done it without you!
I finally had a chance to race my YZF-R3 this past weekend at Thunderhill Raceway at AFM's 3rd Round of the season. I raced the first 2 AFM rounds on my Ninja 250, so it's been great to be able to compare that bike to the R3.
I'll start with bike set-up:
I've been working with Gregg at Spears Racing to get this bike built and ready for racing, and we started with the basics...all of which I purchased from Spears Racing: Suspension, rearsets, brake line, chain and sprockets, and a power commander to get the most out of the stock exhaust.
Front forks: Up front, we installed cartridge internals by Andreani. This is a really nice kit that comes with springs suited for the rider's weight, and gives you preload adjustment as well as compression and rebound adjustment.
Rear shock: Out back, the stock shock was ditched for a fully adjustable Spears Racing shock. This thing is a full 2 pounds lighter than the stocker, and gives the ability to adjust ride height (to raiser the rear over stock), and has a wide range of preload, compression, and rebound adjustability. Really nice quality unit.
Rearsets: A set of Sato Racing rearsets helped get the foot pegs into a much racier riding position. These are really high quality, have bearings in the lever pivots, and result in basically zero slop in the shift linkage. Super sweet!
Brake Line: Obviously I'd need a braided line for the track, so Gregg hooked me up with a Galfer superbike brake line for the front brake. This really helped to get some more brake power and feel. I can't wait to see how this feels once we get some EBC race pads on this bike. For now, the stock pads will have to do.
Final Drive: Gregg at Spears Racing installed his 415 chain and sprockets for me and then did a dyno run to compare to the stock setup. This bumped us up to 38hp from the 37hp that the bike had off the showroom floor:
He then installed the Dynojet PCV and quick shifter and was able to get an additional few Hp and a bit more torque out of the bike...all with 91 pump gas:
With a bit of safety wiring, numbers, and some much needed go-fast stickers, I was ready to go racing! Friday practice was the first time I'd ever ridden the bike, and right away I could tell this thing was going to be great. I immediately felt comfortable, and with a some suspension adjustments I was quickly down to some competitive lap times. We ended up raising the rear of the bike a lot, and also raised the front end a little in order to gain some much needed ground clearance. That stock exhaust was dragging all over the place!
On to Saturday, and we entered the 350 Production race. The grid was pretty full with 12 experts and 12 novices entered. I managed to get a good start and had some amazing battles throughout the race, ending up in 2nd. Not a bad debut for an all-new bike that still has the stock exhaust!!
On Sunday I entered the 500 Twins and 250 Superbike classes which the R3 is also legal for. Again some great battles ending in 2nd and 3rd place finishes respectively. Woohoo!
I am super stoked about this little bike. With the mods from Spears Racing, this thing handles like it's on rails. Of course a set of Dunlop racing slicks helped a lot, too. I'm running a Moto3 style setup with a tiny 95 front tire and a 120 rear. These things have incredible grip, give amazing traction feedback, and make the bike really easy to flick into the turns.
All in all, it was a great weekend of racing. Huge thanks to Gregg of Spears Racing and to Jason from Dunlop. I couldn't have done it without you!
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Definitely! You can get the PCV from Spears Racing with the map already installed. Just plug it all in and go fast.
I can't wait to see what we'll get with the exhaust that is being developed. The bike pulls really strong as-is and has a really nice flat torque curve. It's already a blast to ride, and is going to flat-out rip once we get some more power out of it.
Turkey roasting pan for the win.
It looks pretty ghetto, but got the job done. I'm hoping to have the Hotbodies race skins by the next round later this month.
Turkey roasting pan for the win.
Pure Win! I don't think USBA will let me slide on that one. My weekend project is to get out the duct tape, zip ties and baling wire and see if I can get some old GSXR plastics to work.....
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