Good times for sure, until I blew up the motor, put a 600 in it and had to either leave the class or paint the engine black. All is well, and I hope the same for you. Into enduro riding lately - I am used as a trail sweep, I am so far behind my buddies!
We're good, got our first grand kid, a boy, almost 2 yrs. ago. I've already picked up a couple JR 50's.
fzrkidd I do believe it is for sale. Look up John Clint on the FB page for "Yamaha FZR 400 owners" (US).
Scott, Do you remember my old FZR400? Crazy colors and it was destroyed in the kink at NL way back in 89-90. Jim Campeau
Hey Jim, I remember you were one of the first to have a 400. Don’t remember it getting destroyed but that was a long time and a few head bumps ago. I was still running the 600 in 89-90 so probably wasn’t on track when it happened. I didn’t start with the 400 till I think 92. Do remember watching a purple 600 50’ in the air shedding pieces in the kink one time, hoping it didn’t come down till I got by. Supposed to be going to NL this weekend for more fun and games. Scott
This was mine that I bought from Chuck around 2009. Damn was it a fun bike to race, although in stock trim it couldn't hang with the built Hawks and RZ's. But it sure sounded good.
So many cheating combinations with this little bike. So many guys were protested and confirmed cheaters. 600 cranks, heads, pistons, heads and combinations of all. Jason Clay comes to mind at Daytona.
Yea..but was it cheating at the time? Didn't RRW do an article on it,and Sam pretty much told all the secrets on it.Lots of one and done stuff,then the motor was gahbage. Paul Wright also had some insane shit too that was pulling 600's at the GNF at Road Atlanta.WE had ZERO chance of even keeping it in sight after a lap or 2. I remember first morning practice him pulling my stickers off as he went by,and thing..Welp this is gonna be useless..
They were hotrod FZR 600’s. The 600 parts evidently looked liked 400 parts from the outside so detection was difficult. Once one of the regular cheaters was protested and caught, this setup wasn’t popular anymore as more and more cheaters were protested and caught.
Well…..yes, there was an article about how they did it, was very ingenious how they did it. I guess when the rule book says if it doesn’t specifically say you can do it, then you can’t, it’s cheating? They certainly made it work during that era and made a lot of people look silly. Which they are still doing today so huge props to them!
Not much of a protester, I mean, it's club racing FFS. BUT, When MY Personal shit was getting pulled at Summit, well before the flag and I knew my bike was very light and Very High 70's,,,, I was like, enough is enough. He was an outta region dude and decided to hastily pack up, instead of coming clean at tech. So we all rolled by and had a look ourselves. It was a pos 400 with an FZR600 motor *spray painted black*,,, a pretty decent superbike build I can only assume, by the way it came by my Very decent 400 SB build...... people//
I ran my stuff maxed out per the class I was in. I also knew maximum lap times for legal bikes. If somebody pulled me hard on the straights I tore them down. I won 19 times out of 20. there’s absolutely nothing I can’t take more than a fucking cheater that is only fast on straight aways. cheaters never had corner speed, only top end speed. At this point in my life I can smell an illegal motor. I hate cheaters so much that I’ve put up money to protest cheaters in races I wasn’t even in.
I won D-Super Expert at the GNF in '95 and '96 on my 400. I never had it on a dyno but based on top speed, it had to have about 80hp at the rear wheels. It weighed less than 300lbs; no starter or charging system, a dinky battery, PM Chicane wheels, and everything removed that wasn't essential including most of the front and rear subframes and the wiring harness. I ran a pressurized airbox in '96, the only change from '95, and needed to take a tooth off the rear sprocket to avoid running out of revs in 6th at RA. Ported head, 14:1 CR, big cams, flatslides, and 116 octane race gas. Needed new R&D valve springs every other weekend, so it was a lot of work to keep running. I sold it to a good friend who was less focused on maintenance, and I then lost track of the bike, polished frame and all. I wish I could get it back.
Thanks! Paul bought my bike at the conclusion of the '96 season, and Rick won GNF D-Super either in '97 or '98 after successfully protesting Brian Surtees' TZ engine cases jn his TZR250. I dunno what happened to my bike after Wernle raced it.