How important is power?

Odd..I've won a few races and haven't done either of those things.

 

I haven't.

But seriously if you're in tightly matched race the one who pulls 80 yards on the straight has an advantage...obviously.

 

Would it interest you to know that not a single thing was ever changed on the little 400 for almost 2 full seasons but the gearing.

HP is about number 40 on the list for shit to worry about in your first year. There comes a time when it becomes important but that's not going to be until the bike has white plates on it and he's running in the top 5 consistently.

In fact I suspect that when Ned Bob was handily leaving me in his wake that he was doing it with less HP then I was using at that time.

 

Rossi could beat any wera racer on an 04 600 with a dead cylinder

 

as a mid-pack novice, the guy that pulled 80 yards on the straight got on the gas coming out of the last corner harder than you. he didn't have more motor.

unless he was on a 1000 and winning the B group at the trackday.

 

If it didn't matter no one would do it

 

which makes him a wealthy fool. or a poor one...

look, i built my motor. 'cuz it was fun when i had the money to do it and have the feeling of a well tuned racebike, but i was a mid-pack expert on a 600 that went faster in Matt Carr's hands within 3 laps of him getting on it for the first time (for supsension testing purposes) than it ever had in mine. shit, my buddy on a stock (motor) SV turned times within half a second of my fastest at Grattan.

 

Why tune a suspension if some pro could go 5s faster on the same setup? Why buy a power commander and muffler? Why use race tires, Schwantz used to ride around Road A doing fast expert times on pilot powers and a bone stock 750.

 

Thus the point of telling you "nothing" changed on the 400 for 2 full seasons.

It's rarely either of those 2 things keeping a new rider from going faster.

The only one I can see as useful is the Power Commander and that's only useful for making sure the throttle response is right through out the rev range. Since all steering once the bike is tipped in is throttle related it's pretty important for that to work well. Proper fueling is way more important than the number on the dyno graph.

 

I feel special when thee Monga quotes me

 

And that is the reason to keep the bike you have now for at least your first year. You have much better things to be thinking about at the racetrack than whether or not you are going to have to mess with your bike.

Spend your money and time on tracktime, tires, suspension and brakes. You should be doing nothing to the bike at the track other than pushing the starter button and going racing.

 

kbro listen to this.

 

Very good info provided already.

I'll just add.... A bike (stock, slightly modded, heavily modded, etc.) is only as fast as the rider aboard it.

 

Won and podiumed plenty of times as a amateur racer on tracks I didn't know with a good pump-gas tune on a stock motor and suspension.

Invest in yourself and suspension. MR12 and supersport builds are for pointy experts.

 

I appreciate all of the input. I ended up spending the little bit of cash I had on used race bodywork I found in the classifieds. Now if it would just cool down so I can think about something other than melting when I am at the track.

 

So I did alittle research just now at fastest lap times at Barber since 2004. In 04 Jamie Hackings R6 fastest lap was a 1:28.963, in 2010 C. Seller R6 ran a 1:28.699, and in 2014 Jake Lewis' R6 fastest lap was a 1:28.258. Me personnely I would keep the bike you currently have and freshen it up abit, get some decent suspension, and just get more seat time. Experence will always trump HP!

This is where I found all those lap times incase you would like to check them out.
http://www.amaprolive.com/live/archives/rr/