Go-karts, Motorcycles and a Harley Joke

(I've been pretty damned tired when I get home from work these days. Ten hour days and a two hour drive just drain me out. Other family matters are having to be dealt with too. So the lack of content has been the result to my blogging).


My sons birthday is this Saturday and he wants to go to the go-kart track for some competition. He's a pretty good driver so I don't EVER just let him win. He's a tough cookie to pass and stay ahead of.

When I was his age, I had my own kart and spent, god only knows how many, hours on that thing. I am a firm believer that a kid having a go-kart or a motorcycle actually does make them a much better driver than their peers when it comes time for the real thing. It puts them way ahead by the fact that they have learned how to control a vehicle. By the time they get behind the wheel/bars of a street vehicle the driving and knowing what to do is already embedded and they know how to re-act by instinct.

Go-karts and motorcycles are actually teaching them but to them they are just having a good time. It teaches braking and how to control a slide to action and reaction of a vehicle. I also credit my youthful use of karts and motorcycles for saving my ass more than once on both types of vehicles when I got my license. Only have had one accident in all my years that was my fault in a car and it was a minor bump up. And, when it snows or gets icy I can control a vehicle and know what to do. I would highly recommend that parents of pre-teens and teens allow these kids to have at least one of these. You may think it's dangerous, and I won't say there not, but you'll have much less to worry about when they come of driving age. They should be supervised but also allowed to experiment with the vehicle.

My parents also enrolled me in a driver education course when I was fifteen which was not just one of those driver ed cars with the big sign on top. Nope, this was a closed course that had most everything you'd encounter on the road to teach in a safer environment. They even had a skid pad which would put the car in a skid on wet pavement and you had to correct. Traffic lights, highway on ramps, curvey roads and etc. Myself and a couple of others aced the course because we had a heads up on the others be cause of go-karts and what not. We didn't know everything when we started but we knew a ton more than most kids getting behind the wheel. The driver course took care of the rest.
My parents where pleased and the taking of the course got them lower rates for insuring a teen driver.

But anyway, about the Harley joke. Dawn Skip, A friend from Britain who publishes her own Magazine called "Anything Goes", sent me this and I thought I'd share it. She and her husband were riding long before most of us were even born, just so's ya know.

Joke: What is the difference between a Harley and a Hoover?
Answer: The location of the dirt bag. ----hey!!!

World Trade Center

I missed it by two days but, the ground breaking for the World Trade Center was on August 5th 1966.
Not much else for me to mention about the WTC because I was only four at the time except that 1966 was also the year of the updated new Volkswagen (Peoples Car) Beetle.
It was the only year for the 1300cc engine which obtained 28.6 mpg and the car had a top speed of 74 mph. It also sported new vented wheels to help cool the drum brakes all for around $1700.

I've been checking out old Beetles and Karmann-ghias. Karmann-ghias were built mostly in Brazil and takes it's name from it's designer. The bodies were mostly unchanged from 1955 to 1974 but had a more powerful engine which could reach 80 mph. They also produced convertible versions which are a rare find today.

What do the WTC and Volkswagen have to do with one another? Only that the visions of men who wanted to make the world a better place did so with lasting perserverance (Spelling). Unlike other parts of the world bent on nothing but destruction, pain and suffering.

Just a little of my own thoughts about where the world has been and what it is becoming. What would the world be like if we all destroyed others creations and killed those that we didn't like or understand? How is it that two different species of wasps can live next to each other in the same six hole birdhouse but we as humans can not? We are the only species on earth who will try to destroy all of the others heard because they are different.

Twin Jugs Racing

www.ecta-lsr.com

Okay, now that I have your attention let me direct you to ECTA Racing. ECTA is the East Coast Timing Association which runs in Laurinburg/Maxton North Carolina. I've been to this track a few years ago when I helped out with the BicWig Land Speed team of Jim Bodenheimer. I can even remember my initiation into the realms of a full fledged team member and the long nights but that's a different story.

A bit about the ECTA track is that it is what used to be an airstrip back in 1943 or so. The runway that is used for the land speed course was part of the Maxton Army base where glider pilots trained for the invasion of Normandy in WWII.
After years of non-use, the ECTA group found the abandoned as well as overgrown runway, leased it and hauled off tons of debri and repaired the 1.9 mile strip. On my visit, not only did the vast expanse of open space take me in but the awe of just envisioning the pilots of years ago walking these same grounds as I. Several foundations of the men's quarters still dot the location as do the pads that tied down the aircraft.

Racers such as Todd Dross, the pilot of the Twin Jugs Land Speed Sportster, ran 140.937 mph here in May of 06. Another rider, Karen Batts, set a Land Speed record on her Buell back on 4/03 at 151.037 mph.
There are several Harley powered land speed racers that show up at this event every year with some impressive speeds. But there are also plenty of makes of motorcycles from every make and engine category from which to choose. The bike I didn't see was the Worlds Fastest Indian. Or any other Indians for that matter.

You know about the Worlds Fastest Indian don't you? It is piloted by Burt Munro from New Zealand. The reason I mention all this about the Land speed racing in North Carolina is because I have only recently seen the movie myself. Of course, Burt raced out in Utah breaking the 200 mph record and ECTA wasn't even a gleam in anyone's eye then. The movie brought back memories of many who race at ECTA on a shoe string budget just to get their fix for speed. This was something I could relate to in the movie about some putting everything into the racer even if it means skipping a meal or two. The hunger for speed for these on a shoe string takes a backseat to the hunger in the belly. Ah yes. The Burt Munro spirit lives on in many a motorcycle racer just like Burt.
If you want to race your own bike, be it stock or modified, on the east coast then visit the www.ecta-lsr.com site to get your fix. If you want to see a great movie about land speed motorcycle racing then see The Worlds Fastest Indian.

Lets see now, I have a 500 Yamaha just sitting around collecting dust. HMMMM, I wonder how fast I could make it run. Hmmmm....

WooleyB

Patent Info


I know, I know, this isn't about motorcycles...again. I do have something bike related for perhaps this weekend but not yet. I find it hard to write about motorcycles because mine are in pieces and I'm trying to figure out how to get a complete one. I'm planning this ride gig for next year and still don't have something complete to ride on. My Panhead Engine rebuild alone would cost what a good used Shovelhead would cost and finding what I need for it is so overpriced anymore. Have you seen the prices for Panhead parts...used? Collectors and eBay have driven everything to the stratosphere. My 1977 Yamaha is not even worth mentioning unless someone needs it for parts. I have anything you would need for one you might be restoring.

But this is where the Patent info comes in. I have made some proto-type parts for a product and wonder if anyone knows what the process is for getting at least a Patent Pending for them. After searching and trying different things I've come up with something. Talking the idea around with a few people, they too agree that this item will be a seller. Talking with a gentleman tonight who has 27 years in sales and marketing, I was given some pointers and what the next step should be before showing the item around to anyone else, less someone steals the idea. He's seen it happen before.

So, how do I get the papers for filing a patent and should I have a lawyer involved? You see ads for patent kits but that, I'm told, is just not the way to go. It's been suggested to me that this item might have more potential in sales than was originally anticipated by me. I was looking at possibly 1200 to 1500 units a year but have been told the numbers would most likely be higher so doing it from home at first would be fine only, don't count on operating from home to long. Even got a wild hair and looked at a small cheap building to operate from should the need arise however, I know it would be down the line but it's fun looking.
The fact is, all I wanted to do was sell enough to finance my motorcycle and ride for next year and didn't actually count on the type of response I've received.
I guess sometimes things just fall in your lap when your not looking to make a windfall.