Factory engine kits/rebuilds

Has anyone run one of these setups for only trackdays? I was thinking that an already track-prepped cbr600 with the engine getting something shy of a superbike rebuild would be a lot of fun. Of course, I can't afford one, but hey, dreaming is fun, right?

I think it was 06 where they offered an HRC prepped CBR600RR. that woulda been sweet to get my hands on. But I'm very happy with my stock motor 07. I'm usually not even at the front of the Amateur pack when racing but I know a stock motor can be ridden fairly competitively even among Experts. for only track days a stock motor is the way to go in my opinion. far less maintenance and you don't really have to worry much about the motor going pop.

I don't have any desire to have a race prepped motor for track day use. I like the reliability of stock and the ability to use pump gas.

Oh, wait, I have an HRC kit engine apart on my workbench right now that's being built with kit parts again.

I look at the motard a little differently though. For any of the bigger bikes I still want a stock engine other than exhaust and a matching tune. I'd spend my money on suspension, slipper, rear sets, lighter wheels, brake upgrades, quick shifter, riding school, all before I'd touch the engine.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Duca...otorcycles&hash=item4843a2be49#ht_1416wt_1165

I changed my mind. I think this would require race fuel...and I want it.

I love you man!

...what triggered this was seeing something somewhere about a 140hp 600cc build and thinking how cool that would be to flog.

Alright. I'm going to be the downer, here. A quick background story: back in the mid 90's we ran a F2 "hybrid" in WERA endurance. It was an F2 with the F3 carbs and pressurized airbox (we called it the F2/3rds). I built the motors with some light modifications and we posted respectable results. The team captain insisted on a built motor (by a Suzuki guy) for our last race at Road Atlanta. Needless to say, I was holding a cam and bits of valves in my hands after three laps of practice. Luckily, I brought a spare bone-stock motor with us and we swapped it out to make qualifying and the race. We finished 3rd in class. Afterwards, we took it over to the dyno in the parking lot for the spectators and it registered about 80hp.

Long story short, that experience taught me that the rider is so much more of the equation than the bike. We had a guy on our endurance team that was certifiably nuts but he was the reason we brought home wood.

HP can only get you so far.

Of course, this was fucking eons ago and I've been drinking tonight...

I race and I have a stock motor, for the sake of reliability and cost. Heck, I even run pump gas.

I truly believe my pennies would be better spent on developing my riding skills. I haven't had the opportunity to attend any type of 'high performance' riding schools yet but i do see the value as it's the only 'go fast' mod that will work on every motorcycle I EVER ride.

Besides, it's more fun passing litre bikes on the straights with my stock (relative term) 600!

My thoughts for trackdays is if you want more power, just get a bigger bike and still leave it (the motor) stock, unless you enjoy building motors and want to do it yourself. Buying a built motor to go faster would be a waste of money for most trackday guys.

I guess what I'm saying is that you need to ride it to it's limits to realize the gains. If a person isn't already using all that the engine has to offer they may well not even notice the incremental increase in power. This is just my opinion, but if you aren't racing it doesn't make sense to pay someone to build a motor (now if you build yourself it's a different story because the "building" may be the reason itself) unless you just want to spend the coin.

I wasn't near as eloquent in my post last night...

Bingo! I know that two stock bikes and a metric shit-ton of schools and seat time would be money far more logically spent than on a single bike with a beautific engine build - even if said build ended up being reliable.

I've just always found the factory race kits to be irresistibly sexy and would love to look at and wrench on them - even if the increased power really did only come into play a couple of times a lap.

Now that you mention it, I remember the full sato exhaust on the 954 had a wonderful midrange/upper end pull - even with a canned pc map.

Someday, we will be able to 'print' our own exhausts. That'll be so badass...