well, for the three of you that pop-in around here...I had another opportunity to be on Sam's Nitro Conspiracy crew last month and it was a helluva experience. It was a challenge for the team to get that machine to make a full pull, but we kept at it and I finally got to experience seeing that rig go clean down the track in anger.
I met a few different folks on this crew, who are long-time members of Sam's crew. It was a great time.
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| Mitch Brown's TFMC ate thru a piston in Thursdays practice. |
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| Here, Mitch Brown's rig is undergoing an engine swap due to the eaten piston. TFMC don't rebuild the engines between rounds, if there are any wounds, the whole mill is R&R'd. |
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| Clutch deatils on Mitch's rig. This bike is a younger sibling to Nitro Conspiracy, both made by Sam. |
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| Carbon rear brake. Note the pattern of pins inside the rotor, they are rear wheel speed triggers for the sensor, pictured above the caliper. These machines have loads of information that is monitored and affects the tune-up. |
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| This is one of my jobs; Fuel lackey. I strive to make it as clean of a fuel / defuel as I can. Its still a mess tho, especially the defuel. |
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| Here, the batch of nitro is getting air agitiated. This incorporates the alky to blend in with the nitro, the bike runs a 90% nitro/10% methanol (alky) fuel. |
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Atmospheric conditions and temperature affect the blend, and must be carefully controlled.
Science! |
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| Note the cut-back electrodes, these plugs are specific to nitro. This is a warm-up set and are changed out with new for the run. |
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| 630 chain, double / double. |
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| Nylotron sliders, made by Sam. This assembly has been onboard since the inception and shows little to no wear. Astounding considering it is on the tension side of the chain string. |
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| Mitch's and Sam's rigs waiting for Fridays qualifier |
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| Details of the hat in Mitch's rig. |
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A noteworthy difference on Mitch's bike is the ignition system. He runs sequential battery-fired coils in lieu of a magneto.
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| Whereas Sam uses conventional magneto ignition. This is the secondary transformer, and this is the high-voltage side of the system the ends at the plugs. |
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This is the third MC that was present, 186 cubic inches of nitro burning twin.
Piloted by Dave Larson, who places a ballistic plate inside his jacket to mitigate his ribcage disintegrating *when* (not if) the whole thing pops. Note the straps over the jugs. |
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| No supercharger here, just a godawful amount of displacement. |
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| Same style clutch here on these TF twins, a lot easier to get access to! |
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| Crew Todd on the left, Bruno right. |
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| Air in / air out |
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| 9 stages of weight, each a tunable detail |
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| These standoffs are set to control the distance from the hat to stack. |
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| Clutch plates by Boninfante |
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| Cannon actuator |
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| Easy access to service the clutch, all things considered. |
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| Here Ed speaks with Terry Kizer (funnybike champ / Mr. Turbo) on the right. |
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| Sam on left setting the barrel valve with Jay Upton (of Nitro Knight fame) |
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| Sam not only won that race, but won the MWDRS championship in 2022. |
