When MotoGP comes to the heartland of America, most eyes are on the internationally flavored event at Indianapolis Motor Speedway as the world’s best riders take on one of the oldest, most historic racing venues in the world. But it’s also the heartland of America, and nobody in motorcycling has more of a lock on that than Harley-Davidson. To celebrate its own racing efforts—the pair of 10-lap AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 races running at the Speedway that same weekend, plus the Indy Mile Grand National Dirt Track—H-D invited journalists to sample the full experience, including a lap of the Speedway road course on the 2012 Night Rod Special and 10th Anniversary V-Rod in conjunction with the Harley Owners Group on Friday afternoon. Added bonus was the tour of Vance & Hines’ Indianapolis production facility and race shops where the Pro Stock drag-racing V-Rods are built, tested and maintained. It was unfortunate that the Indy Mile portion was cancelled due to the tragic stage awning collapse at the Indiana State Fairgrounds the previous week, but the weekend was still a gearhead’s dream.
Okay, so the 10th Anniversary V-Rod might not have been my first choice for spinning a lap on the track, it was still a very cool opportunity to see firsthand what racers were up against. Despite early chatter from the MotoGP riders about the “terrible” condition of the freshly paved infield road course at the Speedway, I was blown away by how perfectly smooth the surface was on my single V-Rod-mounted lap, even if I couldn’t get a feel for outright grip available as we paraded around. But I honestly can’t think of any track in the world that I’ve ridden on that has a smoother paving job. Of course, by Sunday when the track had “rubbered in” and grip got to normal levels, the complaints stopped and the track record fell to Casey Stoner with a 1:39.807 tour en route to victory in the MotoGP race. My lap behind the H.O.G. riders was considerably slower on the V-Rod, but enjoyable nonetheless.
Actually, the 10th Anniversary V-Rod, which is in fact mechanically identical to the new Night Rod Special but with styling reminiscent of the original 2002 V-Rod, was better suited than ever thanks to tweaks to the chassis and riding position. Up front is a new 43mm inverted fork in place of the conventional unit used on last year’s Night Rod. Front-end geometry has been altered, too; fork angle has been pulled back from 36 to 34 degrees, while trail increased from 4.5 to 5.6 in. Wheelbase, as a result, is slightly shorter, now measuring 67.0 in. compared to 67.2. Seat height is identical to the Night Rod’s at 26.7 in. and features the same 2.9 in. of rear-wheel travel. New five-spoke cast aluminum wheels weigh 8 lb. less (combined) than on last year’s Rod, which further contributes to nice steering manners, even in light of the monster 240mm rear tire.
Ergonomic changes include a new pull-back handlebar that is 3.0 in. closer to the rider and forward-foot controls that are 1.25 in. closer. The combination provides a much more comfortable seating position, especially when tackling curves that one might find when riding around, say, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s infield road course.
Saturday morning, we headed over to the 100,000-square foot Vance & Hines facility, where Harley-DavidsonScreamin’ Eagle/Vance & Hines rider and 2008 NHRA Pro Stock champ Ed Krawiec gave us a full tour of the race shop including the dyno cells for its V-Rod racebikes. Seeing the operation in person really makes you appreciate how much effort goes into winning an NHRA title. Most impressive was seeing all the man-hours that go into building the drag bikes. Engine cases start life as a 400-pound block of aluminum! After 20 days of being milled down by the CNC machines, the 30-pound, ready-to-use pieces are completed. In finished form, the V-Twin race engines produce 385 horsepower, never exceeding the rule-dictated rev-limit of 10,000 rpm. Earlier this year, Krawiec set the Pro Stock Motorcycle speed record with a 199.26-mph pass at Gainesville; 200 mph can’t be too far off.
Most of the exhaust-pipe production at the Indy V&H factory (it also has a Santa Fe Springs, California, operation) is reserved for performance pipes; sportbike, motocross and dragbike applications. According to Krawiec, 250 exhausts a day ship out to distributors from this location. Another 100,000-square foot building under construction at the same site in Indy.
Saturday afternoon, we headed back to the Speedway for MotoGP qualifying followed by the first of two XR1200 races. In hindsight, it’s clear that the XR1200 race was the best of the entire weekend. All three FIM classes—MotoGP, Moto2 and 125cc Grand Prix—all turned into processional affairs at the front of the pack (although, watching Yamaha’s Ben Spies recover from his ninth-place start to finish third was incredible). The XR race, in contrast, was a five-way battle for the lead between privateer Tyler O’Hara, championship leader Chris Fillmore, Steve Rapp, Jason DiSalvo and Jeremy McWilliams. On the final lap, Rapp forced his way inside of McWilliams, who in turn rammed Fillmore off the track into a crash. McWilliams lost the front and crashed a few corners later, leaving the battle for the podium to the remaining three. In the end, O’Hara grabbed his first win in the class followed by Rapp and DiSalvo.
After the smoke had settled from the MotoGP race on Sunday, race two of the XR1200 double-header hit the track. Once again, we were treated to a barnburner of a race at the front of the field with Fillmore getting his revenge and taking the win over Rapp and O’Hara.
Walking Meridian Street in the heart of Indianapolis on any given night during the weekend further reinforced Harley’s presence. Among the wide variety of machines parked for blocks on both sides and down the center of the closed-off street, were a huge number of Harleys, especially compared to the scene in downtown Monterey, California, during the other U.S. MotoGP event. If you missed the Indy MotoGP weekend, don’t fret, as MotoGP’s rights holders Dorna and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway have agreed to a three-year extension of the event, which will surely include a return of the Indy Mile and the rest of the annual festivities.
