Justin Vodanovich debuted his new nitro Harley at the Aeroflow Outlaw Nitro Funny Car event at Perth Motorplex on Saturday.
Unfortunately things did not go quite as planned with Vodanovich not making it to the staging beams, but there is a steep learning curve for this highly engineered bike.
The 120ci v-twin runs a complex air clutch system similar to what fellow WA Top Fuel Motorcycle riders Jay Upton and Greg Durack use, though Vodanovich uses a unique computer to control it, designed by Clyde Carstairs.
“We have got a computer totally different to what Jay and Greg run to control the clutch and that was one of our main dramas,” he said.
Among the complexities is having to hold down a button that tells the clutch to lock up during the burnout and Vodanovich said he just needed to get the sequence right, stalling after the burnout.
The computer wasn’t the only headache, with ignition rotor problems causing a bit of a nitro bang too.
Vodanovich will be back testing before the ANDRA Top Fuel Motorcycle round at the Goldenstates in February.
