One of the important factors of drag racing motorcycles that is sometimes overlooked is staying in one place when the bike takes off.

Consistency when drag racing is a key element and sliding around on the seat during the launch can prevent you from getting your feet on the pegs, keeping your weight balance from shifting and cause you to try and pull yourself forward using your handlebars which can cause you to stray from driving in a straight line. In order to prevent this everything has been used from two-sided carpet tape, 3M spray glue, grip tape found on skateboards and bathtub bottoms and glued on rubber pads. (I am sure there are plenty more creative methods some of you can add.)

Fortunately Hybrid Racing sells a product called the “Gripster” by TechSpec which consists of a ¼ inch thick piece of padded rubber base and what looks to be a 1/16 inch thick piece of harder rubber surface material with basically a tire tread pattern on it. It comes in a roughly 8 x 12 sheet and is easy to cut to size if needed. The product is very robust in design and appears to be able to last through many seasons.

The product has a very sticky backing to it which believe it or not, is “releasable / reusable” to move it to another bike. I know this because I had to do so.

I had one to originally try on my bike at the AMA Dragbike Valdosta season opener. I prepped the seat by cleaning it with alcohol first and then applied the “Gripster”. My intentions were to use my seat with the “Gripster” on the bike I was borrowing as my bike was still under construction.

As it turned out Andy Baumbach had a new bike he was going to race in the Lectron Fuel Systems Top Gas class and it had nothing on the seat to hold him in place, so I offered to put the “Gripster” on his bike. Pulling the one I had already installed on my seat was relatively easy; it came off with the entire adhesive backing intact as advertised and stuck to Andy’s bike just like it was the first time it had been used.

After racing all weekend on it, I asked Andy what he thought. He replied, “I did not slide and I got to the Semi’s on it…”

So there you go, buy the “Gripster” from Hybrid Racing and you’ll get to the semi’s at the very least.

See ya at the track!

www.hybridracing.ca