[dasrider]

So I finally got a trackday on the RC51 this past weekend at VIR. Ambient temperatures started in the mid-40's up to very comfortable upper-60's by the afternoon sessions.

The bike ran nice and cool all morning but the afternoon temps started to worry me. I was pushing 218-219 if I got in any kind of draft on the straights. Eventually the fans must have kicked on and she'd get back down to 209-210 before creeping back up, this was all at speed. Is this normal on track? I'm worried when I do some more days over the summer I might overheat the piggy.

I'm running standard radiators but with the Spal fan mod on both. I had some crappy Cheetah plastics if that makes any difference.

 

[AKDMA]

The fans kick on at 220. I bet you won't see more than that. Were you hoping it'd stay lower? What coolant are you running?

 

[forsaken82]

Unless your not cooling off, I wouldn't stress it. You could always hey some radiator fins or front mounts if its a big deal to you

 

[DesperateSP2]

With air scoops installed I was usually around 88°C except during the hottest part of the day (around 30°C air temperature) when the bike would hit 95°C.
Since you haven't got any cooling mod those are normal track running temperature.

 

[dasrider]

ok, that's kind of what I was thinking since everybody says the RC runs hot. I did just flush the system and refilled with distilled water and water wetter.

I might look at fins of some sort, anybody still sell them?

 

[johnyisthedevil]

perfectly normal. fins aren't really going to make much of a difference. you might be running a little lean at speed, a fatter map on your pc might help to bring the temps down a tad.

 

[poolboy706]

Apparently, 210 is the RC's optimal temp. Read it hear on the forum so it could be misleading but it makes sense given hour yours was running.

 

[AKDMA]

190-210 is supposed to be the ideal range.. be nice to keep it closer to 190 if possible though.

 

[Flippo]

With radiator scoops 84-90C depending on air temperature

 

[b.miller123]

Check your radiators for bent fins. Mine had what I am fairly sure was a dramatic reduction in effectiveness after this happened. I don't know when it happened, but it really seemed like the bike was staying hotter at my last trackday than it normally does.

Installing a manual switch is also a nice option. As stated, you could be running hot because of your map too.

Mine did this with the spal fan:

I bit of warning, that I have been meaning to post up about is that with these fans, I had some serious bending of the fins on one of my radiators. It seems that while the grate is good to keep stuff out, it won't keep everything out. I think that mine picked up some rubber bits off the track and ground them into the rads, judging by the bits of rubber that I found in the fins.

The fan blade was definitely not hitting the rad, it just shoved the rubber or pebble into the fins.

My suggestions would be to take some material out of the shroud, about the size of a nickel near the bottom for stuff to escape. Maybe one between each mount. No need to make it huge, as the grates on the back are pretty small.

This is what the spal did:

And for a reference, this is what the stock one did to the other side:

 

[RxRC]

So I finally got a trackday on the RC51 this past weekend at VIR. Ambient temperatures started in the mid-40's up to very comfortable upper-60's by the afternoon sessions.

The bike ran nice and cool all morning but the afternoon temps started to worry me. I was pushing 218-219 if I got in any kind of draft on the straights. Eventually the fans must have kicked on and she'd get back down to 209-210 before creeping back up, this was all at speed. Is this normal on track? I'm worried when I do some more days over the summer I might overheat the piggy.

If I remember mine runs just a bit cooler on the track but that's when it's 85 degrees plus.

The thing with all of the "overheating" threads this board has seen is that the bikes in question are never really overheating. They're certainly running hot, just not overheating. The temps you saw are fine, but you were riding on a really cool day too. Were you running 50/50?

And the fan kicks on at 215.

 

[forsaken82]

mine turn on at 220

 

[RxRC]

mine turn on at 220

Okay, yours is different. All three times my fan has came on it's been at 215 degrees. 100% stock cooling system running Honda Type II coolant.

 

[AKDMA]

Mine comes on at 220 as well.

 

[Waldo]

The only time I check temps during a track session is when I am heading to the pits. I am somewhere between 220 and 230 (I have seen higher). This is at MMP with SPAL fan and lower temp switch running distilled water with water wetter. I have since installed Turnone scoops. Heading to Thunder hill this weekend, will let you know what happens at sea level.

 

[dasrider]

All three times my fan has came on it's been at 215 degrees.

haha! Yeah, this is my streetbike too, and my fans kick on numerous times everytime I'm in the city. Everything cools normally though, so I'm not too stressed. I'll probably be doing my next TD in June so we'll see how hot she gets then.

Were you running 50/50?

I put in the recommended amount of water wetter from the bottle instructions, so about 10 capsfuls, maybe a bit more. The rest is delicous, store-bought distiller water.


@b.miller123
I probably need to pull the rads and have a look on the inner side. However, I don't see myself doing that until it's time to drain and refill with something that doesn't freeze below 32 degrees.