Cartagena Test 2009
February for 5 days in the sun to get to know the Honda RS125 that I'll be racing in the Relentless GP125 British Championship.
Honda RS125
is being provided by Kinpac Racing.
The Story So Far...
Stuff from Superteens, Metrakit and Minimotos.
Niall's Blog
ThundersportGB, Mallory Park, 13/14/15 March 2009
The plan was to take in a race meeting before the first round of the BSB Championship at Brands Hatch to get into the routine of qualifying and race starts. We headed down to Mallory Park to compete in Round 1 of the ThundersportGB GP3 Championship full of optimism. The weather forecast was reasonable for this time of year and with full grids promised I couldn’t wait for first qualifying. When we arrived on Friday morning the paddock was pretty much full but we managed to find a spot behind the scrutineering shed. The gazebo was quickly assembled, the van unloaded and we were all set for qualifying. At this point I could not have foreseen what was going to unfold in the next couple of days, turning out to be a test of resolve and character. First qualifying started well enough but I had to pull in after ten minutes to remove a strip of tape from the radiator as the temperature climbed to 70C. This seemed to do the trick as the temperature lowered to 62C for the last few laps. We did notice that the water level in the radiator had gone down slightly while checking the bike over back at the gazebo.
Second qualifying was interrupted by a few spots of rain half way through the session and I pulled in as I didn’t want to repeat my Cartagena aerobatic display. This meant that my lap time did not improve from the morning’s qualifying placing me 21st on the grid. Worryingly, the water level was down again so Dad whipped the head off to see what the script was. It was not looking good. There was evidence of detonation on the piston crown and on the top of the barrel to such an extent that the detonations had burst the o-ring. This could explain the water loss. Luckily we had a spare barrel and new piston with us so Friday evening was spent preparing the Honda for Saturday’s 18 lap race. On the Saturday we had some help at hand with George, Matt and Malcolm arriving just before morning warm up. George looks after the engines, Matt takes care of the data logging and Malcolm is the Max Clifford of Kinpac Racing.
Morning warm up was a disaster as the bike only lasted half a lap before coasting to a halt. Dad did not torque down the barrel bolts sufficiently so the radiator emptied itself into the engine. The engine nuts were tightened down properly and I was all set for Race 1. I got a reasonable start but almost collected a rider in front who virtually stalled on the line. It’s the worst scenario in racing. I swerved to avoid the stationary bike and started a chain reaction which caused two riders to come into contact with one of them parting company with his bike. Fortunately no one was hurt in the incident. I settled into race mode and was up to 15th position when the engine expired after just 7 laps. Back at the gazebo it was confirmed that the bike suffered a top end seizure, melting the piston and badly scoring the barrel. When the bike slowed the temp gauge was showing ‘Hi Temp’ which means that it had gone above 70C which may have contributed to the problem. At this point I was totally dejected as we had no more barrels. It looked as if we were ready to pack up and go home but Matt said not to worry and started to make a few calls. Within half an hour he located a new barrel and set of to Derby to fetch it. George did his magic and fitted the barrel, checked the squish and left Dad to finish off the bike. It was about 9pm before we made the short journey to the B&B to rest for the night.
Two 12 Lap races were scheduled on Sunday’s program. I only lasted 3 laps in the first race as the detonation counter was reading 160 so I thought I should pull in before causing any damage to the engine. The head was whipped off and the piston checked. The piston and head showed signs of detonation but it wasn’t too bad and the consensus was that I should go out for Race 2. The water level was slightly down again which was still an unresolved mystery. Race 2 was fairly uneventful and I brought the wee Honda home in 17th place. Although I was disappointed with the technical issues with the bike I still enjoyed my weekend at Mallory. I must mention that ThundersportGB run a slick operation. Even with the number of race stoppages on Saturday they managed to keep things on track with plenty of tannoy announcements keeping you informed of what’s going on. Big thanks also to George, Matt, Malcolm, Emma, DJ and Jamie for the help and moral support over the weekend. Our next meeting was scheduled to be Round 1 of the Relentless GP125 British Championship but it looks as if we will enter the KDMC Meeting at Knockhill to make sure that we have ironed out the bike gremlins.
See ya.
Niall
