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April
2005 |
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Our aim for the weekend was to finish the 6 hour race at Snetterton, bring ourselves back up to speed (it's been a while since any of the riders have ridden competitively), dial in the bike, and try and pick up some tips from watching the slicker teams. Saturday was an open test day. We'd had a little time on the bike a couple of weeks earlier, but my sum experience with the bike up until this weekend was little over 10 laps. In short, we had an ill handling bike and the plan was to install the shorter swingarm, and have the shock rebuilt. Both we achieved late Thursday night. In addition Neil and I went right over the bike checking everything (well except the locktied oil filter - but hey, we didn't miss anything else) I'd borrowed a van from Martin Wright (cheers matey) after my trailer lost it's roof on the way back from Snetterton after the last test session, and we were loaded and ready to rumble Friday night.
After sign on, we started a marathon test session trying to dial in suspension, cure electrical gremlins, and more importantly, work out what to do with suspected lean running. We didn't let up at all during the day, and a spirited run home and back in Scotty's 400 hp missile helped secure needed spares when it became apparent we were chasing electrical problems in a loom and CDI that we knew was running lean. It's difficult with so many things to achieve but by the end of the day, we had a bike with transformed handling, but electrical problems still occasionally plaguing the bike. Thanks have to go to Team UKRM, who loaned a shock we didn't need to use, but the heavier spring certainly made all the difference. Mark, Neil and I opted to stay at the track until we had swapped out the loom, and CDI. It didn't take long to replace the electrics, but even with much staring at circuit diagrams and wiring our spirits dropped, there was no spark once everything was in place. Thanks to Team UKRM who suggested that the wiring diagram does not detail the hidden anti-theft elements, and a further swap to a race CDI cured the problem. Our spirits lifted as we realised we were all set and we retired home satisfied and looking forward to race day. Sunday dawned and with additional team mates arriving we busied ourselves getting ready for the 15 min untimed practice. Hearts dropped again when I reported the bike was worse than ever - managing a couple of laps before dropping down to a 600cc triple. With 3 timed practice sessions looming we had just enough time to swap plugs and hope for the best. The good news was that the bike was handling fantastically. Neil managed three laps in time practice, with the bike not even giving him some grace period before running on three. I jumped on, experience the same and tried my best with less only 100 hp on tap. Scotty Managed two laps before the bike stalled on him into the Esses and he pushed the bike back. We qualified second of last ... not surprisingly considering we all ran our qualifying sessions with the problems. Back into the pits and with some sterling efforts a bit of a bodge base on some detective work we swapped out one of the coil leads, having first ruled out the coil itself an the plug caps - Wahey ... full power, no miss fire, and a pit full of smiles. We had the bike up and ready to roll with about 5 mins to race call. With the fastest lap time in practice I was nominated to choose the running order. Having done a Le Mans start before, and knowing Neil wanted to take the checkered flag, I let Scotty head out first, me second, and Neil third. With me holding the bike, and Scotty lined up for the Le Mans style start, and the balance of the team on the pit wall beaming, I can't remember a racing related moment where I've felt more proud.
With Scotty out on track and my wife and family in the paddock I had enough time before his 1/2 hour was over to say hello and have a quick chat. I got back to the pit to find Scotty sitting quietly, with Neil out on track. Scotty had come in early as the bike had misfired a couple of times, and had elected to check back with pits before continuing. So much for the running order. Neil had put in some sterling 1:19 laps ... and reported with a big smile that the bike was performing faultlessly. I headed out and instantly went into short circuit mode. In hindsight this was a mistake, as I was trying too hard, and being way too aggressive ... I did put in some regular 1:18s with the occasional 1:17 but at the cost of arm pump and fatigue by the 20 min mark. Then all hell broke loose with the back wheel. It felt like oil! I moved over to the left at Revett straight and took some time to check the rear wheel while running at 2/3rd pace. No sign of oil, so I got my head down again, and peeled into Coram's (a long 100 mph+ corner that just goes on and on), the rear wheel rolled sideways and the disappointed faces of my team mates flashed before me as I realized I was falling off the inside of the bike. A moment later I realized I'd just escaped a potential highside, and I was braking for the Russels chicane. I passed Wiz on pit wall, and signaled him pointing at the rear tyre. I spent the next lap being as careful as possible, with the rear tyre complaining with any input from the throttle. I had to come into the pits ready or not, and having a couple of arse clenching moment on the previous corners I trundled into Corams on a wide arc at 2/3 rds pace. Even with this lack of effort the rear was still loose, as if riding on marbles, and I knew I was making the right decision coming into the pits. The team were in the midst of preparing for my early arrival, and with the team wondering what to do, I went out for one more lap while they readied themselves for an early tyre change. The front had looked fine, and I took a very steady lap trying to think about what the issue might be. I arrived back into the pits with the mechanics ready for a change, a refuel. Scotty jumped on and off he went on an inter while we go another slick on the rim. We'd assumed we'd use two rear slicks all day, and had had decided we'd get another slick prepared at the 2 hour mark. Not a pit stop to set the world alight, but hey, we don't have a flash refueling rig (unless a ladder with a jerry can up on the top is classed a flash) and we don't have a quick release system on the bike. Looking at the tyre now off the bike, with Scotty on track, Neil and I just shrugged. Normally with wear like that, in such a short period of time, you'd say that the rebound needed upping. We tried that in practice, and it hadn't worked, killing the handling as the rear pumped down. So after a discussion with the Pirelli rep on location, and a pressure chart, he suggested it was cold-ripping and we needed to reduce tyre pressures. We did this and reduced the rebound damping as Neil jumped on for his change with a fresh rear slick. Neil returned politely asking for rebound returned back to where it needed to be as he'd just pogo'd the bomb whole. He was in an out of the pits in quick succession, and proceeded to stick in some sterling lap. My second session was a repeat of the first, except this time I was much more relaxed, and got my head down to some low 1:17s again. Once again, I could feel that the tyre was starting to go off towards the end of my session. Though it wasn't dead, and was only showing signs of wear. When I came in to the 'IN' board at the 30 min mark. I warned the team that the tyre was on the way out, and at this rate we'd need to buy some more tyres. The rest of the day is a bit of a blur, but we needed another tyre stop, and a Neil was given an old slick reversed on the rim for his final session. Where other teams had only one tyre change in the 6 hours, we'd done 5!
I was back out on the bike and with a couple of easy laps gave a huge thumbs up to Wiz and barrelled down the straight for the most memorable session I have ever had on a bike. I was already tired an aching from my two earlier sessions, I chilled out and worked on lines. Got my head into gear, and ran a 45 min session at consistent 1:17s again. I could have gone faster, but it felt pointless given the time we'd lost, and the need to conserve tyres. A strange calm came over me that session, and I suddenly remembered that "zone" riding fast can give a rider. I ran 45 mins at 1:17, and got off the bike feeling like I could have done that all day. To put that into context, the best time I ever saw on my TZ250 round Snetterton was a 1:16 (IIRC), and on the Supersport R6 was low 1:15. I'm more than happy to have run 1:17, with 2 years gap since I last raced, and more importantly with no heavy breathing or sweat soaked leathers. I came in almost disappointed to have been given the 'IN' board. I gave Scotty, "the tyre's on the way out" warning, and let Mark know he'd have to give Neil a new tyre for his final session, suggesting that a used slick should be reversed on the rim in preparation. Neil was happy to run on one, and followed up Scotty, who suffering from arm pump, came in a little early having fought through his own personal pain barrier. Neil, just wanting to make sure of a finish with no final dramatics, brought the bike home in a final 35 minute session on the reversed slick with metronomic Steady Eddy 1:22's lap after lap. He got his wish and took our first checkered flag. I can honestly say I couldn't give a flying foobar where we finished, but I can tell you the 217 laps we managed to string together were fought for every step of the way. While we may not of set the endurance scene alight, we did a really great line in team building, and learned exactly how tough endurance racing is. It's amazing how many friends helped out this weekend to support getting three riders out on track. But thanks to everyone - I'm humbled by your support and encouragement - roll on Brands Hatch GP circuit May 21st. Congratulations to Team UKRM, just outside the points, but a commendable 3rd in class. I suspect we have our work cut out! 1. Wasted Racing - Yamaha R6 - 282 laps 2. Moores Racing - Yamaha R1 - 278 laps 3. Team Comms4Less - Kawasaki ZXR600 - 277 laps 4. Drayton Croft - Kawasaki ZX10 - 277 laps 5. Woolf Racing - Yamaha R1 - 276 laps 6. Vent Axia - Kawasaki GSXR1000 - 274 laps 7. S & D Racing - Kawasaki ZX6R - 274 laps 8. Biker Auctions - Yamaha R1 - 274 laps 9. Buckmaster Racing - Suzuki GSXR750 - 270 laps 10. Hottrax Track Days - Kawasaki ZX10 - 268 laps 11. Xena MLC - Yamaha R1 - 268 laps 12. Totally British - Triumph 600 - 267 laps 13. Team Twilight - Yamaha R6 - 264 laps 14. Team BTW - Suzuki GSXR750 - 261 laps 15. Team BMR Yamaha R1 - 260 laps 16. Team UKRM - Kawasaki GSXR750 - 259 laps 17. Epona Racing - Honda CBR600 - 258 laps 18. Kawasaki Newcastle - Kawasaki ZXR600 - 258 laps 19. 120 + Racing - Yamaha R6 - 258 laps 20. JSE Racing - Suzuki GSXR750 - 253 laps 21. Black Cat Racing 2 - Suzuki GSXR1000 - 252 laps 22. Coyote Racing - Suzuki GSXR600 - 251 laps 23. Wrinkley Racing - Aprillia Mille - 249 laps 24. Progress Interiors - Kawasaki ZXR600 - 242 laps 25. Team HMR - Yamaha R1 - 228 laps (retired) 26. Blackcat Racing - Honda CBR1000 - 227 laps 27. RWL Racing - Suzuki GSXR750 - 217 laps 28. Hartgate Racing - Honda CBR600 - 202 laps 29. Art of Racing - Kawasaki ZX10 - 178 laps 30. C & K Racing - Suzuki GSXR1000 - 130 laps (retired) 31. Uprite Racing - Suzuki GSXR750 - 123 laps (retired) 32. GB Moto - Yamaha R1 - 35 laps (retired) 33. Team Monstermoto - Honda CBR1000 - 22 laps (retired)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Class C Class D
BEST PIT CREW: OLDEST TEAM OUT: PIRELLI TYRE WINNERS: Class B - Drayton Croft
11th April Well? ... The sun is out, spring has sprung, you have no excuses. What did you do this weekend? For my part, Sue, Charlotte and I, and the RS500 travelled 11 hours by road and ferry to partake of the legendary hospitality of Keith and Janice on the Isle of Man. The journey on Friday was very wet ... It rained almost constantly, and with the RS on an open trailer I kept worrying about the fact that my beautifully clean and polished RS was now suffering it's first serious precipitation :o( Arriving at Ramsey early evening, and after getting Charlotte to bed, Keith insisted that "the boys" head down to the pub to shoot the breeze while consuming some of the Islands finest brews. Finally got to meet Slick Bass, tuner extraordinaire - and what a character he is. The "couple down the pub" turned into a 1:30 am to bed session, and I was of course rewarded by my daughter waking 15 mins after I climbed into bed. Lets just be thankful that the Island has a "clean beer" brewing policy that ensures hangovers are quite tame!
The trackday on Saturday was rather wet, but a damp track with occasional standing water was not going to put me off. Besides the bike was dirty anyway. The theme for the day was to talk about the bike and RGs and Mark Dent's tuning abilities all day apparently. I was even followed to the circuit by a curious local, who had seen the four pipes, and just had to see what was in the bike. We were descended on by him as soon as we got out of the car .... He even took photos!! Apparently he used to race KR750s, and recently went back to racing, travelling to the US to take part in some annual race ut there. There are only two types of people on the Island apparently ... Those that ride bikes fast and those that used to ride bikes fast. It's been months since I lit the wick on the RS, and she rewarded me
by firing up after a most unusual delay of 10 kicks. The first session
was rather tentative, with me re-acquainting myself to the RS power delivery,
and it's relatively poor handling (relative to the GSXR - I really ought
find the time to sort the RS). In spite of the force 9 gale and wet conditions
I really did enjoy the session, and even tempted providence by flicking
the adjustable map from the standard (wet Having got my eye into the run of the circuit I started to up the pace a bit, and with a drying track, by the 3rd session I was apparently hanging with some "fast boys". Keith saying that the trio of riders on 600's I was staying with included 2 previous Manx TT winners - or some such!! Certainly it was a great session, and I feel smug that I felt I was being ginger with the throttle until absolutely certain I could pin it. So the RS hasn't lost any power over the winter then :o) Sunday was equally entertaining with Sue enjoying less of the scenery and more of the running dialogue about the TT circuit we were driving round. The visit to the club races in the afternoon was hugely entertaining with Fozzy borrowing JayGees single and swapping paintwork with the locals and coming away with a very very credible 4th - shame the blanking plate started to weep oil :o( On return to chez McKay, with the sun blazing in the late afternoon sky it was rude not to get the RS off the trailer one more time, and with a full tank of Super U/L I headed off the wrong way round the TT circuit from Ramsey. Rather than go through Douglas I turned round when I got to Union Mills, completing the whole circuit until I reached the Creg at the end of the mountain section where I turned round again, and came back over the mountain into Ramsey. Enough to nearly empty the tank! Mind you, she was wound fully open a good proportion of the time. The mountain is road nirvana! With double the UK speed limit indicated on my speedo at one point on the mountain I have to say my heart rate was up in similar figures - there's something about the sound of a tuned gamma motor on full song that gets my heart beating. I've fallen back in love with the RS again - or rather I've rediscovered my love for the motor Mark has given me .... Having not ridden the bike much at all towards the end of the summer of 2004, and of course just looking at the bike in the garage over the winter, I'd simply forgotten how utterly ballistic, yet linear the motor is. With a quick splash of fuel in the tank for Keith it would have been rude not to offer the bike to him for a "Wee Blast" - suffice to say I think he enjoyed the experience :0) I hope the trip is a good omen for the biking season to come ... I honestly cannot remember when I've enjoyed a wet weekend away so much before . With Snetterton endurance still fresh in my memory, the trip to the Island this weekend, I'm in bike heaven at the moment. What's best though is there's still so much of the season to look forward to. Honda MX school in a couple of weeks, Brands GP Endurance in May, 24 hour in June etc etc etc. Bikes ... Fan-bloody-tastic. Good to see Foz, Fizzy, JayGee and recent Island inhabitant Andy C. ... And of course a huge thank you to Keith and Janice for their hospitality. The visit would not have been the same without it. [1] The fens is really having an influence on my daughter's accent recently.
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The
plan for the weekend was to spend a little bit of time enjoying Jurby
track, take in a lap or two of the TT course, and placate Sue with some
touristy things. As it happened, my 2 1/2 year old daughter came to my
rescue - she enjoyed herself so much at the track, that *Sue* decided
to replace a visit to a Wild Life Park for some more time at the Jurby
circuit to watch some club racing. I really do love my wife :o) Charlotte
obliged by being sweetness and light in the paddock, and really is quite
capable of doing enough cuteness to make even hardened racer types melt
and give her attention. "When I get bigger and bigger, I going to
have a black and gold and pink boik [1] and be a big gurl wif Barbi hair
and wif my boik, won't I?"