27 June 2006:

It's been a while since any updates, but then it's ben a rough time for the team recently. As the front page states, our friend Steve left us recently and that's been hard to come to terms with. His funeral was a very well attended affair, with a beautiful eulogy read by his good friend of 30 years, Peter castilow. I myself, had the honour of being asked to ride his Goldwing in the funeral procession, which went very well and was a fiting trbute to a great man. I'll be adding a tribute page to Steve, but I haven't the words to do it justice at the moment..once I have, It'll be online.

 

22Apr/2006:

Thank God we've finally started the season. It was getting to the point where none of us could bear to wait any longer to race. The full race report is online, and without giving too much away, we were handed a bit of a get out of jail free card at Brands.

The forks have been sent off to K-Tech, who are revalving them etc, and we'll also be changing the base set up on the bike to one that was recommended by Chris Taylor of the aforementioned suspender specialists.

We'll also be testing Bridgestone slick tyres at Snetterton on May 5th. I really hope we can get a nice set up for that round, as I want to carry the momentum we've started the championship year with right to the end.

Best news of the week is that Jason Webb hasn't torn his tendons. Instead, the x rays revealed a broken knuckle on his thumb once the cast was removed. Brilliant news as that will be much quicker to heal.

 

11/Apr/2006:

 

With Cookie not having ridden the bike before, we headed off to Cadwell for a test day (see 2006 section for report). We just have the final tweaks to make to the bike, but the 24 litre fueltank is ready and fitted, although we haven't decided whether to use it at Brands yet, and we just have some bodywork to finalise. Naturally there is always something that gets done at the very last minute. Wouldn't be racing otherwise, would it!

 

21/Mar/2006:

Oh dear!...Our test day at Brands Indy didn't start out quite how we wanted it to. Jason highsided his 400 on the 4th lap of the first practise session, and is now wearing a cast to immobilise his severely torn thumb tendons. More info in the 2006 section.

 

1/Mar/2006:

Things have been progressing solidly, with the odd hiccup. We had one of our sponsors enlarge one of the fueltanks for us, but with no prior experience of the job, coupled with the fact that I didn't exactly spell out whatI wanted with any degree of accuracy, the result was described as "Like a new sort of Cylon warship" by Ian Jenkins..nice one mate...you sure it wasn't more like a Klingon bird of prey? The second attempt was much more like it, and we'll have a nice 24 Litre tank for the Snett races, where fuel consuption is worse than my V6 Alfa Romeo..and believe me, that takes some doing!

Mechanic Lee has finally got himself another road bike...a Kawasaki Z1000. It's very nice and we expect to see him wheelying all over Lincolnshire on it.

We've been allocated our number, and It's 85. Strangely enough, It's the number that Uprite racing have used for the past few seasons so I'm not exactly sure why they don't want to use it this year. It could have something to do with the fact that they haven't enjoyed the best of luck over the past seasons, so maybe they think that a new number will bring better fortune. If this is the case, I'd be surprised, as Max Scholl their team manager seems like much more of a pragmatic sort of fella than that. Anyway, whatever the case, I'm not convinced that a number can bring you good or bad luck. If that were the case, then every number I've ever used has brought me bad luck at some point throughout a seasons racing!

Ironically enough,we've booked a test day at Brands Indy on March 18th, and looking at Uprite's website, so have they. It'll be nice to share the track with the team that is likely to be the crew to beat in our particular class. Perhaps we can pick up a few pointers on the day.

I'm also planning on racing in the US of A this year. I sold some bike parts to a guy in California called Dave Wallis, and we got on very well. He's coming over in July to race with us at Snett, and I'm going over there to race at Infineon in September/October..can't wait!

13/Jan/2006:

Ooops!..I've really left it a while before updating the site this time, haven't I!

Well, no matter, at least it gives me a few things to write about.

I've been quite busy buying up spares for the 750 and generally getting it ready to race. It's now fitted with a full Yoshimura Tri-oval system and has been treated to a power commander and K&N filter for good measure. At the minute the bike is kicking out a fraction under 130 bhp, which should do nicely. Some of the 1000 twins and the odd 750 will be putting out more, but I don't think we'll be at any disadvantage at all.

The bike is now resplendent in its new livery, and I must say that I'm really chuffed with the way it looks. Big thanks to Dave Cooper at H.C racetech for sorting it out in time for the team party in December.

Team party you say?

Yes that's right, we had a team launch party on December 17th at Christophers in Lincoln. It was a bit of a fundraiser as well, with money from ticket sales and the raffle we held going towards the race team. We even gave away a holiday in Turkey, courtesy of Steve Hambrook who owns a villa out there. I'd also like to thank Andy Green from Ultimate Finish, who put in a huge amount of work to make sure the party went smoothly. It's looking likely that we'll have another party in summer, based around a large BBQ, so if you get an invite, don't miss out!

Having not ridden the 750 yet, I'm itching to get on a trackday, but as we all know, racetracks and Jan/Feb in the UK don't tend to mix too well. Last year we went to Cadwell on the 12th of Feb and succeeded in little more than getting frostbite. I think I'll wait a touch longer this season.

 

25/Oct/2005:

Our 2006 plans can now be revealed, although I don't suspect that they'll be a big surprise to many people..especially considering that I advertised on just about every bike website there is for a Gsxr 750 K5.

Well the good news is that we have bought one (or should I say, Steve Hambrook did..cheers Steve!). It needs a little work to bring it up to the spec we'll require to be competitive in the 750 fours/1000 twins "D" championship, but is definitely the weapon of choice for that particular class. It's a nice low milage machine (926 miles!) so we're at a good starting point for an endurance bike, that's for sure.

We should be able to utilise some of the quick change mods that we came up with in 2005, along with some other litle engineering tricks that have already been dreamt up. Let the winter fettling begin.

Not a bad place to start!

 

9/Oct/2005:

Having finished my riding for the year in the comfortable surroundings of Donington Park's gravel traps, you'd have thought I'd be disappointed. Not so. We will have a soon to be announced additional sponsor or 2 for 2006, and will be moving up a class or two using newer machinery.

Shelley and the pit crew that joined us from the Coyote team won't be with us next year, as she has decided that she wants to run her own team using her R6 with herself, Pete the Gibbon and another, as yet unknown rider. Although it came as something of a surprise that Shelley didn't want to continue the team partnership, it is an amicable split.

We learned an awful lot this year, not least that you can never, ever, ever trust people from the opposite side of the garage not to act like snakes in the grass and attempt to steal your sponsors whilst you go and dust yourself down after a crash. The nerve of some people is truly incredible.

 

3/ Sep/2005:

Apologies for the complete lack of website updates, but my dreamweaver software seems very keen on crashing my computer whenever I decided to use it. Anyway, Trouty and I didn't do the Pembrey round of the series, but team boss Pete, and ex Coyote rider Shaun Finch entered it alongside Shelley on her R6. They did spectacularly well, especially considering that Shaun hadn't raced for some time, and that Pete hadn't ridden endurance before. They finished 20th out of about 34 finishers, which was a great achievement, well done guys and gal!

Next round is Donington on the 1st of October, and I can't wait. The bike has had a new, very low milage (less than 500 road miles) engine fitted, which I tested/ran in on a track day at Donington the day after the Pembrey round. It ran ok, but was getting very hot towards the end of the day. The brakes were still being a total and utter shite, with the lever coming way too close to the bar. This meant that I was again having to use three to four fingers on the brakes just to achieve the right pressure. Rumour has it that R6 master cylinders are a good cure for crappy Gixxer brakes, so Shelley posted me her spare one to try out.

I had the engine dyno'd and set up for the power commander and can etc, and it now produces 105.5 BHP, which is a massive improvement of 1 whole BHP over the old engine. I'm pretty sure I'll feel the benefit of it as I desperately try to hang in R1 slipsteams in October!

I took the thermostat out of the housing to check that it was still working……It wasn't. Running water only in the radiator sometimes rusts them shut, so that got hoyed into a skip. Hopefully it'll run nice and cool when we take it for a pre Donny test at Cadwell on the 8th of Sep. Finally, those brakes. Well I seem to have cured the problem, but not in the way that you'd expect. I received Shelley's R6 master cylinder, and bled it up into the spare braking system that we have, which curiously enough showed exactly the same symptoms as the other system on the bike (I should have realized it wasn't the master cylinder from that alone!).

The brakes seemed ok, but the lever was very sloppy in the master cylinder, so being as it was a Nissin cylinder on the Gixxer as well, I decided to try and fit the gixxer lever to the R6 master cylinder. It slotted in nicely, and didn't rattle about like the R6 one did, but it did start coming back to the bar again. Bemused, I took both levers out and compared them. The R6 one had a different bend in it compared with the R6 one, so I decided to use a bit of reverse psychology and install the R6 lever in the Gixxer master cylinder on the other braking system….Perfect!! A weird solution, but frankly, I don't give a monkey's, just as long as I don't have to put up with crappy brakes anymore.

 

29/May/2005: I've never before experienced the weird sensation that is not finishing a race, but having a big grin on your face as you drive home with a knackered bike strapped in the back ( Full race report in the 2005 section). I'm really not sure what's happening to me this year, but whatever it is, I don't want it to stop, I'm enjoying my racing more than ever. I guess if the bike had cried enough 5 minutes into the first session, my attitude would be a little different, but not, I suspect THAT much different. Racing can be cruel and very indiscriminate in how it seems to pick you out for punishment, but as soon as you realize that it's not actually punishment, or bad luck, or anything other than just the way things are sometimes, you find yourself getting on with it, and looking forward to next the meeting.

Anyway, enough of all that philosophical bollocks, back to the real world. The engine has been fixed within a week of it going shit shaped. "How is this possible?" you all chorus. Well, it's down to Graeme Morss, one of my sponsors, from D&J bike spares in Lincoln. I rang Graeme and asked him if he had any spare time to help us out with the engine, but unfortunately, he was mega busy getting ready for his own personal trip to watch the TT. Despite this, he still insisted that I bring the engine over so that he could take a quick look. I took it in on the Wednesday morning, he whipped the bottom off it, found the offending article (bent and worn selector fork), ordered the parts we needed which arrived the next morning, and the bloody thing was back together by Thursday dinnertime! How cool is that? So an enormous thank you, thank you, we are not worthy etc etc from the entire team. Cheers fella!

The time saving development parts that Lee devised for the bike were 50% successful at Brands. We had plenty of opportunity during practice to test the efficiency of the T-bar on the rear spindle, as we changed from dry tyres to wets a few times. It was so much better, and all for the sake of a very simple modification. Unfortunately, we couldn't use the quick action front pinch bolts, as they just didn't grip the front captive spacer with enough force to stop it turning when you tried to torque up the front spindle. We could have tightened the bolts up at the back to give it more grip, but this would have meant that it was very difficult to get the amount of leverage needed to actually fold them into place, or release them again. Lee has suggested that we try knurling the outer of the captive spacer, so that the inside of the fork stanchion has more purchase on it. Not a bad idea, so we'll try it and see how it goes.

Unfortunately, the 24 Hour race has been cancelled. The main reason for this, is that there were not enough entries. We had entered, and were pretty much ready to go, but you have to realize that the race was only announced at the start of the year, and that didn't really give all of the teams the time to put the logistics into place that you need to in something of this magnitude. I think that it's cancellation will be a blessing in disguise, and as gutted as I am , there is a small part of me that is relieved, because I didn't want it to be a total shambles and never see the light of day (or night) again. We'll be lining up for the revised 2006 date, you can be sure of that!

 

 

14/APR/2005: Well the first race of the season is out of the way (The full race report is in the 2005 season section). In between the Race and this moment in time, we've been working to eradicate the brake problems that made an enjoyable meeting, slightly less enjoyable than it could have been.....i'm not sure that actually makes any sense whatsoever having re-read it, but i'd rather not break the habit of a lifetime. Anyway, we've completely rebuilt the brake system with a new master cylinder seal kit, and also the calipers with new seal kits.We've also ordered a new banjo bolt for the master cylinder end that has a built in bleed nipple. This should enable us to rid that part of any trapped bubbles of air, a common problem in any master cylinder. I'm also going to try a higher boiling point brake fluid and get some new discs. If that doesn't sort the problem, then...well...we'll just have to learn to carry extremely high corner speeds won't we!

I've been quite conscious of upping my fitness levels before the Brands GP meeting, as i think that'll be even more demanding that the Snett meeting, what with it being a far more technical track. Things have been going well though, and i've dropped from 11St 3, to 10St 6. I've amazed myself with that one! Anyway, as i said, it's Brands GP circuit next on the 21st of May, and none of us have ridden the full circuit (as i suspect will be the case for the majority of riders). Trouty has been round the Indy circuit numerous times, as it's his local track. Curiously though, seeing as that is the case, he's never done a full circuit meet. I had my last ever race before starting up again, on the Indy circuit at Brands, and it was kind to me on the two occasions i rode it, finishing in 2nd novice place in a Superteen meeting in 1991, and 4th in my final New Era club meeting the year after...let's hope it still likes me. Shelley hasn't ridden either circuit, but we'll all be doing a practice day on the Friday anyway. Big thanks go out to Hottrax for taking a gamble and organising that for theKRC..it's expensive to hire, so it's good to know they've got our best interests at heart. It wouldn't be an ideal situation to be learning as technical and demanding a track as Brands GP in one untimed practice session and three timed qualifying sessions. Can't wait!

 

27/MAR/2005: Just a week to go until the first endurance round of the year at Snetterton on April the 3rd. The bike is 100% ready to go, which is nothing short of amazing. John Capes came over the other day with the paddock stand modified to accept bobbins, as the "cup" style attachments i had been putting up with were a a bloody nightmare to use, getting caught up in the torque arm on one side, then the chain on the other..and so on..not at all frustrating. Thankfully, it is now a very simple operation to get the bike on its paddock stand. Unfortunately, we have discovered that changing wheels quickly is not the forte of the K1 GSXR..in fact, whoever designed the front and rear spindle arrangements should have their forehead grated and used in some kind of human sushi dish. I'm positive that we'll come up with a technique that'll get around this though...like....erm...not changing tyres...that'll work!

Nothing else to say really, i'll do a full race report after next weekend.

 

15/FEB/2005: Some good news and a little bad news this month. I'll start with the bad news.

I'll no longer be able to enter any F400 New Era races and take on Ian Jenkins once more, as the bikes owner, Jason Webb, has decided to sell the GSXR 400 Spiderbike. It's a shame as i was truly looking forward to some battles with Jenks and had even set up a little wager with him to be played out over 3 rounds at Donington., but alas it isn't to be..and after all, it is Jays bike! ;) £1900 to you sir !

However, the good news far outweighs the bad. We had our first "team test" at a very cold and windy Cadwell Park on Saturday 12th Feb and it went very well, with the 600 performing faultlessly. We got there bright and early, and quickly realised that it would be impossible to do anything other than familiarise ourselves with the bike and just being on a racetrack again in general, as conditions were far from condusive to lap record setting. Shelley took the first 2 sessions as she hadn't ridden the bike before and after a cautious start began to relax into things. I went out next, and despite the fact that the track was still drying in places (Barn being particularly greasy and accounting for most of the days fallers) i felt quite relaxed and soon got into the swing of things. It was only when i got out on track that i realised how bloody windy it really was. you could feel it around the paddock obviously, but when you were out on track it was almost as if there was something mechanically wrong with the bike...and it really struggled to hold a line on certain parts of the circuit, trying its best to blow you onto the grass at Charlies and other exposed areas of the track. Daz went out after lunch, and was of the same opinion as me, in that it was good to get out on a bike again, but that we couldn't really learn a great deal from the sessions. Shelley finished off with the next session and was infinitely more comfortable than her first couple of sessions. All in all we achieved as much as could be expected given the weather, and we all stayed on..which was a plus! As we started to pack up..there were a couple of flurries of snow...nice...but at least the people that travelled all the way to Spain to test had experienced the same sort of weather ! (Eh Hazel?..ho ho!)

Later that evening, the whole team congregated at my place, and we were treated to a fantastic curry by our team chef, Olly. A few (read: Alot) of beers later, and a bit of a brainstorm about how to run the team and the 24 hour race concluded a very productive day. We've got a few mods to do to the bike, but it's pretty much ready to go. I've stickered up the fairing with the Ultimate finish logos, pictures here...and i really do think it's going to be one of the best looking bikes in the paddock. We still have to decide what type of lighting system we'll be using for the 24 hour race, but i'm erring towards getting a standard headlight setup...i think it'll offer the best solution over all.

Everyone is really excited about this year, and i really can't wait either.

4/JAN/2005: Happy New Year !!..let's bloody well hope it's a good one.

Not alot to report really, I picked up one or two spares for the bike and have stickered up the freshly painted bodywork except for the main Ultimate Finish logos. Shelley and Darren came over in December and we had a bit of a belated knees up for my birthday which went well. Other than that, there really isn't anything to tell..which is great because it means that i'm not running around like a tit trying to get a bike working/built in time for the start of the season.

First race of the season is looking likely to be the 20th March at Donington Park using jason Webbs' GSXR400. It's a little earlier than i usually prefer, but Ian Jenkins will be there to resume our extremely friendly rivalry, and i'm very keen to get in a bit of practice before we plunge headfirst into the first endurance meet of the year at Snetterton on April 3rd.

15/NOV/2004: The provisional dates for the KRC endurance championship have been posted,and the most notable thing about the calendar is that it now includes a 24 hour race at Snetterton !! This will be the first time a 24 hour race has ever been held in the UK, and it's both a daunting and extremely exciting development.KRC are to be applauded for having the nerve to deal with the logistics and organistaion that will be involved.It's going to be tough as a team,never mind the race organisers themselves.

Our 3rd and final rider has been confirmed as Shelley Pike.Shelley is a very experienced endurance rider,and she has been riding with Team Coyote in the KRC championships for the last 4 seasons, so brings alot to the team besides riding talent.Unfortunately for Shelley,Team Coyote disbanded at the end of 2004,but seeing as we are going to be merging,we've decided to keep the Coyote name alive by renaming Team Otei,Team CoyOtei. :)

There is a persistent rumour that the 24 hour race may be televised,but nothing is official yet,so we'll have to see.

 

4/NOV/2004: Well what a turnaround in fortunes since the last update..where to start??

Firstly, Darren "Trouty" Curzon has been confirmed as the teams 2nd rider, along side myself and another as yet to be named rider.He tried the bike out at a damp Brands Hatch on tuesday the 2nd of November,and was very happy with the bike.He even managed to find the time to get the bike properly set up for us on a dyno whilst he had it,so thanks for that mate! :)

John Sanders,who is the Adopt a racer "adopter of the year" owing to his incredible generosity and excellent attitude to helping riders on the scheme in 2004, has pledged a set of tyres for Trouty and myself for the start of 2005.This is a very generous donation,and will be especially useful in the tyre chewing discipline that is endurance racing.

Biggest news of the moment,is that my present sponsors Andy and Ian Green of Ultimate finish powder coating,have extended their support from excellent quality powder coating, to paying my third of the entry fees for this years endurance championship.This is incredibly generous,and immensely appreciated,as entry fees are THE biggest financial headache that a racer faces during a season.Thanks guys! :)

All we need now is to finalise a few more product sponsors,and we'll be well on our way to a successful and enjoyable season.

 

21/OCT/2004: Well that looks like that's it for 2004. No racing at all this year,what a bummer !!

I'm not really sure whether it's done me any good or not to have a lay off,enforced or otherwise.It's been a bit of a crap year all round really, with friends having accidents left right and centre,My Fiance Jess having to endure a very difficult operation and of course all the grief on the bike racing side of things.I had decided to jack in racing altogether,as Jess and i are planning on saving to build a house for ourselves,and that will really suck up alot of finances. However, having realised that the housing market is less than stable at the moment, we have decided to save up all of next year in order to be better prepared for starting the build in early 2006. This means that even though w'll be saving, we'll very likely be able to afford a spot of racing in 2005. As i said before,I've pretty much had enough of short races...and it has been decided that we will definately enter the KRC endurance championship for 2005. We have one rider finalised,and just need to secure another to be ready to go.The bike is pretty much sorted,which will mean that i can have a leisurely winter making sure everything is just so..rather than rushing around just trying to make bikes work properly!

I'd like to offer my sincere thanks to all of the friends,family and sponsors who have stuck by the team,despite the highly embarrasing fact that we haven't run a single race this year. Here's hoping we can make it up to you all in 2005.

I'll be getting the bike all stickered up again soon,and i'll post some pics of it when it's done.In the meantime...take it easy!