Video Carole

Just to add a video of the 2nd race at Carole - I was going a bit better, and the bike aswell, lots of people fell off, hence the first few seconds....

Race day!

Alarm at 6:30 am, but I can't move... too tired.... 7:00 am that's better, people are moving. Libby makes breakfast, and we eat before I risk disappointment (starting the bike).

Well it start's relatively easily, it seems very sensitive to choke, to much and it floods... anyway I put on my jacket and gloves, and go out for a test. I am up with the rabbits, hundreds that are cutting the grass around the circuit. Somewhat surreal, I am on my race bike in the middle of Paris, waking the rabbits up with the noise! And the bike is......suspense....... working fine! Phew....

After another 20 or so laps, my instruments are coming a bit loose, after another ten, they have fallen from their support, so back to the pits. I am generally happy the bike is going great, and I have pretty much finished running in!

I bodge the instruments, with the ever useful jubilee clips and tie wraps (collier Rislan), and we are READY! Timed practice for grid position in the morning! I am still keeping it to about 8K rpm, but the engine is running fine, and when I get my "special" oil I can start to open her up! My times as you can imagine don't put me at the front of the grid, I am running around 1:24 which is about 14 seconds slower than the quick boys, but I am not last which is important for my moral!

The super singles, are getting around in 1 minute 9 seconds which is pretty quick. Most of the RDLC's (4 of us), are around the same with a guy way out in front. I must go and see what he's got in his fuel tank!

First Race
Setup lap, warm up lap, red light, GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am near the back, into the first left hander which is a difficult bend, I get around 3 abreast with other guys, everyone is taking it a little easy until things string out, which they do pretty rapidly. The fast guys are gone! Let's not forget that some of these machines are kicking out 130 bhp, against the RD which is at best pushing 59 bhp. I am having a good race with a couple of guys on a Kawasaki 1000, (I overtake on the bends and he gets me on the straight), and another guy on a Martin Kawa.

I am coming around for about my 5-6 lap, and I go to change up, and the knob of my gear lever has gone! F*?@ - won't things ever go right! My hand goes up and I slow, but hell the engine still going well, and I need the practise... I keep going changing up with my hand, changing down I can still use my foot on the lever - this is a bit dodgy, as you lose sight of braking points coming into the slower bends, which give me a couple of "moments".

Before you know it there is a red flag, and the race is stopped, someone is off at the hairpin before the pits straight, and he has left an oil slick in his wake, he is still on the ground as we go past. I park the bike in the pits and rush off to see if I can find a bolt to replace my "knob". Our pits are about 200 yards from the "real" pits, as there is an endurance race on Sunday. Anyway I sweat all the way there and back with a nut and bolt, and fix it finger tight into the gear lever. I am just back in time, and we are out again. The only problem is that the nut keeps loosening, and I have to tighten it up going down the straights, anyway I manage to overtake a couple of guys towards the end of the race, and we finish, again phew....

I bodge a gear knob, and we eat lunch while waiting for Race 2, we get the results, and I finished 2nd last of the bikes that were left standing! Lots of people had problems, so I am 23 bike out of 29. Oh well, I have some improvements to make!

Race 2
I start on line 7 (very near the front :-)) The red light goes out and we are off, I make a better start, and get quickly into a dice with another 350, we overtake a couple of times, and he has more power on the straights, but seems to be having some problems, I overtake and don't see him again. I overtake a TZ350, and a couple more fourstrokes, then the fast boys come to lap us! Boy it's pretty frightening having then come past inside, outside, anywhere and any time. I make the most of them to catch a lift past a guy that was bugging me in front. The bike is going great, and I am taking more risks, the knee is nearly down!

The tyres, grip, and power I am getting are great, this is it, I am racing!!

There are lots of bikes down, a big Kawa on the hairpin, another guy dumps it just behind me. Just as I am peeling into my bend I hear the crunch, and mettle to tarmac noise, that scared me! I hope it wasn't me that put him off. Still I kept my line - so no problems there. We don't get the chequered flag as one or two laps before the end, someone dumps it and leaves oil. As we have completed most of the race, we are directed back to our pits. I should have done better this race.

Effectively, I got into the points (5), I finished 13th in my category, which was 18th scratch - not bad, I was dissapointed in my race 2 result as I was second to last again, because so many people fell off. But at least racing is all about being consistant, and I at least finished 2 races!!

Video in a couple of days!

Preparation for Carole

So, it is now the 13th May, and I am back from my first race in Paris with the Proclassic series. An exciting and somewhat stressful weekend which started last Wednesday!

Wednesday, I worked from home, and good to their word my cylinders and new pistons were ready from the machine shop. I am now running pistons at 65.25, another complete rebore! Everything looked OK, and they had helicoiled my loose stud, and tested all the others.

Due to a cock up with the gasket order, Yam still hadn't received my gaskets, but they promised that Thursday they would be there. This was seriously compromising my running in time, as the plan was to leave for Paris on the Friday morning. Thursday afternoon came and went, with no news from Yam - shit! So Thursday evening Libby and I spent an hour making some base gaskets out of cornflake packets! This is OK as the originals are only paper gaskets, but you need to make sure they are the correct thickness as this can effect the combustion chamber volume, and hence cause detonation - dangerous!

Everything else went together OK, and come 11:00 pm we were ready for a quick test before loading up the trailer.... SHIT... it's leaking water.... from...... it appears that when I had replaced the clutch springs I had done something with a small "O" ring that seals a water hose going through the clutch case. Oh well, at least I have another one. So drain the gearbox, and water, remove the cluth cover, and yes effectively the diagnostic was accurate the 'O' ring had been munched... and SHIT the new one is not the right size. After some panic and digging around, I managed to find another one that was roughly right. Anyway at this time of night, we need to try something and go to bed.

This time, no water leak, and the bike started second kick. No time to try it and the neighbours are sleeping, so it's off to bed and we'll load the trailor in the morning.

6:30 am, after six hours sleep, we load up, and are off to Paris at around 7:15. The weather forecast for the weekend is not great, however it has been improving all week. We arrive at the Circuit de Carole at around 13:30, just in time to get in two free practise sessions at 15:00 and then 17:00. Fortunately there is a really nice little access road that goes completely around the circuit and should be perfect for running in!

We setup up the awning in 5 minutes, a great invention, although the wind is pretty strong, so we hold it down with large lumps of concrete that seem to have been left there for the purpose. With the trailer open and the awning and the car we have enough room, I park next to a guy with a very nice CBR1100 (air cooled) Franck Bachelet who introduces himself and gives me some advice for the concrete blocks, there are apparently lots of local Paris guys who will only be arriving on the Saturday.

The bike is going OK, although it seems to hesitate a little, but I am keeping to 6000 rpm, around the outside of the circuit. The first practice session on the circuit is OK. Everything is flashing past quickly, however I am learning the circuit, and getting the miles in, although I still have this hesitation. The second session, and there is definately a problem, it won't rev above 6K, and is hesitating badly....

After some interesting conversations and lots of discussion with some knowledgable folks, could be anything, from an air leak (oil seal on the crank) to bad oil (!). Anyway I go back to my old troubleshooting skills, and ask myself what has changed! The only thing that seems valid (and that I can do) is change back the main jets to a standard size, remember I have gone up a size to try and cure my recurrent seizes. Anyway that is what I do, so rip off the carbs, change the jets, and re-assemble everything. The plan is potentially to get a few more external laps in to finish the run in.

We can't start the bike, and it starts to rain.... A great weekend this is going to be! Libby and I pack up and go for a pizza - things will be better after a nights sleep.

Most people from out of town, are sleeping over in the pits, so there are people barbecuing, quietly talking and generally having a pleasant evening. We are sleeping in the back of the car, so we install ourselves confortabley in the back of the Espace, and "lights out".

More technical news

So the good news is that the fairing is being painted (as I speak), a very bright white, Pete has sent the number plates, and templates for them - Thanks Pete.

The bad news is that, the "rebore" guy, told me I definately need to change BOTH pistons again! One was too far gone (touched in four places), and apparently the other has deformed (although not touched). This is really strange and the guy doesn't really understand it, but at 100 Euros a piece this is getting serious! One train of thought, is that because I am running premix in the tank, the fueling is actually leaner in the cylinder, and this maybe creating excessive heat, causing the seizure. This is not really corroborated by the colour of the plugs that I was seeing, however upping the main jet size on the carbs isn't an issue so I will be starting there.

The real issue is maybe timing, I have first race at Carol (Paris) in under 10 days time, and we have a public holiday next Tuesday, which means I will probably not get the barrels back before next Wednesday, which means I will need to burn the midnight oil to get the bike ready to go to Paris next Friday. Running in the nex setup is going to be fun!! Proclassic are organising untimed practise on the Friday afternoon, so hopefully I will be able to run in (a bit!)

I have painted the exhausts, and my home made fairing support, which looks good, and I have added the temperature gauge to my instruments, as temperature seems to be the key to my problems! This weekend's job will be putting the fairing back on, checking the thermostat is working, cutting out and fixing the number plates... Hopefully more positive news next Wednesday!

Stripping down

Hi All,
SO the left hand piston had definately touched the barrel! In four places, I can't feel any damage with my fingers, but you can certainly see it clearly. On the piston you can feel some scratching, but I think I will remove this with fine emery, and ignore this! A rebore at this stage is probably not worth it.

After looking around the web and various forums, I still don't understand what is happening. I found a really good website which describes different types of seize on two stroke engines here : http://www.pwab.org/PISTONDIAGNOSTICGUIDE.htm

My piston looked perfect from the top, as in image one, but had 4 corner seized! The guy's web site says : The main causes for this problem are too quick warm-up, too lean carb jetting (main jet), or too hot of a spark plug range.

The plugs were perfect colour throughout the weekend, a lovely "cafe au lait", the warm-up was OK, and the jetting on the carbs is normally measured by looking at the plus - so I am no farther forward... anyone any ideas?

I will ask the bloke at the rebore shop, what he thinks.........

Still the bike is in pieces again, the fairing is ready to be painted, Pete Mockler is helping out with the number plates, we just need to get the engine going again.

Speak to you soon.

Issoire - Track Day

Just a quick update after my track day at Issoire. In preparation to this day (Sunday 22nd April), I had put on my new racing tyres, and my first impressions of the bike were transformed. The tyres offer amazing grip, with confidence inspiring performance, even though I was "running in" the bike after the rebore, I enjoyed myself trying to get a maximum lean angle with the tyres. I felt like my elbows would touch the ground, however from the photos, I can see that I still have room for improvement (don't even touch my knees!). The engine felt fairly rough to start, and my rev. counter was playing up which made staying under 6K pretty difficult, however the first session (20 minutes) went off pretty well. Of course I am getting overtaken by pretty much everything, but considering I was almost the smallest bike, plus running in, this is hardly surprising. Half way through my second session, the engine started making a strange blowing sound, and I thought I had lost an exhaust baffle, however after a quick stop to inspect things, the right hand power valve cover had made an escape, oh dear!

I managed a slow return to the pits, and luckily for me, lunch was called, and I managed to walk around the circuit and find the missing cover, with that installed, I inspected for other loose bits, and tightened up all over, a good thing, as I had also lost a small clip from the same powervalve, not important but I need to replace it - must have been drunk when I put this thing together.

The first session after lunch went well, and then after 5 minutes into the second session I thought I felt the engine tighten up. I went straight for the clutch and rolled into the pits. After removing the exhausts, no signs of a seize, but something is not quite right.... I had been reving to about 7K and even 8K in some places. Perhaps I need to cool it a bit.

The bike started fine, although the next session I kept my hand over the clutch lever in readiness.... Nothing uptoward happened, and I had a good session bringing my slow lap times down, as I grew in confidence, although I once again stuck to around 6K.

The last session of the day was great, I lifted the rev limit a little, and had a scrap with a junior on a 125 (I think) - he was going great and my bike managed to keep up. Still if I want to be competitive I will seriously need more power, and above all a different riding technique! In the slow bends I was definately quicker than some of the "big guys", however I have difficulty moving on the bike, which gives me much more of a Mike Hailwood technique than Barry Sheene (if I can be so bold as to compare!). I have to work on this. I think maybe my rearsets are too high which cramps my legs and makes it difficult to move - I will try lowering them to give a bit more comfort. I say that, but moving about on the bike creates a good deal of shake, which I do not get when sitting relatively still, however given that most GP riders move about, this must be the direction to go! I was finding the bends really easy (to go fast) when I was completely off the brakes, so I really needed to get well setup for each bend and get some speed off BEFORE entering the bend to get maximum corner speed. If I kept the brakes on too long (through late braking) it pushed me much further into the bend with the corresponding edges coming up a little too quickly. The bike and overall the tyres really worked well even with the front brake partially on, although this is a habit, I should try to avoid!

Overall the days impressions were good, although still some uncertitude about the engine, I will restrip and get the stud fixed on the barrel, and have a closer look at the pistons to see if any damage occurred - I hope not! Take a look at the circuit on their web site - http://www.ceerta.com/ it was pretty in amongst the rape seed fields - fortunately I am not allergic to rape seed! There were however loads of flying insects - one guy got stung 3 times by an errant wasp.

I will try and post a couple of short video clips in a few days, however I now only have a few weeks before first race, so I need to concentrate on the remaining jobs :-
Painting fairing, make some numberplates for the sides of the bike etc... Plus stripping the head and cylinders down (one more time!).

Ledenon - Photos

A quick update, after the rebore had a real problem with a pattern head gasket, which leaked water no matter how tight the head was on. After changing for the real YAMAHA part, everything works fine and no leakage. After all the tightening of the head, I may have loosened one of the cylinder studs (no.9). It appears to tighten but I can not reach the required torque without getting that sensation that something is about to break, slip... Anyway I have a track day planned as Issoire this weekend (22 April), and we will see if it holds until the engine is run in completely again. It will be interesting running in the bike at a track day but I don't really have an alternative, as I can not put it on the road. In preparation for this weekend, I have put on my "real" racing tyres AVON AM20 and AM23 (I think), these are much narrower than the previousl Dunlops but should bring back the very sharp handling I remember of old. I have also short circuited the oil pump, in order to run a petrol/oil mixture directly from the fuel tank. This meant, cutting the oil supply to the pump, draining the oil tank, and connecting the carburetor oil feeds connections together, to avoid them sucking in air. We will see how this performs!

In principal the bike starts and runs well with these modifications in place. I am now using the empty oil tank (saved at least one kilogram of weight of the oil here!), as a catch bottle for the crankcase breather, battery overflow, and carb overflow pipes. I routed all of these into the hole left after removing the oil level indication sensor from the tank.

The next challenge after this weekends outing, will be get the fairing painted... some thought required here. I will probably go for a boring white, which matches the tank, and the old seat unit, however if I get imaginative, I may add some speed blocks in a true Yam tradition!

I received my track stand in the mean time, so I should be alright without the centre stand this time around. I am just praying for fine weather this weekend!! It is forecast!

A couple of piccies of me on the bike at Ledenon.