Carole - race report

We arrived at Carole (north Paris) Friday around 14:00, unloaded the Suzuki (I didn't take the Yam), and setup the barnham and stuff for the weekend. The weather forecast was good and somewhat cooler (around 23 degrees C), so I was hopeful that my 240 main jets would be OK.

On Fridays Carole is open to the public and anyone can come and use the circuit for FREE - yes, all you need is a current license and the right riding gear and you can race round the circuit to your hearts delight - this was done in an effort by the French government to reduce racing on the roads, and I think this is really forward thinking!

Anyway, I had a couple of sessions on Friday afternoon in between, changing jets! Yes I was still way to rich. On Friday I worked down to 220, and again on Saturday I reduced to 210's which was the smallest I had with me! I think I am getting close, and I will probably end up around the 190 mark.

We had one qualifying session on Saturday morning, and I was dissapointed by my best time at 1:16, they last time at Carole on the RD 350 I was running at the same time, and even a bit better, so not good, and effectively I found myself on the grid behind the faster 350's, and behind the other RG500 who was running at 1:14.

Race 1

My starts are improving, but the clutch on the RG is difficult, it binds and is difficult to get a clean start, anyway the first couple of corners were OK, and I was soon getting past most of the traffic, especially in the windy bits of the circuit, I got past Tom (BSA Rocket3) on the inside at the parabolic, and it was either the same lap or the next one, where he took a fall trying to get past me on the same bend (on the outside). Anyway to cut a long story short, I was just coming up to overtake Hughes Arnold on his massive Kawasaki Martin 1000 on the inside at the parabolic, pushed on the right hand bar to get some angle, and the clipon slipped forward about 45 degrees, which brought me upright, and almost taking out Hughes (I don't think he saw how close it was!). I pulled the clipon back into position, and continued back to the pits to tighten stuff up!

Race 2 

Between the two races I had time to get a new rear Power One Michelin fitted to the rear, the guys at the Dunlop lorry were doing an excellent job - I was chatting to the guy, and he was English, and had just been on the MotoGP trip and was on his way back to the UK, and was asked to help out at Carole (MotoGP service from Dunlop!!).

I found myself at the back of the grid (DNF in the first race), and got a "better" start, not many places to lose! Again I was soon past the slower riders, and spent most of the race fighting it out with Guillaume on his RG, we was quicker down the straights, and I was quicker through some bends, so we exchanged positions a couple of times until I managed to pull away as his bike lost some power, I was just catching a Ducati 906, when I took the chequered flag, in 18th position (no points this weekend).

I was a little happier, as my best time had come down to a more reasonable 1:13:851 - still 6 seconds off the podium guys, but improving. Once I get my carburation sorted, it will probably be the end of the season, but hey, I am having fun! 

Some things I need to sort before the next race at Croix-en-Ternois are obviously the carbs, but also I am suffering from overheating, the biek was running around 93-94 degrees C, and this is robbing me of power, but also not doing any good to the engine. The other RG, was running at a confortable 65 degrees. I will be investigating the water pump over the next few days......

Next race on the 19/20th September near Calais!

(Photos and video to follow)

RD350 YPVS Fork modifications

I have decided to leave the 350 at home this weekend, because I need to modify the forks and change the piston rings. I started out by removing the forks, and starting the modifications to the damping rods in order to install the Gold valves. See the attached photo half way through. It was pretty difficult to remove the inside tube, as it is a push fit, and I had to use a drift through the bottom end of the damping rod. Also the holes do not exactly match up with what is in the Gold valve documents, hmmm... maybe my forks have already been through some modification.

Technical Update

Ok back from holidays now, and the bike needs some work! 

I have received new piston rings for the RD 350, and some stiffer fork springs and gold valves, this in preparation for the endurance in September at Croix-en-Ternois, so these all need to be fitted.

For the RG500, after my experiences with no filters, I have decided to leave it without the filter foam, but the big question is still which jets? I ended up with 240's in the last race at Pau and I think I was still too rich, which means I could have probably done better with 230's. The temperature at Pau was around 30 degrees C, and the weather forecast for Carole at the end of the month is currently around 20 degrees C, which means we will lose 10 degrees, which is roughly equivalent to richening by one size, so the game plan is to start with 240's at Carole - and see.

I bought a ZXR 750 radiator off evil bay during the summer, and wanted to fit it, however it is really dirty and difficult to clean (despite 3 hot cycles in the dishwasher!), so this will probably wait until I have more time. I found some nice flexible silicon water hoses (SAMCO) which will enable me to fit it, if I can find the space in the fairing! In the mean time I removed the RG radiator and spent a few sunny afternoons straightening all the fins on the rad to ensure it works as well as designed, about 25% of the fins were bent over, which must have an impact on it's cooling capacity. Again, first test is Carole on the 29th August.

I will need to bleed the brakes again this weekend, and finish off bits and bobs before racing in 2 weeks.

Two strokes forever!

Take a look at the full article here :-

Two Strokes strike back! 

But one quote from Harold Bartol (famous Dutch 2 stroke tuner and KTM Race manager) :-

That’s no wonder, says Harald Bartol, two-stroke engineering luminary and technical director of KTM’s grand prix activities: “When I look at two strokes I see only advantages – the power, the weight, the cost and complexity. And the riding dynamics of two-stroke 250s are very close to the 800cc MotoGP bikes. If I were making a sportsbike for the road I would choose a 500cc V4 two-stroke. I have absolutely no doubt it would be superior to the current superbikes, and be possible with existing legislation.”