Post Unlimited Race1

Croix-en-ternois (2)

So, more details and a few photos/videos of the weekend. We got to Croix, Thursday evening, and for once we were one of the first to arrive at the circuit. The free practise sessions started just before lunch, and I tried out the 350, which ran well, and the RG which was running better.

My second session on the 350, went well until the bike starting missing at high rpm, anything over 7K resulted in some spluttering. Back to the pits, and pulling the plugs they looked pretty hot, so I decided to jet up (360's), at the same time I noticed that the nipple on one spark plug had come loose and was actually stuck in the plug cap - I assumed this was going to fix my problem, so I screwed it back on tight and went out again. One lap later same problem, pulled in and started some more serious troubleshooting - I took the seat off, and the YPVS control box was flapping around lose and had become damaged and hasd also pulled a wire out - again I put this all back in - tested the powervalve (zeeltronic control box), and went back out - One lap later, same problem (are you seeing a pattern) , so I pulled in, and removed entirely the power valve controller and fixed the powervalve open, went out again, and still had the same problem!

I swapped the whole of the ignition system, coil, cleaned the carbs and (back at home) removed the fuel tap and cleaned the fuel filter, but to no avail. Two hours before the endurance race was due to start, we had to take a decision, and that was that I would try and change the stator, and if this didn't fix it we would need to go for a single bike strategy. By 13:00 I had changed the stator, and the bike didn't even fire up (I assume the second stator (that I borrowed was duff)), so the decision was quickly made to run Christian's bike only. We got agreement from the race direction, and I still had time to stuff some lunch before setting off on our 3 hour adventure.

The Endurance race was really stressful, in fact the least stressful was being on the bike, but in the pits it was work, work, work - we had to have a personal fire man, with extinguisher and all the gear, and had to use a proper fuel filler, with loads of rules and regulations around what you could and couldn't do.

We had decided to go for simple 45 minute relays amounting to 90 minutes for each pilot, Christian did the start and I would do the finish. There were two classes, the "classic" class and a "Superbike" class. We were in the classic class.

We started from the 3rd line, and Christian made a great start, and was soon lapping at around 1:05's constantly and sometimes dipping into the 1:03's and 4's. He was going great! 45 minutes was quickly passed and we had decided to dump 8.5 litres of fuel each time around. Christian came into the pits and drove straight in to the pits, shouting through his helmet that the seat had become lose! Panic - find some screws and fix it quickly.... we probably lost 5 minutes before I was out on the track on a bike I had never ridden before, with different tyres to mine, in fact a whole different experience!!

Christian's bike is setup with some brembo P8's which out brake my bike significantly, and he runs low pressure in his front tyre, and you can really feel it wiggle as you get the weight on the front wheel, this was really disconcerting for me.... I managed to get around in 1:10's and worse.... I found it really difficult. By the end of my session, I had bettered my times but I was still really slow, and I had lost some of the significant effort Christian had put in.

In the third relay Christian even put in a 1:02 which was a personal best for him! This time around he had no problems with the bike, and it was soon time for me to go out for the 4th and last relay. To be honest I was dreading it, but determined to try and get quicker!

We were in third at that point, and we (Christian) was quicker that the 2nd place guys, so we were hopeful of a second place. I did my best, and in fact got significantly better - I think I got down to a 1:05, which was OK, and the 2nd place team, had to pit stop due to an oil leak, so we ended up 2nd place in the Classic category. 

We were both really happy to say the least, and I was really impressed both by Christian's ability to ride as quick, and also that his bike lasted the race - impressive 3 hours on a two stroke!

My thanks to Libby for actively helping out in the pits, with the timing, and holding out our one pit signal (62 STOP), and also to Marc (I think) for being an impromptu fire man!

The Post Unlimited races on the RG500 were quite satisfying although I didn't get any decent results - the class is extremely competitive (my excuse and I'm sticking to it!).

I am really getting used to lying the bike down, and the handling is great, especially after  having ridden the flappy handling 350's, the 500 is controlled and stable. I must admit that I did worse lap times this time around than with the RG back in May when we were at the same circuit! Which all goes to prove that Libby is right when she tells me to leave the damn thing alone if it's working.

The engine ran very smoothly, and although my starts were still crap, I got away faster than before, we know have an RC30, plus a couple of VFR's in the pack, and unfortunately I still don't have the means to go get 'em. We'll see next year.

I managed to get a few points out of the weekend, which was good but I will be looking for more next year. While in the UK, I visited Bob Farnham's in Kent, and I will be sending my barrels, heads etc.. to him for tuning during the winter !!

One race left at Nogaro, where I should be able to get more of an advantage from the RG500, but I need to remember the last disastrous trip to Nogaro at which I seized the 350 on the 2nd lap of the weekend after a 9 hour drive....

Technical Update

Well, I stripped the RG down to the bare rotary valves, and low & behold someone had installed it as if it was on the right hand side, and not on the left - I flipped it over and rebuilt the bike, and of course it starts and idles much more smoothly - this means that I have run both at Pau and Magny-Cours with the rotary disk valve in this position! I can't wait to see what horses I have released!

I also received my gearbox sprockets so a small one of them will go on for Croix (I hope it wheelies after all this). Laurent had also sent through my damper rods, so I have just spent the rest of the evening putting the forks back together and on the bike. The springs are massively stiff so good for my weight, however I am not so sure about the gold valves - we'll have to wait and see.

The 350 just needs the exhaust and tank fitting and it'll be ready, if nothing leaks (cylinder head gasket, must be on it's 5/6th cycle....) I will have to start it tomorrow. 

Anyway the RG is now back in the trailer as we are off on Thursday evening.

Preparation for CenT

Busy weekend in preparation for the weekend at Croix-en-Ternois in September, I will be participating in my first endurance (3 hours) with the Yam 350, and also in the normal races on the RG500. I started on the RG500, on which I did the following :-

- Drained and replaced the gearbox oil, replaced with Motul Transoil and Mecacyl HY which is a gearbox additive which is supposed to improve the binding clutch situation.

- Drained the coolant, and ran through some radiator cleaning fluid, and checked out the water pump impeller which was in perfect condition.

- Installed smaller main jets - now down to 200's 

On the 350 I did the following :-

- Changed the piston rings, I discovered that the expander rings that I had debated putting in had actually become very brittle and when I removed them they both broke into pieces, I did  not replace them!

- Charged the battery

- On the 350 I am waiting for my damper rods to come back from brazing up the holes - I just hope they arrive today (Monday), which will enable me to get the forks back on, as time is ticking on.

I started up the 500 to check things were OK, and noticed that the cylinder No. 3 was not running as hot as the others, i.e. the exhaust pipe was only warm after about 5 minutes running, and even removing the spark plug cap, did not seem to make difference. To cut a long story short, I still haven't found the issue, but suspect that the rotary disk that I replaced long ago, must have been installed wrong! When I look through the carbs at the rotary disks (throttle open), the disk is not synchronised with cylinder No. 2 and it should be! Nos. 1 & 4 are at the same angle, but 2 & 3 are out!!! I am going to have to pull this off tonight to see if I could have made a mistake when I installed it. This would explain why this cylinder is blowing back a lot of fuel through the carb - more updates tomorrow.

We will be traveling up to the UK at the end of the week, and will be leaving the trailer with a friend in Lille, this will avoid having to drive all the way down through France, and then back up for the race near Calais the next weekend, so everything has to be packed up and ready to roll Thursday evening!

Carole Race 2