Well it looks like the calender is starting to come together. So far ProClassic are confirmed at Circuit Paul Ricard and Spa Francorchamps for the 6/7 April and 6/7 July respectively, two new circuits which can't be missed!
The preminary VMA calender looks like this :-
Course 1 ==> en cours et en bonne voie…
Course 2 ==> Croix en Ternois (28/04)
Course 3 ==> La Haute Saintonge (19/05)
Course 4 ==> Nogaro (2/06)
Course 5 ==> Carole (7/07)
Course 6 ==> Le Mans (21/07)
Course 7 ==> Magny-Cours (4/08)
Course 8 ==> PAU Arnos (15/09)
Course 9 ==> Le Vigeant (20/10)
So I would choose Spa over Carole, and I probably won't do Le Vigeant again in October given the weather we had this year.... although it might be different this year!
Anyway we'll see, I definately won't miss Paul Ricard and Spa!
The other news is that there is a rule change. We are no longer allowed carbon silencers (god knows why not), so anyone want to swap or buy some Jolly Moto carbon silencers as I have four for sale.
All my best wishes for Christmas and 2013! Keep your tyres on the road (or track).
Friday, 7 December 2012
Wednesday, 7 November 2012
Season Results
So my objective this year was to score some points in ProClassic Superbike on the RG500, and participate in 3 races on the RD350 with the VMA championship.
So I managed to score 3 lowly points at Nogaro, which gave me the 38th place in the ProClassic championship, and because of my participation in the last race at Le Vigeant (double points) I actually managed to score 37 points and finish 15th in the VMA championship - a nice end to the season.
I haven't yet fixed my objectives for 2013, but I need to finish my garage and get the bikes stripped down. Don't really have any list of stuff to do yet, but things on the list are :-
Change the wadding in the RG500 exhausts
Change the piston rings on the RG, and investigate the oil leak
Get both bikes on a Dyno to dial in the ignition and fueling
Get the wet wheels ready for the RG500
Fit a ride height adjuster on the 500
Grind off the center stand brackets on the 350 to gain ground clearance and weight (:-))
Change fluids
Fit some Pirelli's to the 500
Service the Daytona (50K kms)
That's it for the moment,
Thanks for your support!
So I managed to score 3 lowly points at Nogaro, which gave me the 38th place in the ProClassic championship, and because of my participation in the last race at Le Vigeant (double points) I actually managed to score 37 points and finish 15th in the VMA championship - a nice end to the season.
I haven't yet fixed my objectives for 2013, but I need to finish my garage and get the bikes stripped down. Don't really have any list of stuff to do yet, but things on the list are :-
Change the wadding in the RG500 exhausts
Change the piston rings on the RG, and investigate the oil leak
Get both bikes on a Dyno to dial in the ignition and fueling
Get the wet wheels ready for the RG500
Fit a ride height adjuster on the 500
Grind off the center stand brackets on the 350 to gain ground clearance and weight (:-))
Change fluids
Fit some Pirelli's to the 500
Service the Daytona (50K kms)
That's it for the moment,
Thanks for your support!
Monday, 22 October 2012
Le Vigeant - the return!
When I was choosing my races for 2012, I really wanted to go back to the Val de Vienne circuit, which is near Poitiers. ProClassic got kinda banned due to a cock up with a race organiser, so I haven't had the opportunity to return to this great circuit since 2008.
So even though this was "late in the year", I thought I would take the risk with the weather and enter the weekend with the RD350 (no class for the RG500).
Looking at the weather forecast for the weekend, it looked like I made the wrong decision! We arrived at the circuit on Friday around 14:00, and picked up the rain. As it didn't look like it was stopping we setup the tent, and everything and settled in to a rainy afternoon, and evening, in fact the rain didn't then stop for more than a couple of minutes until saturday night!
I was planning to get out Friday afternoon, but I just couldn't bring myself to go out in the pissing rain! So first time on the circuit was Saturday morning for qualification. The last time I was here with the 350, I was lapping at around 2:14, in the rain, I wobbled round in 2:58, I laughed when I saw that, but believe it or not this put me on the 7th line in the middle of the grid.
Continuing with the rain theme, Race 1, the track was completely soaked with sitting water in many areas. I had put some anti fog stuff on my visor, and I think this was one of my biggest technical advantages - I could see! I got a good start and while everyone was taking it real slow, I made some good progress, in the first few bends, overtaking a number of guys. I must have been about 16th, where I stayed until I got caught near the end by a group of 3 guys, which was a shame as I would have had a better finish. They had warned us about a couple of areas being slippy, and indeed, there were a couple of bends that made the rear wheel seem to float, and slide, which (until you knew it) would slow you up for the next few bends. The first part of the track gave good grip, and then after the bend called "Le Buisson" through "les S du sanglier" and then once again through the bend after "trop tard" and then in the "La ferme" it was slippy slidy all the way. Anyway, I didn't see it but apparently there was a lot of confusion with the chequered flag, some of the guys in front of me, saw the flag, and slowed down, and even left the track, before finishing the last lap, I didn't so I made up a few places in the last lap!, and eventually finished in 16th position, with a best lap of 2:43.
The rain continued into Saturday evening, but stopped during the night, which was disturbed by our neighbours deciding to get pissed and party until 2:00 am when I had to get out of the van, and shout at them, I was, after all, on track at 8:30 am, I really don't understand wankers that setup one metre from the van, and then think we won't hear them, or perhaps they just don't care - a total lack of respect.
Anyway, set the alarm for 7:30 am, and when I got up it was still dark! The rain however had stopped, but everywhere was still totally soaked.
Race 2, I didn't wear my waterproof trousers, in case I needed to get my knee down (joke.... ha ha ha). The track was soaked but not much standing water. Daylight started kicking in around 7:45, and the first few laps were very dull, but to be honest this didn't really affect speed. Again I got a good start, (the 350 is so easy!), I had reduced my main jets during Saturday evening and replaced the chain, went down from 390's to 380's mainly because the bike wasn't revving out, and the plugs were pretty dark. The theory goes that even though the temperature was low, around 15-16 degrees, when there is water in the air, this displaces the oxygen in the air, and this makes the bike run rich, the trick is to understand at what point the humidity affects the jetting. In actual fact the change in jetting made little difference to the engine running, however the bike did run a little hotter in the second race.
There were a lot more fallers in the second race, I think mainly due to the inflated confidence you get when you can actually see the track instead of just puddles. I managed to keep it up, and fought it out with a ducati and another 350, a couple of laps from the end I managed to get past them (both at the same time!), and they didn't get me back, so I finished a creditable 14th position, and a best time of 2:38!
We packed up the van, and were on the road at 10:00 am, apparently it had been nice weather all weekend at home.... grrrr..... A bit dissapointing as the last outing of the year, but hey, looking at the positives, I learnt more about riding in the rain!
Just for reference, I ran 15/39 gearing, but have no real idea if this is right, given the conditions.
So even though this was "late in the year", I thought I would take the risk with the weather and enter the weekend with the RD350 (no class for the RG500).
Looking at the weather forecast for the weekend, it looked like I made the wrong decision! We arrived at the circuit on Friday around 14:00, and picked up the rain. As it didn't look like it was stopping we setup the tent, and everything and settled in to a rainy afternoon, and evening, in fact the rain didn't then stop for more than a couple of minutes until saturday night!
I was planning to get out Friday afternoon, but I just couldn't bring myself to go out in the pissing rain! So first time on the circuit was Saturday morning for qualification. The last time I was here with the 350, I was lapping at around 2:14, in the rain, I wobbled round in 2:58, I laughed when I saw that, but believe it or not this put me on the 7th line in the middle of the grid.
Continuing with the rain theme, Race 1, the track was completely soaked with sitting water in many areas. I had put some anti fog stuff on my visor, and I think this was one of my biggest technical advantages - I could see! I got a good start and while everyone was taking it real slow, I made some good progress, in the first few bends, overtaking a number of guys. I must have been about 16th, where I stayed until I got caught near the end by a group of 3 guys, which was a shame as I would have had a better finish. They had warned us about a couple of areas being slippy, and indeed, there were a couple of bends that made the rear wheel seem to float, and slide, which (until you knew it) would slow you up for the next few bends. The first part of the track gave good grip, and then after the bend called "Le Buisson" through "les S du sanglier" and then once again through the bend after "trop tard" and then in the "La ferme" it was slippy slidy all the way. Anyway, I didn't see it but apparently there was a lot of confusion with the chequered flag, some of the guys in front of me, saw the flag, and slowed down, and even left the track, before finishing the last lap, I didn't so I made up a few places in the last lap!, and eventually finished in 16th position, with a best lap of 2:43.
The rain continued into Saturday evening, but stopped during the night, which was disturbed by our neighbours deciding to get pissed and party until 2:00 am when I had to get out of the van, and shout at them, I was, after all, on track at 8:30 am, I really don't understand wankers that setup one metre from the van, and then think we won't hear them, or perhaps they just don't care - a total lack of respect.
Anyway, set the alarm for 7:30 am, and when I got up it was still dark! The rain however had stopped, but everywhere was still totally soaked.
Race 2, I didn't wear my waterproof trousers, in case I needed to get my knee down (joke.... ha ha ha). The track was soaked but not much standing water. Daylight started kicking in around 7:45, and the first few laps were very dull, but to be honest this didn't really affect speed. Again I got a good start, (the 350 is so easy!), I had reduced my main jets during Saturday evening and replaced the chain, went down from 390's to 380's mainly because the bike wasn't revving out, and the plugs were pretty dark. The theory goes that even though the temperature was low, around 15-16 degrees, when there is water in the air, this displaces the oxygen in the air, and this makes the bike run rich, the trick is to understand at what point the humidity affects the jetting. In actual fact the change in jetting made little difference to the engine running, however the bike did run a little hotter in the second race.
There were a lot more fallers in the second race, I think mainly due to the inflated confidence you get when you can actually see the track instead of just puddles. I managed to keep it up, and fought it out with a ducati and another 350, a couple of laps from the end I managed to get past them (both at the same time!), and they didn't get me back, so I finished a creditable 14th position, and a best time of 2:38!
We packed up the van, and were on the road at 10:00 am, apparently it had been nice weather all weekend at home.... grrrr..... A bit dissapointing as the last outing of the year, but hey, looking at the positives, I learnt more about riding in the rain!
Just for reference, I ran 15/39 gearing, but have no real idea if this is right, given the conditions.
Monday, 1 October 2012
Carole Race Weekend 7
Great weekend at Carole (North Paris) this last weekend. The weather was quite cold but bright all weekend, so I was happy (for once) to be travelling North (it was forecasted rain in Grenoble). Arrived at the refreshed circuit Carole at around 12:00, in order to be ready for free practise at 12:45, I didn't count on the lack of space at the circuit! On arrival, the paddock was absolutely chocablock, no where for the ProClassics, fortunately our president pulled some weight, and managed to get us some space, unfortunately without electricity or toilets, but never the less, we had some room to setup.
I got out for practise, to relearn the track, after being away for 2 years. The new owners of the track, have refreshed a couple of areas, but nothing significant, more in security, giving more run off in a couple of places, and also improving spectator safety with new fences and some other stuff.
The track is really quite narrow when over the last few weekends we have got used to Ledenon, Magny Cours and Le Mans, so interesting. The bike was running well, although getting quite hot, I saw 84 degrees Centigrade in practise! My gearing was OK, but I was having to run the bike up to 12K rpm in 2nd to take it through the 3rd corner pif paf, which was preventing me from really accelerating any further, so I thought I would go down a tooth on the rear to run 15/38 on the Saturday. After second practise, I was getting down to 1:13's which was in the same second as my PB, so relatively happy.
I checked the plugs over night, just to make sure nothing was getting too hot, as with the lower temperatures there was a good chance of running a bit lean, however the back cylinders were a nice caramel, and although the front were a little lighter, I considered it OK, especially as it was supposed to be warmer on hte Sunday.
Qualifying went OK, although I was getting some big slides from my rear tyre. Am using the Dunlop GP Race D211 on the rear, and although it is an endurance hardness it seems to be knackered already, I was sliding about all over the place especially knocking my confidence on the "parabolique" where I could feel the tyre moving alot, keeping me from giving it the goods completeley until the bike was fully picked up. Qualified with a 1:13.203 which I thought was OK, until I saw the other times --- gulp..... The fastest time was 1:06, and I was on the 8th line of the grid, qualifying in 22nd position out of 29 racers!
I did try a practise start on the run off lap from qualifying which was a great success. Build up the revs to 10K, then slip the clutch, the mistake I am making is allowing the revs to drop, so as soon as the bike starts to move, I need to keep opening the throttle to stop the revs falling.
Race 1
I actually got a good start! Compared to the four strokes, I still lost a couple of places, but this was way better than what I am used to and I was in the thick of it, straight away. Had a good race, although really slipping about in the parabolique and also I nearly lost it a couple of times in the hairpin "golf" which is a right hand hairpin, probably about 160 degrees, and my entry speed is quite high, which means I deck everything 'til the apex, at which point both tyres are on the very limit, still with your knee on the ground it is easy to push somewhat to bring her into line. Towards the end I was catching a group of RC30, ZXR750, and GSXR, but I got lapped and in the process lost touch with the guys in front. Shame really coz, I definately had more speed than them at the end of the race.
Best lap was a a 1:13:203 - exactly the same as my qualifying time - have I hit a limit? Finished at 23rd place.
Race 2
I reckon I got an even better start! Have I got it cracked (at the end of the season!)! Anyway same scenario really except I was a lot more on my own, which was a shame. I am definately changing the rear tyre, it was getting to be awful. Not really much else to report, finished in the same spot, 23rd and with a best time of 1:13.383, so a little slower.... bof!
Still I reached my seasons objectives of scoring some points, which I have to look back to nearly the beginning of the season, but hey - at least I scored them, next year there is a promise of running at Spa in Belgium, and maybe at Paul Ricard, so I need to find some horsepower during the winter break! Just a couple of photos, to prove it was sunny at Carole the whole weekend. Those are the 125's going past, great to see there are still some two stroke championships!
I got out for practise, to relearn the track, after being away for 2 years. The new owners of the track, have refreshed a couple of areas, but nothing significant, more in security, giving more run off in a couple of places, and also improving spectator safety with new fences and some other stuff.
The track is really quite narrow when over the last few weekends we have got used to Ledenon, Magny Cours and Le Mans, so interesting. The bike was running well, although getting quite hot, I saw 84 degrees Centigrade in practise! My gearing was OK, but I was having to run the bike up to 12K rpm in 2nd to take it through the 3rd corner pif paf, which was preventing me from really accelerating any further, so I thought I would go down a tooth on the rear to run 15/38 on the Saturday. After second practise, I was getting down to 1:13's which was in the same second as my PB, so relatively happy.
I checked the plugs over night, just to make sure nothing was getting too hot, as with the lower temperatures there was a good chance of running a bit lean, however the back cylinders were a nice caramel, and although the front were a little lighter, I considered it OK, especially as it was supposed to be warmer on hte Sunday.
Qualifying went OK, although I was getting some big slides from my rear tyre. Am using the Dunlop GP Race D211 on the rear, and although it is an endurance hardness it seems to be knackered already, I was sliding about all over the place especially knocking my confidence on the "parabolique" where I could feel the tyre moving alot, keeping me from giving it the goods completeley until the bike was fully picked up. Qualified with a 1:13.203 which I thought was OK, until I saw the other times --- gulp..... The fastest time was 1:06, and I was on the 8th line of the grid, qualifying in 22nd position out of 29 racers!
I did try a practise start on the run off lap from qualifying which was a great success. Build up the revs to 10K, then slip the clutch, the mistake I am making is allowing the revs to drop, so as soon as the bike starts to move, I need to keep opening the throttle to stop the revs falling.
Race 1
I actually got a good start! Compared to the four strokes, I still lost a couple of places, but this was way better than what I am used to and I was in the thick of it, straight away. Had a good race, although really slipping about in the parabolique and also I nearly lost it a couple of times in the hairpin "golf" which is a right hand hairpin, probably about 160 degrees, and my entry speed is quite high, which means I deck everything 'til the apex, at which point both tyres are on the very limit, still with your knee on the ground it is easy to push somewhat to bring her into line. Towards the end I was catching a group of RC30, ZXR750, and GSXR, but I got lapped and in the process lost touch with the guys in front. Shame really coz, I definately had more speed than them at the end of the race.
Best lap was a a 1:13:203 - exactly the same as my qualifying time - have I hit a limit? Finished at 23rd place.
Race 2
I reckon I got an even better start! Have I got it cracked (at the end of the season!)! Anyway same scenario really except I was a lot more on my own, which was a shame. I am definately changing the rear tyre, it was getting to be awful. Not really much else to report, finished in the same spot, 23rd and with a best time of 1:13.383, so a little slower.... bof!
Still I reached my seasons objectives of scoring some points, which I have to look back to nearly the beginning of the season, but hey - at least I scored them, next year there is a promise of running at Spa in Belgium, and maybe at Paul Ricard, so I need to find some horsepower during the winter break! Just a couple of photos, to prove it was sunny at Carole the whole weekend. Those are the 125's going past, great to see there are still some two stroke championships!
Tuesday, 25 September 2012
Carole Weekend 7
Looking forward to Carole this weekend - the last ProClassic weekend of the year. My last race will be with the VMA on the 350 on the 26th October. Libby isn't coming with me this weekend as the date got changed at the last minute and she has other stuff to do, which means the pit crew is down to one - me!
Been looking at ignition timing over the past few days, to see if I can "guess" at a better curve. The feeling on the web is that the RG can easily cope with an additional advance of 4 degrees across the rev range, and you can actually physically change the pickup cover on the crankcases to alter the static timing for the full range up to 4 degrees. The standard static timing is supposed to be (to be checked) 26 degrees BTDC.
The zeeltronic will take that pulse as activated by the crank going past the pickup, and then modify it to be whatever you want it to be, within limits. The limits are given by the static timing, i.e. The zeeltronic can not make an ignition pulse happen before the actually trigger from the pickup, so with the standard installation we are limited to playing with between TDC and 26 degrees BTDC. So the winter plan would be to modify the standard pickup to give at least 30 degrees of static advance. There do exist different setups which use different stators and pickups on the stator rather than the pickup on the crankcases, but they do require significant changes, so will probably look to just changing the static time to give me more range to play with.
In the meantime, I have replaced the choke assembley on cylinder 4, and that's about it! The gearing should be the same as Ledenon 15/39. The weather for the next weekend is cooler, so again I won't change jetting as I was slightly rich at Ledenon.
The 350 was making some leaky exhaust noises at Ledenon, which came down to a loose power valve retaining screw which was letting the power valve flap around a bit, I made the most of having the exhausts off to reseal them.The left hand cylinder exhaust doesn't really align with the pipe, so again I will make some changes this winter. I also adjusted the float heights to 23mm to try and stop them overflowing a bit. We'll see.
On a different topic my new race HQ is nearly finished, photos will follow when I get the orange walls finished - Ready to Race!
Been looking at ignition timing over the past few days, to see if I can "guess" at a better curve. The feeling on the web is that the RG can easily cope with an additional advance of 4 degrees across the rev range, and you can actually physically change the pickup cover on the crankcases to alter the static timing for the full range up to 4 degrees. The standard static timing is supposed to be (to be checked) 26 degrees BTDC.
The zeeltronic will take that pulse as activated by the crank going past the pickup, and then modify it to be whatever you want it to be, within limits. The limits are given by the static timing, i.e. The zeeltronic can not make an ignition pulse happen before the actually trigger from the pickup, so with the standard installation we are limited to playing with between TDC and 26 degrees BTDC. So the winter plan would be to modify the standard pickup to give at least 30 degrees of static advance. There do exist different setups which use different stators and pickups on the stator rather than the pickup on the crankcases, but they do require significant changes, so will probably look to just changing the static time to give me more range to play with.
In the meantime, I have replaced the choke assembley on cylinder 4, and that's about it! The gearing should be the same as Ledenon 15/39. The weather for the next weekend is cooler, so again I won't change jetting as I was slightly rich at Ledenon.
The 350 was making some leaky exhaust noises at Ledenon, which came down to a loose power valve retaining screw which was letting the power valve flap around a bit, I made the most of having the exhausts off to reseal them.The left hand cylinder exhaust doesn't really align with the pipe, so again I will make some changes this winter. I also adjusted the float heights to 23mm to try and stop them overflowing a bit. We'll see.
On a different topic my new race HQ is nearly finished, photos will follow when I get the orange walls finished - Ready to Race!
Friday, 7 September 2012
Ledenon aftermath
Thought I would at least look at the plugs after Ledenon. The RG's look fine somewhat rich, but I did discover that the choke plunger holder had broken on cylinder Nr 4 - must have overtightened it. It is made out of plastic....
Only happy this didn't make the choke leak air into the carb and lean off the mixture!
Pheww.... Just about to look at the 350.
Only happy this didn't make the choke leak air into the carb and lean off the mixture!
Tuesday, 4 September 2012
Monday, 3 September 2012
Ledenon Race Report
Most of France was under grey clouds and rain this last weekend, except the South East, which was where we headed to Ledenon.
We arrived arround 9:30 on Friday morning, as first practise was at 10:30, installed the tent next to the FZR 6.4 racing team (FZR 600 and FZR400), attaching our tent to their lorry, and our van. The wind was very strong and gusty. Ledenon is on the top of a hill in the Rhone Valley so it picks up any wind that's going, and this weekend was going to be particularly windy.
I was running Nr. 2 ignition curve on the RG, which maintains the advance later in the rev. range, so was hoping to pick up some speed with that. The temperature was cool, around 19 degrees Centigrade, and the altitude was roughly the same as Magny Cours, so the engine should run a little leaner, which shouldn't be a problem. In the first practise, the bike was running a little flat, but peaking nicely, although it was extremely difficult to concentrate on anything other than the gusting wind. I was probably picking up 20kmph down the straight (due to the wind), and then being pushed about all over the place, in different bends. You can't make reference points with all this happening, it's all by instinct!
The 350 was running OK, although some noise at idle, I think from a leaking exhaust gasket. Believe it or not I found the 350 easier to handle, maybe due to a smaller fairing, not catching as much wind... dunno.
I was using under 7 litres of premix on the 350 and less than 9 litres on the 500 for 20 minutes track time.
We had to take the tent down in the afternoon, as the canvas was ripping, so we rearranged the vans to block as much of the wind as possible, to try and eat something without the plates flying off the table!
Saturday morning qualification, on the 350 was at 8:30, so an early start and a cold track. A couple of wobbly laps to warm the tyres, and off we go! The triple left at the end of the straight can be taken with virtually no initial braking, although it is a ballsy bend, slightly off camber, and you really have to hang off to ensure the tyres are still gripping well. I drop a gear going into the first part, and then cranked over I have to drop another and then for the exit I need to get into 3rd. This is really a challenge with the bike cranked over, and no room for the boot to easily get to the gear lever, I don't how these MotoGP guys do this waving leg thing on left handers especially as they need to get their toes under the lever for downshifts, I just need to find the top and stamp on it, still not easy. After the triple left, you hit a windy section, as you head down to a right hander with a big step in the middle of it (on the line), some guys were taking the bend real wide to avoid the step, but you leave the door completely open for attacks. Still qualified the 350 in a lowly 26th position, on the 9th line with a best time of 1:52.
Qualification on the RG was not much better, came in at 1:46 - 5 seconds down on my PB, must change something!
Race 1 on the 350
Got a reasonable start and maintained my grid position into the first lap. I made steady progress from my 26th position up to 20th position at the end of the race, battling it out in a small group consisting of a couple of Ducatis, a big Kawa and a couple of 350's. Nice enjoyable race with a best lap time of 1:48.
Race 1 on the 500
Sunday morning 8:30 am, the wind has dropped slightly, and we are on the grid for the first race of the day. We are kept waiting as Vincent Creance fell off in the warm up lap, and has to be ambulanced away! The temperature is getting higher by the second, but they do a good job and clear up the mess quickly. His ZXR 750 spat him off (highside) and then continued on it's wheels into the tyre wall about 60 yards further down the road (it was a mess, bent fork, frame fractured around the headstock etc...), At this time, Vincent has some broken ribs, a broken collar bone, and maybe suspect cracked hip! Anyway, got a really crap start as normal, which did allow me to see the entire field in front of me, before picking my way through. I went round the outside of most guys on the triple left, and was soon (lap 2) back to my grid position. Really frsutrating as I could be running much higher. I consistently worked my way forwards until I was behind the VFR400, who I blew past on the straight, only to have him come around the outside at the triple left. We continued to battle until the flag, with him winning out this time around. Best lap 1:43, and 23rd place.
Race 2 on the 350
Again an easy start, and good battles I made quick progress, and then towards the end of the race a couple of guys came back past. Either I was getting tired or the bike was slowing... Hmmmm Anyway finished up with a 21st position and an improved best lap of 1:47, so a bit better, but not near my PB on the 350, of 1:45 last year.
Race 2 on the 500
Can my starts get any worse - F**king useless! Still made good progress through the pack, and the bike was flying, I got past the VFR400 and RGV250 early on in the race, and then I sat behind a faster GSXR who pulled me forward for the rest of the race, we was a good consistent performer and although I think I could have got past a couple of times, I stayed behind as he pulled me past a couple of guys. I ended up in 19th position, and I hit my PB again with a 1:41. So good race!
Conclusions, the ignition curve on the RG needs work, the Nr. 1 curve is faster at Ledenon. I need to look at the 350, to change the exhaust (Or maybe powervalve) gasket.
Next race weekend at Carole in Paris on the 29th/30th September.
We arrived arround 9:30 on Friday morning, as first practise was at 10:30, installed the tent next to the FZR 6.4 racing team (FZR 600 and FZR400), attaching our tent to their lorry, and our van. The wind was very strong and gusty. Ledenon is on the top of a hill in the Rhone Valley so it picks up any wind that's going, and this weekend was going to be particularly windy.
I was running Nr. 2 ignition curve on the RG, which maintains the advance later in the rev. range, so was hoping to pick up some speed with that. The temperature was cool, around 19 degrees Centigrade, and the altitude was roughly the same as Magny Cours, so the engine should run a little leaner, which shouldn't be a problem. In the first practise, the bike was running a little flat, but peaking nicely, although it was extremely difficult to concentrate on anything other than the gusting wind. I was probably picking up 20kmph down the straight (due to the wind), and then being pushed about all over the place, in different bends. You can't make reference points with all this happening, it's all by instinct!
The 350 was running OK, although some noise at idle, I think from a leaking exhaust gasket. Believe it or not I found the 350 easier to handle, maybe due to a smaller fairing, not catching as much wind... dunno.
I was using under 7 litres of premix on the 350 and less than 9 litres on the 500 for 20 minutes track time.
We had to take the tent down in the afternoon, as the canvas was ripping, so we rearranged the vans to block as much of the wind as possible, to try and eat something without the plates flying off the table!
Saturday morning qualification, on the 350 was at 8:30, so an early start and a cold track. A couple of wobbly laps to warm the tyres, and off we go! The triple left at the end of the straight can be taken with virtually no initial braking, although it is a ballsy bend, slightly off camber, and you really have to hang off to ensure the tyres are still gripping well. I drop a gear going into the first part, and then cranked over I have to drop another and then for the exit I need to get into 3rd. This is really a challenge with the bike cranked over, and no room for the boot to easily get to the gear lever, I don't how these MotoGP guys do this waving leg thing on left handers especially as they need to get their toes under the lever for downshifts, I just need to find the top and stamp on it, still not easy. After the triple left, you hit a windy section, as you head down to a right hander with a big step in the middle of it (on the line), some guys were taking the bend real wide to avoid the step, but you leave the door completely open for attacks. Still qualified the 350 in a lowly 26th position, on the 9th line with a best time of 1:52.
Qualification on the RG was not much better, came in at 1:46 - 5 seconds down on my PB, must change something!
Race 1 on the 350
Got a reasonable start and maintained my grid position into the first lap. I made steady progress from my 26th position up to 20th position at the end of the race, battling it out in a small group consisting of a couple of Ducatis, a big Kawa and a couple of 350's. Nice enjoyable race with a best lap time of 1:48.
Race 1 on the 500
Sunday morning 8:30 am, the wind has dropped slightly, and we are on the grid for the first race of the day. We are kept waiting as Vincent Creance fell off in the warm up lap, and has to be ambulanced away! The temperature is getting higher by the second, but they do a good job and clear up the mess quickly. His ZXR 750 spat him off (highside) and then continued on it's wheels into the tyre wall about 60 yards further down the road (it was a mess, bent fork, frame fractured around the headstock etc...), At this time, Vincent has some broken ribs, a broken collar bone, and maybe suspect cracked hip! Anyway, got a really crap start as normal, which did allow me to see the entire field in front of me, before picking my way through. I went round the outside of most guys on the triple left, and was soon (lap 2) back to my grid position. Really frsutrating as I could be running much higher. I consistently worked my way forwards until I was behind the VFR400, who I blew past on the straight, only to have him come around the outside at the triple left. We continued to battle until the flag, with him winning out this time around. Best lap 1:43, and 23rd place.
Race 2 on the 350
Again an easy start, and good battles I made quick progress, and then towards the end of the race a couple of guys came back past. Either I was getting tired or the bike was slowing... Hmmmm Anyway finished up with a 21st position and an improved best lap of 1:47, so a bit better, but not near my PB on the 350, of 1:45 last year.
Race 2 on the 500
Can my starts get any worse - F**king useless! Still made good progress through the pack, and the bike was flying, I got past the VFR400 and RGV250 early on in the race, and then I sat behind a faster GSXR who pulled me forward for the rest of the race, we was a good consistent performer and although I think I could have got past a couple of times, I stayed behind as he pulled me past a couple of guys. I ended up in 19th position, and I hit my PB again with a 1:41. So good race!
Conclusions, the ignition curve on the RG needs work, the Nr. 1 curve is faster at Ledenon. I need to look at the 350, to change the exhaust (Or maybe powervalve) gasket.
Next race weekend at Carole in Paris on the 29th/30th September.
Wednesday, 29 August 2012
Prep. for Ledenon
Well, nearly at Ledenon, and nothing is prepared! PANIC.....
More seriously I have changed the gearing to suit the circuit on both bikes, I am staying with 15/39 for the RG500, and running 15/39 on the RD 350.
I have moved the ignition curves for both bikes, running the more advanced (4 degrees) for the RG, and curve number 4 on the RD350.
We'll see in the first practise if this works better. Should be relatively cool this weekend, so the bikes bieing a bit rich will work better, and cooler - we'll see.
Same jetting as for Magny Cours.
Speak to you soon.
More seriously I have changed the gearing to suit the circuit on both bikes, I am staying with 15/39 for the RG500, and running 15/39 on the RD 350.
I have moved the ignition curves for both bikes, running the more advanced (4 degrees) for the RG, and curve number 4 on the RD350.
We'll see in the first practise if this works better. Should be relatively cool this weekend, so the bikes bieing a bit rich will work better, and cooler - we'll see.
Same jetting as for Magny Cours.
Speak to you soon.
Tuesday, 7 August 2012
Magny Cours Race report
Hi all,
Racing at magny-Cours in the centre of France this last weekend. The circuit is our second closest to home, so we left Friday morning and arrived at the circuit at around midday, I was aiming to be ready for a 14:00 practise, but they had shifted times, and we had to wait until 17:00 for practise on the RG.
You may recall, that I had added the rubber connecting tubes back to the carb trunks to see if I could identify where my premix leak was coming from, and also I had changed my clutch cover to see if there was any leaks coming from the clutch cover. I went out and the bike was far to rich, just adding the rubber connectors with no filter made it unridabley rich! I even got a black flag coz it was smoing so much - they did apologise afterwards, as they didn't recognise it was a two stroke (hah). I pitted and had a quick look for leaks, and pulled off the rubber connectors, and went back out, and of course the bike pulled far(!) better, although the clutch was slipping at high revs.
Coming back in after practise, there was much less oil on the engine, so I can assume that I had a leak from one of the oil seals in the old clutch cover, that only leaked oil when hot, plus I still have a liberal covering of petroil mix on the engine, but I am convinced now this is somehow coming from blowback from the carbs (even with the trunks in place).
I managed to get another practise in with the RD350, and established I was running out of engine down the long straight, so a change of gearbox sprocket was in order (going from 15/39 to 16/39). The 350 was running well, although I definately need to dial in something a bit better, the new carbs (VM34) seem to have taken away some of the instant punch I used to get, and it doesn't rev out as well.
Qualifying on Saturday morning, we had 4 laps on the 500 before the session was interupted by a red flag incident, someone had lost it going into the first left hander, and had come off at around 160 (kmph), so was taken off to check for fractures in his ankles. I managed a respectable time in the first 4 laps, of 2:08 which would put me mid grid.
On the 350 I managed a 2:15 which put me in the second third of the grid.
The circuit, was built for F1 racing and is wide for a bike track, and you can really go fast virtually everywhere on the bikes. The limiting factor are your balls - most of the time! Time is lost in the 3 chicanes which is where you need the technique to get the bike to drop from one side to the other as fast as possible, without losing too much speed.
Race One with the 350 went OK, I got stuck behind a big Kawasaki (4 stroke), who whilst faster than me on the straights, was no match in some of the nadgery, but I couldn't get enough ahead to compensate, so he beat me into 22nd place! I was quite disappointed, and the lap time weren't running any faster than practise, but I never really had a clean lap, so a difficult race.
VMA Postclassic Race 1
Race One with the 500, started off as usual with a crappy start, I just have too much sympathy to rev the nuts of it at the start, so I end up bogging down, but never mind, this gave me loads to overtake in the first few laps. The RG was pulling really strongly, and I was able to outpace some of the GSXR's down the long Estoril straight down to Adelaide, I had a couple of nice dices, and ended up in front of some of the guys normally in front of me, on the last lap I could hear a bike just behind me, so I was really tight on my lines trying not to give him the least opportunity to get past, the only place left was the drop into the "lycee complex", which is a right hand bend followed by a chicane on to the start finish straight and the line, he came steaming past me on the brakes, but I knew he had overcooked it, so I crossed behind him and took him straight back, thinking I had got it sewn up, I tipped into the right hand part of the chicane to find a green machine up my inside, with no place to go, I lifted up and cut the left hand part of the chicane, he would have beat me over the line, but let me back past - must have been feeling guilty! Finished relatively happy, best time was a 2:06.
ProClassic Race 1
Race Two on the 350, and pretty much the same scenario as Race 1, I got stuck behind the same guy, and just couldn't get him back. We finished a couple of places higher up, because some of the faster guys didn't make it!
VMA Postclassic Race 2
Race two on the RG, I got past all the traffic in the first lap, and started to hunt down the next guy. He was quicker than I, and I had a lonely race pretty much on my own for the most part. Attempting to go faster in the chicanes, still only managed a 2:06 again, but happy to have had an incident free weekend.
ProClassic Race 2
The clutch slip on the RG500 was adjusted out at the handlebar, and I was running 230/240 mains, with 15/39 sprockets, Tyres were Michelin Power one (1.5bar) and rear Dunlop GP Race 211 (endurance 1.2 bar).
Racing at magny-Cours in the centre of France this last weekend. The circuit is our second closest to home, so we left Friday morning and arrived at the circuit at around midday, I was aiming to be ready for a 14:00 practise, but they had shifted times, and we had to wait until 17:00 for practise on the RG.
You may recall, that I had added the rubber connecting tubes back to the carb trunks to see if I could identify where my premix leak was coming from, and also I had changed my clutch cover to see if there was any leaks coming from the clutch cover. I went out and the bike was far to rich, just adding the rubber connectors with no filter made it unridabley rich! I even got a black flag coz it was smoing so much - they did apologise afterwards, as they didn't recognise it was a two stroke (hah). I pitted and had a quick look for leaks, and pulled off the rubber connectors, and went back out, and of course the bike pulled far(!) better, although the clutch was slipping at high revs.
Coming back in after practise, there was much less oil on the engine, so I can assume that I had a leak from one of the oil seals in the old clutch cover, that only leaked oil when hot, plus I still have a liberal covering of petroil mix on the engine, but I am convinced now this is somehow coming from blowback from the carbs (even with the trunks in place).
I managed to get another practise in with the RD350, and established I was running out of engine down the long straight, so a change of gearbox sprocket was in order (going from 15/39 to 16/39). The 350 was running well, although I definately need to dial in something a bit better, the new carbs (VM34) seem to have taken away some of the instant punch I used to get, and it doesn't rev out as well.
Qualifying on Saturday morning, we had 4 laps on the 500 before the session was interupted by a red flag incident, someone had lost it going into the first left hander, and had come off at around 160 (kmph), so was taken off to check for fractures in his ankles. I managed a respectable time in the first 4 laps, of 2:08 which would put me mid grid.
On the 350 I managed a 2:15 which put me in the second third of the grid.
The circuit, was built for F1 racing and is wide for a bike track, and you can really go fast virtually everywhere on the bikes. The limiting factor are your balls - most of the time! Time is lost in the 3 chicanes which is where you need the technique to get the bike to drop from one side to the other as fast as possible, without losing too much speed.
Race One with the 350 went OK, I got stuck behind a big Kawasaki (4 stroke), who whilst faster than me on the straights, was no match in some of the nadgery, but I couldn't get enough ahead to compensate, so he beat me into 22nd place! I was quite disappointed, and the lap time weren't running any faster than practise, but I never really had a clean lap, so a difficult race.
VMA Postclassic Race 1
Race One with the 500, started off as usual with a crappy start, I just have too much sympathy to rev the nuts of it at the start, so I end up bogging down, but never mind, this gave me loads to overtake in the first few laps. The RG was pulling really strongly, and I was able to outpace some of the GSXR's down the long Estoril straight down to Adelaide, I had a couple of nice dices, and ended up in front of some of the guys normally in front of me, on the last lap I could hear a bike just behind me, so I was really tight on my lines trying not to give him the least opportunity to get past, the only place left was the drop into the "lycee complex", which is a right hand bend followed by a chicane on to the start finish straight and the line, he came steaming past me on the brakes, but I knew he had overcooked it, so I crossed behind him and took him straight back, thinking I had got it sewn up, I tipped into the right hand part of the chicane to find a green machine up my inside, with no place to go, I lifted up and cut the left hand part of the chicane, he would have beat me over the line, but let me back past - must have been feeling guilty! Finished relatively happy, best time was a 2:06.
ProClassic Race 1
Race Two on the 350, and pretty much the same scenario as Race 1, I got stuck behind the same guy, and just couldn't get him back. We finished a couple of places higher up, because some of the faster guys didn't make it!
VMA Postclassic Race 2
Race two on the RG, I got past all the traffic in the first lap, and started to hunt down the next guy. He was quicker than I, and I had a lonely race pretty much on my own for the most part. Attempting to go faster in the chicanes, still only managed a 2:06 again, but happy to have had an incident free weekend.
ProClassic Race 2
The clutch slip on the RG500 was adjusted out at the handlebar, and I was running 230/240 mains, with 15/39 sprockets, Tyres were Michelin Power one (1.5bar) and rear Dunlop GP Race 211 (endurance 1.2 bar).
Monday, 30 July 2012
Prep. for Magny-Cours
Another big weekend coming up at Magny-Cours in the center of France. I am racing both the 350 with the VMA club and the RG500 with ProClassic, so it will be a busy weekend. I have setup the gearing to run 15/39 on both bikes. I've stuck with 230/240 main jets on the 500, although probably a bit rich, and the 350 is still on 390's, which should be rich aswell dependant on the weather.
I have changed the twistgrip on the RG, and the new one has a much larger diameter, so quicker action, so should be good, I have also relinked the carb trunks up to the air box, to try and prove once and for all where the premix is coming from. I also changed the gearbox oil, (Silkolene Pro75(?) gearbox oil) and cover just in case there was an oil leak coming from the clutch actuation lever or somewhere else. Like this I should be able to at least count out leaky carbs and/or gearbox oil, as the culprit for my oily engine! There is a chance that connecting up the carbs trunks to the box, will make the engine run rich, but I will see after the first practise. The metal plates in the clutch were bluing quite badly which means the clutch is slipping quite a lot, I may need to find some stronger springs
Other than that, everything should be ready to go.
I have changed the twistgrip on the RG, and the new one has a much larger diameter, so quicker action, so should be good, I have also relinked the carb trunks up to the air box, to try and prove once and for all where the premix is coming from. I also changed the gearbox oil, (Silkolene Pro75(?) gearbox oil) and cover just in case there was an oil leak coming from the clutch actuation lever or somewhere else. Like this I should be able to at least count out leaky carbs and/or gearbox oil, as the culprit for my oily engine! There is a chance that connecting up the carbs trunks to the box, will make the engine run rich, but I will see after the first practise. The metal plates in the clutch were bluing quite badly which means the clutch is slipping quite a lot, I may need to find some stronger springs
Other than that, everything should be ready to go.
Thursday, 26 July 2012
On-board
On board footage from le Mans Race 2 - see if you can spot me (62).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9u7uUFNv_w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9u7uUFNv_w
Tuesday, 24 July 2012
Race weekend 4 - Le Mans
Back at work, after a great weekend at Le Mans, the 4th weekend on the ProClassic Calender. Arrived at the circuit on Friday midday, after going through a couple of rain storms, on the way up through France.
Found the paddock, and installed the tent, and van, and got the bike ready. Running 230/240s as main jets this weekend (at least to start), and I had left the gearing quite short (14/41). 10 litres of premix in the tank, and of for the first practise of the day. Unfortunatley we were just out for 4 laps or so, as the rain came down, and there was a bad fall just after the Dunlop chicane. The guy on a nice RC30, high sided, and fell on his head, so was unconscious, so the red flags came out.
Anyway it was enough laps to establish that my gearing was too short for the long start/finish straight, I was running out of steam going into the Dunlop bend, plus I had altered my needle to the third clip setting, which did not improve my hole in acceleration, so I would need to go back to the second slot down from the top.
For the second practise session, the carburation was back to normal, and I changed the rear sprocket to a 39. The second practise was also dry, so I set about learning the track, and trying to get to grips with the chicanes. Le Mans, is a great circuit, the start/finish straight ends with a top speed right hand sweeping bend running into a left/right chicane under the Dunlop bridge, if then runs downhill to a long/tight right hand bend (La Chappelle), and up to the Musée, where the braking point comes up on you very quickly, and then around and down to the double right hand bend (Garage vert), and then down the back straight 'til Le Chemin aux Boeufs, another tricky chicane (where Simoncelli took out Pedrossi), then onto the "S" du Garage Bleue, a nice right and then left sequence which is quite quick, and then down to the reccordement which joins you back up with the main straight again. It's a nice long circuit, just over 4kms, which I lap around the 2 minutes. Dani Pedrosa did a fastest ever lap at 1'32.647, so I have a little progress to make before changing my day job!
The 2 chicanes are key to keeping speeds up as they are one of the slowest parts of the circuit. Second practise I hit a 2:04 lap time, which was a PB, so was quite happy with the bike setup.
Saturday afternoon, we had qualification, and I could only manage a miserable 2:06, which put me 28th on a grid of 44 bikes. Pole position was 1:52, by an RC30!
Race 1
After my traditionally crappy start I went into the Dunlop chicane around the outside, and managed to get past some of the traffic, and was back in my "grid" position going into the Garage vert. I had a pretty good race, battling with a GSXR, who I was quicker into the Dunlop chicane, but he had me around the Garage vert, and eventually he managed to keep in front, and I finished yep - 28th, with a best time of 2:04.295.
There are just so many places where it seems like you can go quicker, I was determined to do better on Race 2.
Race 2
No changes for Race 2, and again, I got a real bad start, but managed to claw my way back to behind the same GSXR as the first race. this time we were joined by a ZXR 750, and a guy on a CB6 600, I managed to stay in front to them right up to about 3 laps from the end, when both the GSXR and ZXR came through.
I finished 27th with a best lap of 2:04.273, yippee another PB, but still with some work to do.
From a technical perspective, I still have a lot of petroil mix covering the engine after each race. It seems to drip from as far forward as the exhaust valve on the front cylinders, back and around the carbs on both sides... I have tried changing the all the rubber o'rings around the carbs, and I have also now changed the black plastic carb insulators, all to no avale. I currently run with just the carb inlet trunks (not connected to the air box), and I will be trying to connect up to the airbox, to see if the reflux or petroil is coming out of the carbs inlets or whether I really do have a leak. I would have thought that if the carbs were leaking I would be seizing or suffering from air leaks somewhere as well. Someone told me that with tuned disk valves, there is a lot of mixture that comes back out of the carbs. All the plugs have consistant colouring and seem quite rich. The only other technical mishap, was the gear change return started to mess up, and this turned out to be that the shaft was pushed too far to the right, and therefore binding on something on the clutch side, I pulled it out to the left and retightened the small collar to avoid it moving again.
Thanks to my pit team, Chris my brother had travelled down from Finland via the UK to pick up his bike, and my wife for supporting my habit! Video and photos coming later.
Two weeks to Magny Cours, where I will be running the RG500 and the RD350!
Found the paddock, and installed the tent, and van, and got the bike ready. Running 230/240s as main jets this weekend (at least to start), and I had left the gearing quite short (14/41). 10 litres of premix in the tank, and of for the first practise of the day. Unfortunatley we were just out for 4 laps or so, as the rain came down, and there was a bad fall just after the Dunlop chicane. The guy on a nice RC30, high sided, and fell on his head, so was unconscious, so the red flags came out.
Anyway it was enough laps to establish that my gearing was too short for the long start/finish straight, I was running out of steam going into the Dunlop bend, plus I had altered my needle to the third clip setting, which did not improve my hole in acceleration, so I would need to go back to the second slot down from the top.
For the second practise session, the carburation was back to normal, and I changed the rear sprocket to a 39. The second practise was also dry, so I set about learning the track, and trying to get to grips with the chicanes. Le Mans, is a great circuit, the start/finish straight ends with a top speed right hand sweeping bend running into a left/right chicane under the Dunlop bridge, if then runs downhill to a long/tight right hand bend (La Chappelle), and up to the Musée, where the braking point comes up on you very quickly, and then around and down to the double right hand bend (Garage vert), and then down the back straight 'til Le Chemin aux Boeufs, another tricky chicane (where Simoncelli took out Pedrossi), then onto the "S" du Garage Bleue, a nice right and then left sequence which is quite quick, and then down to the reccordement which joins you back up with the main straight again. It's a nice long circuit, just over 4kms, which I lap around the 2 minutes. Dani Pedrosa did a fastest ever lap at 1'32.647, so I have a little progress to make before changing my day job!
The 2 chicanes are key to keeping speeds up as they are one of the slowest parts of the circuit. Second practise I hit a 2:04 lap time, which was a PB, so was quite happy with the bike setup.
Saturday afternoon, we had qualification, and I could only manage a miserable 2:06, which put me 28th on a grid of 44 bikes. Pole position was 1:52, by an RC30!
Race 1
After my traditionally crappy start I went into the Dunlop chicane around the outside, and managed to get past some of the traffic, and was back in my "grid" position going into the Garage vert. I had a pretty good race, battling with a GSXR, who I was quicker into the Dunlop chicane, but he had me around the Garage vert, and eventually he managed to keep in front, and I finished yep - 28th, with a best time of 2:04.295.
There are just so many places where it seems like you can go quicker, I was determined to do better on Race 2.
Race 2
No changes for Race 2, and again, I got a real bad start, but managed to claw my way back to behind the same GSXR as the first race. this time we were joined by a ZXR 750, and a guy on a CB6 600, I managed to stay in front to them right up to about 3 laps from the end, when both the GSXR and ZXR came through.
I finished 27th with a best lap of 2:04.273, yippee another PB, but still with some work to do.
From a technical perspective, I still have a lot of petroil mix covering the engine after each race. It seems to drip from as far forward as the exhaust valve on the front cylinders, back and around the carbs on both sides... I have tried changing the all the rubber o'rings around the carbs, and I have also now changed the black plastic carb insulators, all to no avale. I currently run with just the carb inlet trunks (not connected to the air box), and I will be trying to connect up to the airbox, to see if the reflux or petroil is coming out of the carbs inlets or whether I really do have a leak. I would have thought that if the carbs were leaking I would be seizing or suffering from air leaks somewhere as well. Someone told me that with tuned disk valves, there is a lot of mixture that comes back out of the carbs. All the plugs have consistant colouring and seem quite rich. The only other technical mishap, was the gear change return started to mess up, and this turned out to be that the shaft was pushed too far to the right, and therefore binding on something on the clutch side, I pulled it out to the left and retightened the small collar to avoid it moving again.
Thanks to my pit team, Chris my brother had travelled down from Finland via the UK to pick up his bike, and my wife for supporting my habit! Video and photos coming later.
Two weeks to Magny Cours, where I will be running the RG500 and the RD350!
Thursday, 5 July 2012
Race Weekend 3 Croix-en-Ternois
Back up to Croix-en-Ternois, for the third ProClassic race weekend. This weekend included the first round of the ProClassic Endurance, which this year I had decided to give a miss, after my injury late last year.
I was planning however on doing both sets of other races, with the RG500 and the RD350.
The weekend started Friday afternoon with free practise, a part from gearing down the bikes, I had left the carburation as Nogaro, i.e. 240/250's on the RG and 370's on the RD.
The 350 was running OK, but one float valve was getting crap in it from the tank, luckily I had bought an inline filter, which I installed after the first practise, but I still needed to clean both pilot jets and float valves.
I really am finding that the bigger carbs give a fuller mid range, but the bike seems to rev out earlier, which is kind of strange.
I ran the 500 twice, and it was running too rich as expected, however I was reluctant to change the jets, as the weekend weather was supposed to be cooling down, especially on Sunday. I was using sprocket sizes 14/41 on the RG, which meant I was wheelying frequently, which was difficult to control, and I was a bit pissed off that I couldn't improve my times from last year. Neither on the 350 nor the 500. Probably should've down jetted. The 500 was still leaking some petroil mix, and I really am losing hope of finding a solution to this. At least it doesn't seem to affect the running of the bike.
I briefly had to fix a small water leak on the 350 (after running in the new piston), coming from the cylinder top water pipe. But other than that the bikes ran well all weekend.
The weather was mostly fine just with Saturday afternoon and evening where it rained, and a small amount of rain on Sunday morning - but more of that later.
I qualified for final B of the Superbikes, but as they run the classics with the superbikeB final, I got upgraded to the A final, which meant I started nearly at the back of the gid for Race 1. I got a reasonable start (I rev the nuts off it, and slide the clutch out - seems to work!), and managed to catch a couple of guys, mainly the slower GSXR 750s and a couple of CBR 600's, before the race was red flagged. I learnt later that someone had lost the brakes and piled straight through the gravel trap and hit the tyres (on an RC30). He was fortunately OK, but too shaken to race for the rest of the weekend. As we rode off the track it started to rain, and they postponed the race restart until later in the day as we were all on dry tyres.
In the meantime, the guy who had crashed was also supposed to take part in the endurance race, and low and behold his co-pilot came to ask me if I would take his place. They were racing a ZXR750 Kawasaki in the endurance, the following day, but if I wanted to participate I would need to qualify with a few laps on the ZXR 750. So I went straight out for the rest of qualifying for the endurance in the wet! First time on someone elses bike in the wet, with over 100 bhp at the rear wheel was interesting to say the least! Still I wobbled round, and got quicker towards the end of the session, as the track started to dry.
I just had time to put a couple more litres of fuel in the RG and I was out for a further 10 laps of Race 1. I started further up the grid, as I had passed some people and others had fallen (yes they let them restart!). The race was pretty good the bike was getting better a the ambient temperature was dropping. I still finished in a fairly lowly position, but I had a good race.
No sooner had I come in on the 500, than I was out for Race 1 of the classics (running with the slower Superbikes). In reality I think there was only 5 classic bikes and the rest of the grid was made up of superbikes, so despite my second row start I was quickly passed by all the big 4 strokes up towards the first hairpin. I spent the rest of the race playing catchup in the twisties, before getting blasted past on the long straight. I finished 2nd classic, and had a good time battling it out with a CBR 600.
Saturday evening we discussed strategy for the endurance and had a few beers. We had to borrow a fireman for fueling and we had no outside help other than Libby who would tell us what was happening on the track.
Sunday morning and the sky is blue, we have a new set of Michelin Power Cups on the bike, and we were ready to go. The race got off early at 9:20, I suited up after my co-pilot had started the race. Everything went to plan after he had run in the tyres (couple of slow laps), and he started to build speed, getting some reasonable lap times, he was pushing the 1:01 lap times, and consistently in the 1:02. My personal best previously had been a 1:03 on the RG, last year, so I was hoping I would let the team down on a strange bike. The first change over went well, I jumped on and went out, and tried to get up to speed.
The bike had an on board lap timer, so I was aware of my lap times gradually falling, until I was dipping into the occassional 1:02, but more consistently in the 1:03s. Still I was pretty pleased with completing my first 45 mins without any issues.
The second pit stop had some fuel spillage due to an over filled derrick, and a bike that was consuming less than expected, but Olivier was back out there in a flash. We were running in 9 place scratch out of 23 teams.
The bike is equipped with a catch tank which I was immediately worried had some of the pilt fuel in it, but as my co-pilot managed to complete his first few laps it didn't seem to be a problem :-)
We were still steadily running in 8th/9th position, until I took over for the 4th relay. Smooth change.
I never managed to get below 1:02, but I was getting more and more confident, until opening up at the begeinning of the straight, there was a tremendous noise. The bike still pulled and as it sounded like the exhaust I continued to the pit. We verified and most of the exhaust springs had dissappeared on the header, so it was seperating from the engine. The leaking header whilst noisy did not affect much the bike, so I went out again, only to be black flagged at my next time past. I had to do a STOP & GO because of speeding in the pit lane. arghhhhhhh!
We only had a few more laps to do and suddenly the heavens opened, initially the track stayed relatively dry, however it soon soaked up the water, and became slippery for the last 2 laps. I kept my cool, although a couple of others fell off, one team in front of us. So in the end we came across the line 7th Superbike team.
Congratulations to Olivier (and me) and thanks to Libby for her help!
Fortunately we had a lunch break before the second Superbike and Classic races.
The RG was out first, and we had a good race if somewhat quiet, some good action at the beginning as everyones pace settled. The bike was running really well, as the temperature had gone down to around 18 degrees centigrade, although still quite a hole in the acceleration. My tuning buddy suggested lowering the main jets by 10 points, and upping the needles by one slot. I might try this at Le Mans - our next venue. My best lap was 1:03.702
I really had a blast with the 350, in the second classic race. I was full of confidence, but got off the line poorly, I then had all the work to bite my way back up the rankings. Had a near miss with a colleague who was engaged in a (right hand) hairpin, who at the last moment swung out, whilst I was trying to go around the outside. Had a great battle with a VFR 750, who got fed up with me eventually, and pissed off. My final overtake was getting past a ZXR750 in the final laps. Had a great race, the RD sliding about all over the place - really nice, and so controllable. My best time was 1:04.711
The end result was a cup for 2nd place in the Classic category, although no points in the Superbike category!
I was planning however on doing both sets of other races, with the RG500 and the RD350.
The weekend started Friday afternoon with free practise, a part from gearing down the bikes, I had left the carburation as Nogaro, i.e. 240/250's on the RG and 370's on the RD.
The 350 was running OK, but one float valve was getting crap in it from the tank, luckily I had bought an inline filter, which I installed after the first practise, but I still needed to clean both pilot jets and float valves.
I really am finding that the bigger carbs give a fuller mid range, but the bike seems to rev out earlier, which is kind of strange.
I ran the 500 twice, and it was running too rich as expected, however I was reluctant to change the jets, as the weekend weather was supposed to be cooling down, especially on Sunday. I was using sprocket sizes 14/41 on the RG, which meant I was wheelying frequently, which was difficult to control, and I was a bit pissed off that I couldn't improve my times from last year. Neither on the 350 nor the 500. Probably should've down jetted. The 500 was still leaking some petroil mix, and I really am losing hope of finding a solution to this. At least it doesn't seem to affect the running of the bike.
I briefly had to fix a small water leak on the 350 (after running in the new piston), coming from the cylinder top water pipe. But other than that the bikes ran well all weekend.
The weather was mostly fine just with Saturday afternoon and evening where it rained, and a small amount of rain on Sunday morning - but more of that later.
I qualified for final B of the Superbikes, but as they run the classics with the superbikeB final, I got upgraded to the A final, which meant I started nearly at the back of the gid for Race 1. I got a reasonable start (I rev the nuts off it, and slide the clutch out - seems to work!), and managed to catch a couple of guys, mainly the slower GSXR 750s and a couple of CBR 600's, before the race was red flagged. I learnt later that someone had lost the brakes and piled straight through the gravel trap and hit the tyres (on an RC30). He was fortunately OK, but too shaken to race for the rest of the weekend. As we rode off the track it started to rain, and they postponed the race restart until later in the day as we were all on dry tyres.
In the meantime, the guy who had crashed was also supposed to take part in the endurance race, and low and behold his co-pilot came to ask me if I would take his place. They were racing a ZXR750 Kawasaki in the endurance, the following day, but if I wanted to participate I would need to qualify with a few laps on the ZXR 750. So I went straight out for the rest of qualifying for the endurance in the wet! First time on someone elses bike in the wet, with over 100 bhp at the rear wheel was interesting to say the least! Still I wobbled round, and got quicker towards the end of the session, as the track started to dry.
I just had time to put a couple more litres of fuel in the RG and I was out for a further 10 laps of Race 1. I started further up the grid, as I had passed some people and others had fallen (yes they let them restart!). The race was pretty good the bike was getting better a the ambient temperature was dropping. I still finished in a fairly lowly position, but I had a good race.
No sooner had I come in on the 500, than I was out for Race 1 of the classics (running with the slower Superbikes). In reality I think there was only 5 classic bikes and the rest of the grid was made up of superbikes, so despite my second row start I was quickly passed by all the big 4 strokes up towards the first hairpin. I spent the rest of the race playing catchup in the twisties, before getting blasted past on the long straight. I finished 2nd classic, and had a good time battling it out with a CBR 600.
Saturday evening we discussed strategy for the endurance and had a few beers. We had to borrow a fireman for fueling and we had no outside help other than Libby who would tell us what was happening on the track.
Sunday morning and the sky is blue, we have a new set of Michelin Power Cups on the bike, and we were ready to go. The race got off early at 9:20, I suited up after my co-pilot had started the race. Everything went to plan after he had run in the tyres (couple of slow laps), and he started to build speed, getting some reasonable lap times, he was pushing the 1:01 lap times, and consistently in the 1:02. My personal best previously had been a 1:03 on the RG, last year, so I was hoping I would let the team down on a strange bike. The first change over went well, I jumped on and went out, and tried to get up to speed.
The bike had an on board lap timer, so I was aware of my lap times gradually falling, until I was dipping into the occassional 1:02, but more consistently in the 1:03s. Still I was pretty pleased with completing my first 45 mins without any issues.
The second pit stop had some fuel spillage due to an over filled derrick, and a bike that was consuming less than expected, but Olivier was back out there in a flash. We were running in 9 place scratch out of 23 teams.
The bike is equipped with a catch tank which I was immediately worried had some of the pilt fuel in it, but as my co-pilot managed to complete his first few laps it didn't seem to be a problem :-)
We were still steadily running in 8th/9th position, until I took over for the 4th relay. Smooth change.
I never managed to get below 1:02, but I was getting more and more confident, until opening up at the begeinning of the straight, there was a tremendous noise. The bike still pulled and as it sounded like the exhaust I continued to the pit. We verified and most of the exhaust springs had dissappeared on the header, so it was seperating from the engine. The leaking header whilst noisy did not affect much the bike, so I went out again, only to be black flagged at my next time past. I had to do a STOP & GO because of speeding in the pit lane. arghhhhhhh!
We only had a few more laps to do and suddenly the heavens opened, initially the track stayed relatively dry, however it soon soaked up the water, and became slippery for the last 2 laps. I kept my cool, although a couple of others fell off, one team in front of us. So in the end we came across the line 7th Superbike team.
Congratulations to Olivier (and me) and thanks to Libby for her help!
Fortunately we had a lunch break before the second Superbike and Classic races.
The RG was out first, and we had a good race if somewhat quiet, some good action at the beginning as everyones pace settled. The bike was running really well, as the temperature had gone down to around 18 degrees centigrade, although still quite a hole in the acceleration. My tuning buddy suggested lowering the main jets by 10 points, and upping the needles by one slot. I might try this at Le Mans - our next venue. My best lap was 1:03.702
I really had a blast with the 350, in the second classic race. I was full of confidence, but got off the line poorly, I then had all the work to bite my way back up the rankings. Had a near miss with a colleague who was engaged in a (right hand) hairpin, who at the last moment swung out, whilst I was trying to go around the outside. Had a great battle with a VFR 750, who got fed up with me eventually, and pissed off. My final overtake was getting past a ZXR750 in the final laps. Had a great race, the RD sliding about all over the place - really nice, and so controllable. My best time was 1:04.711
The end result was a cup for 2nd place in the Classic category, although no points in the Superbike category!
Wednesday, 13 June 2012
Carb leaks
I am pretty sure that my petroil leak is coming from the seals that are behind the carbs. There are 2 O'rings that go between the carbs body and a plastic spacer and then the rotary disk cover. There is a small slot in the rotary valve cover which accepts the O'ring, and there is (on the carb body) another slot for the o'ring.
I think the slot in the rotary covers is a bit deep, and my impression is that it swallows the o'ring up, not leaving enough protruding rubber to make a seal, with the plastic spacer. I had ordered some slightly different size o'rings for the carbs to try and rectify this situation. Simply Bearings in the UK offer a huge range of products, and I purchased two slightly different types of NITRILE O'rings. I ordered 2mm section ones which are slightly bigger than standard, and one that are 1.78mm section which are standard size.
Unfortunately the larger ones would not stick in the slot in the valve covers, so I used the larger ones next to the carb body, and the standard ones in the valve cover slots. Don't know if it will make any difference - we'll see. | |||
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