Some fun...

Had some fun with the video camera this weekend... Play the following video with the sound.

Video of Race 2 Croix en Ternois

The quality is pretty crap, but anyway it gives you some idea. Look out for number 62!

Croix en Ternois

Croix en Ternois
The race weekend started on Thursday evening, packing the trailer and car and trying not to forget any essentials, and some non essentials too.
Friday morning, and we dropped Carly off at her train, and set off on the long road to the North of France. Croix en Ternois is about 90kms before Calais, so approximately an eight hour drive.

We found the circuit fairly easily, although we did make a small diversion around a couple of nearby fields in search of a second entrance to the circuit, but after disturbing a couple in the back of their car, we came to a conclusion that we would have to make a U turn and go in the main entrance.

Proclassic had a rather small portion of the car park allotted to the 30 or so bikes being run, so space was tight, we didn’t even get to put up our awning, making the most of the trailer door to shelter from the wind and occasional shower.

Friday at 17:45 we had an allotted free practice period of 20 minutes, so I was out there learning the circuit as fast as possible. The circuit is basically a long straight, followed by an “S” and then another couple of faster bends before a tight hairpin back onto the straight. It was quite easy to learn but the final hairpin was the most difficult bend to learn, as very heavy braking followed by hard acceleration onto the straight caused a number of difficulties for more than one. One of my fairing brackets broke on this practice session, so back at the pits it was out with the tools and some bodgery to “fix” it. A part from that the bike seemed to be running well.

The rest of the proclassic teams arrived late into the night, and I had my first personal spectator arrive, my brother Chris had driven his bike down to meet us and turned up around 19:30, just in time for dinner. He slept in the trailer!

On the Saturday, we had just one session of timed practice which left plenty of time for polishing, or fixing, or modifying the bikes, which a number of the others were doing. Having full confidence in my superbly prepared bike, I spent the time watching the racing, mostly practice. The other categories running were :-

Promosport – 600 & 1000
Monobikes
CB500 cup
ER600 Kawasaki cup

My timed practice ended up with a best time of 1 minute 10 seconds, not bad I thought, until you see the times of the others! 1:12 put me on the second to last row of the grid, the front runners were doing 1:01, humm that means we will be lapped in 5 – 6 laps, I will have to be careful not to get lapped more than twice!!

Race One
Sunday morning at 10:55 we were sitting on the pre-grid, waiting for the 500’s to finish, After about a 20 minute wait in the sunshine (hot and sweaty), we were given the order to start engines, unfortunately mine wouldn’t! Chris and Libby, eventually managed to push me to start the bike, I think I probably flooded it after the first couple of kicks, but anyway, an uneventful setup lap and then 2 warm up laps, and into our grid positions. Red light, green and we are off. I got a good start, and managed to overtake a couple of guys going up to the first bend, my race tactic was to stick with Sylvain Gaigeard who was 0.7 second per lap faster than me, and just starting in front of me. This I managed to do quite well, after having a couple of overtakes with a Green Moto Guzzi (Poireaux Un team), Sylvain Gaigeard was trying to get past Hervé Lion (900 Honda) at any opportunity. I am sure with a few more laps I would have got past Sylvain, but I just wasn’t close enough… anyhow, my best lap was down to a 1 minute 9 seconds, which I was pretty chuffed about. The tactic obviously worked a little!

Race Two
No problems starting this time, the grid positions were based on our finishes in the first race, and I had moved up into the same row as Sylvain. Same tactics as before, a good start and I was in the thick of it at the first bend – very heavy traffic, I got overtaken and I took back a couple, all in all, I don’t think I lost any positions, there were some of the bigger four strokes who came through fast. I was happy to get through the first couple of bends with no incidents! I was going well through the twisties, and getting burnt on the long straight in front of the stands, I really need to get some more horse power from the 350! Daniel Cusimano came through after me giving him a hard time to pass. He started from the pit lane after he had forgotten to remove some rag from his bell mouths! I had a fairly quiet race – I am sure I can go faster around here. Final time showed I had not improved my personal best only managing a 1 minute 10 – almost a second slower….

Anyway overall I managed 18th position (13th in my class – 3 points) and a 17th position (14th in my class – 2 points). A total of 5 points to add !

Once again a great weekend, this time no-one fell, and the rain held off all weekend.

I will post a couple of clips, when I have had the time to download from the video camera…. Speak to you soon. In case you were wondering the second photo is the eventual winner of the Unlimited category - Patrick Rigaud (Kawa 1166), going past Franck Arnold (750 Honda).

Video Carole

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

Race day!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Video in a couple of days!

Preparation for Carole

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

More technical news

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

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

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

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