First Race at CeT

The start of the first race - as I mentioned below, crap start for me!

Croix-en-Ternois

Hi to all,
I am back after a busy weekend. Libby and I packed up the trailer and car on Wednesday evening, and left for Croix-en-Ternois on Thursday which was the May day holiday in France. We travelled up France without a hitch and stayed in a hotel in Arras Thursday night - mainly because Libby didn't want to spend 4 nights in the car on the circuit.... Understandable with her knee in its current state.

We arrived at the circuit around 9:30am and setup the tent, trailer and bike. The weekend racing was with the VMA, so basically an "old bikes" weekend, so the paddock was very roomy -even the showers were hot!

I managed 3 practice sessions on Friday, the bike was running well, and the new brakes and forks were working very well - better than expected. Libby was timing me, and my laps times were improving on those from last year, so I was pretty happy.

Saturday morning we had the timed qualifications for the 2 categories I was running in. I had opted to run in both sets of races just for the fun! That means in my category (250/350 two strokes) and the faster Post Unlimited category.

In my category I qualified on the 3rd line of the grid with a 1.07 fastest time (one second faster than last year). And in the Post Unlimited category I qualified on around the 4th row, but my time had improved to 1:06 and I was in front of some GSXR's and other faster bikes.

Saturday afternoon, and the first race (my category) - I got a crap start barely missing a guy in front who stalled on the line (perhaps this was an omen (bad)), but managed to pull back a few places in the first hairpin. After a couple of laps I was fighting it out with 2 other RD350s, and we stayed together all of the race. A new guy on a blue 350, was outbraking me at the end of the long straight, whilst I would get him back on the twisties. We swapped positions, and I lost out on the last lap coming in third of this group, and (I think) 5th in my category. My best lap time had come down to 1:05 which was getting pretty good, although I must improve my braking. Just for info, the GSXRs are getting for the fastest in the 59 seconds, and for the slower in the 1:05, which is easily understandable with the long straight!!

Second race, and I got a better start, although as soon as we got to any straight, I was blasted into the weeds by all the bigger bikes, after a couple of laps I was overtaken by a couple of Martin Kawasaki's and although I was faster in the curves, I could not make enough headway to stay in front down the straight, and hence I ended up behind them to the end, and my best lap time was "only" 1:07.

Sunday morning racing started with my category at 10:40, and we went out for our setup lap, and then 2 warm up laps (as the circuit is small). The lights changed and off we went, I think my start was going to be good, however once again the guy on pole had had mechanical problems and stopped about 5 metres down the track. Herve with a 750 Honda, had come past me like a rocket off the start, and smashed straight into the back of the Ducati on pole (Christian Vite). His engine struck Christian's rear suspension and hit his leg, Herve's bike went down straight in front of me, and I basically ran over Herve's leg (we think!), my bike pushed Herve down the track a few yards before taking off, and throwing me over the top. I landed on my shoulder and head (no problem!), and rolled down the track a few more metres, my bike sliding after me - I have an image in my head at one point seeing the bottom of my bike sliding down on me! I jumped up scared about being hit by someone else, but most people had either got passed or stopped - luckily no one else was involved.

The result of the accident was a broken leg for Christian, a sprained knee and ankle for Herve, and pretty much nothing for me - just lucky I guess.

The race restarted, but without us. The damage to the bike was surprisingly little, however enough to stop me restarting. The left foot rest, gear assembley was destroyed and the left expansion chamber was flattened. The fairing had only a small scrape, so after removing the broken bits you would hardly notice.

We stayed to watch the second race, which was one by the fast no. 16 - GSXR.

Anyway, the weekend was positive overall with my lap times coming down and a general confidence level moving up, but of course now I have to get the bike ready for Nogaro in 4 weeks time. A small challenge!

Busy weekend

Last weekend before Croix-en-ternois and it was busy. I had received some goodies from Norbo (RDLCCrazy.co.uk), stronger clutch springs to stop the clutch slipping, new exhaust gaskets, and new racing pads for my new F2 calipers.

I also received my new Stator from Westcountry Windings in the UK. I sent them my faulty one, and they have rewound it with a new pickup, plus a reduced number of charging coils to reduce the electrical load on the engine, this should allow a quicker pickup of the engine (in my head!!). Unfortunately it arrived broken, first ever damage I have experienced through the post. Anyhow to cut a long story short, I have sent it back and they will fix it!

I had bought last year some forks, calipers from an F2 machine. These have the advantage of having opposed pistons instead of just one piston per caliper. So I had changed the forks, calipers, and mudguard this weekend. I had to hang the bike from one of the outside beams of the garage as I don't have a means of lifting the bike up (at the front). It went quite smoothly, however bleeding the brakes was a long process, as the new calipers were completely empty (or should I say full of air), anyway after a night to settle I rebled on Sunday and theings got better. I fitted new racing pads after all the hydraulic fluid was out of the way, and after a test drive I am getting some good results! I am using the top of the range Motul BRF600 Brake fluid which is the best DOT 4 compatible fluid that money can buy - has a really high boiling point, ideal for late braking!

The only real problem I had (a part from the stator) was in fitting the front wheel which barely fits in the new shape mudguard, but after a little adjustment the tyre turns without rubbing.

Just hope I didn't forget to do something up..... tight!

A couple of photos with new seat etc.

No racing but the bike is fixed!

Well the postman didn't arrive with my parcel until Saturday morning, so too late for Pau - bummer really as the Bol D'Or Classic is this weekend so lots of the guys weren't going to Pau - could've been in with a chance of a podium!

Never mind the weather is pretty crap.

Well my diagnostic was pretty accurate. The new stator has fixed the problem. I think I will send the broken one off to get rewound, so I have a spare, as they are getting pretty hard to come by on evil bay....

Stay tuned, and I promise some photos soon.

Arghhhhh

Well, the testing at Ledenon, went OK the first time out and I was getting down to the same lap times as I had had in my race last year. I booked 5 sessions for the Saturday, and we used them up testing the different ignition programs and power valve settings. I noticed a distinct lacking in Power after test 2 and soon after session 3 I noticed the power valve pulley was lose, after retightening I was still donw on power, even going back to our original program of the day.

Sunday I bought 6 sessions, however after the first session the bike stopped coming back into the pits. As the revs lowered the bike cut out! Some elementary troubleshooting did not reveal the cause, although the symptoms point to the low rpm charging circuit.
Unfortunately this is on the stator which is the only bit that I don't have as a spare.

Further investigation has not revealed anything else, so I am now waiting for my part to arrive in the hope that I can get everything back in order to leave in time for PAU this weekend.

Lesson learnt is to do testing at least a couple of weeks before the first race........ Speak to you after the weekend! Hopefully with some race results.

Ready to go....

Well, the trailer is getting loaded up, the bike is 99% ready, and nearly run-in - I must have run her at least 100 times up the small road behind the house. I am still not happy with the seat padding... but it will do for this weekend's testing.

The goal of the weekend is to finish running-in and test out which programs perform the best (for the ignition and pwervalve) there are 5 standard ignition curves and 5 power valve programs to try out. Plus I need to get my jetting dialed in. I think my needles may need lowering as it seems to run rich at mid revs, although the plugs are looking dryer at higher revs, so the main jets are probably quite good.

This will be the first time I use my new car with the trailer this weekend, and as I have already broken down 3 times (only done 2000kms) it may be quite an adventure this weekend.

Hopefully I will have some photos from the weekends testing, and cross your fingers for no engine problems so close to the start of the season at PAU next weekend! (12 and 13 April)