Leconfield - August 2001

Saturday 11th August 2001  

New Bridgestone tyres were necessary after Elvington and we'd put the 6 speed gear-box back into the bike, but quickly found that it was jumping out of gear, and occasionally dropping two gears at once. Straight away we decided to swap back to the reliable 5 speed box. The wind was stopping the bike revving hard in top gear along the straight, and the track was much shorter than Elvington. After swapping the bottom end of the engine we started enjoying riding around the new track.

By the end of the day we were happy with the set-up, the weather wasn't great and we felt sure that at some point it would rain! Several other 'groups' from various car clubs shared the campsite. There was one group of people with loud stereos, and disco lights in the back of their Mk3 Escorts who made a lot of noise but didn't do much. (What do they say about empty vessels). We also spoke to Kit car enthusiast and even the people supplying power for the event were camped by us.

Sunday 12th August 2001
A wet race from beginning to end. There was a spell when a dry line started to appear, but I'm sure that only the people out on the track for a short period of time saw it. It was unbelievable how well our bike was going, the new tyres were certainly paying dividends, no one fell of the bike all weekend and we were all enjoying riding the bike even though there was standing water on some of the bends. Much fun was to be had, riding smooth and trying to concentrate harder than normal get the best out of our bike. As the weather deteriorated we just kept going. Four of us rode the bike. I started the race, Lea was on second, Steve did the third stint and Ian had a go fourth.

One or two people in other teams had been having problems jetting their bikes, the weather had changed so much between Saturday morning and now with the torrential rain their bikes were running far two rich. Our bike was running better and better, however that was about to change. There was a big accident 4 hours into the race and a prolonged delay in getting the race started again, our bike wouldn't re-start from cold. We were now wet through and were unsure as to whether the electrics were water logged or whether the jetting was now way out. We called it a day! It's the first time this year that the bike has let us down. The surprising thing about this race was how the wet conditions did not stop us really enjoying racing. It's a pity that we couldn't get the bike going again and maybe if the red flags hadn't been out for so long we might have been able to keep going, but that's racing!

Class 2 looked quite competitive again and several bikes were going well. I'll post the results in the near future. 

Elvington - June 2001

Saturday 23rd June 2001

Initially we spent time learning the track dodging the cones, the weather was pleasant and we looked forward to a dry weekend. At first most of the bends were pretty tight, this suited our bike well, as the morning progressed the cones started to retreat and the speeds started to increase. For most of the weekend the track was getting wider and wider. It is impossible to check lap times when the track is changing all the time, so we didn't spend much time looking at the clock this weekend.

We were happy with the bike so we just enjoyed riding around a new track, by mid afternoon we decided to weaken the mixture, this did improve things a little but other than that we didn't touch the bike. By the end of the day we were happy, so stuck with the setting we'd used all day. Our tyres were taking a battering, Elvington certainly is grippy! We were still using the 5 speed gearbox, if we go back to Elvington we really need to use a 6 speed box! The bike was in top gear for a long time on the straight, but through the chicanes there was plenty of gear changing going on.

Sunday 24th June 2001

A good days racing, we kept the bike going all day, we did have several accidents, but managed to keep the bike on the track. It was disappointing that the track became so fast, by the end of the day both of the large chicanes were being taken flat out and the tightening bends after the left hander at the end of the straight could be straightened out without any difficulty. The track design was good, but care needed to be taken when overtaking, maybe it was safer that these bends had been widened. After the race we were gob smacked when looking at the tyres, our rear Bridgestone BT39SS was almost slick, there is hardly any tread left!

It was also interesting running the opposite direction to normal. Usually the left-hand side of our tyres wear slower that the right hand side, Elvington gave us an opportunity to balance the wear on our tyres. 

By the end of the day we were running 18th overall and 6th in class two. Altogeter we did 181 laps. We have had another great weekend and look forward to the next round in August. Even though Elvington is very flat and we're racing around cones we'd enjoy racing there again. (If the owners will let us!?!?!???!?). 

Rowrah - May 2001

Saturday 5th May 2001  
There were many things to try on the bike. We wanted to have a change so we'd altered the gearing on the back sprocket and used a 5-speed gearbox in place of the 6 speed that we'd used all last year. The carburettor had also been changed over winter, so we needed to make sure that this would work okay at the racetrack.

The carburettor was our first problem. Initially the power band was very small, the bike would rev hard but it easily dropped out of the power when changing gear. The plug colour looked fine so we weakened the mixture, the smaller jet made the bike run better, so we weakened it again and felt happy that it was not getting too hot. It's funny how the smaller jet gave us more bottom end power, maybe the bore on the new carburettor is too big or the needle height needs altering further. 



Next we had to get the gearing set-up, we weren't pulling top gear along the straight, so the new back sprocket was relegated to the subs bench and last years sprocket was bolted back onto the bike. Instantly it was transformed. We spent the rest of the day making sure that nothing nasty could spoil the rest of the weekend. This year we're not going to change things unless there is a problem, so we didn't put a new ring in the bike at the end of the day. 

Although water-cooled bikes could be used in practice they were few and far between. One of the RS framed water-cooled bikes was stunningly fast, but at the moment the jury is still out about whether it's a good or bad thing.


Sunday 6th May 2001
Sunny, calm weather for the first race of 2001. We got a reasonable start and settled into a rhythm. Steve was racing for the first time in 2 years, but he soon found his feet and started enjoying racing again, he got faster as the weekend went on, but didn't fall off (unlike Lea and me!). The bike was out on the track for the full 6 hours.

Everything was running fine, until 5 and half hours into the race. I was doing the final session on the bike, when at the bottom of the hill going into the right hand bend someone fell off right in front of me. I should have ignored them and watched what I was doing, but I panicked and touched the brake when leaning over too far, the end result - one bent handle bar and no front brake. I soon got used to riding with only the back brake, but I certainly wasn't going to start racing with people, so I just kept circulating until the end. Luckily we didn't get black flagged! I didn't have any 'dodgy moments' during the last half hour, but we did lose a bit of time.


After the race, I realised that I had done the right thing. We wouldn't have been able to mend the brake with only 30 minutes of the race left, one of the banjo bolts had moved and brake fluid was leaking from this.


By the end we'd done exactly 300 laps and ended up 4th in class! Our fastest lap was in the 1m 04s so we were pretty happy.



In the paddock we bled the brake, straightened the handle bar. Again we didn't touch the engine. Everything was ready for the 4 hour race.



Monday 7th May 2001
Another nice day, maybe the hottest so far. We had a pretty quiet 4 hour race. Lea dropped the bike twice mid hairpin, but didn't break anything. The bike was reliable, and we all had great fun battling with anyone and everyone. Steve was now head down arse up, knee out and going for it. So all three of us were keeping the bike circulating. At the end of the race we'd done 202 laps which put us in 4th again with a similar fastest lap to yesterdays race. Another great weekends racing!

The championship have us in 3rd place in class 2. Bike 123 was excluded due to an oversized engine. It's very rare for people to get caught cheating. Anyone can make a bigger engine go fast, it's much more difficult to make a 50cc engine go fast and be reliable!



The Championship looks like this.

1st	105	Mad Maxi	40
2nd	115	F U Cups	38
3rd	109	Team ARSE	34
4th	149	Bell End Racing	33
5th	135	Armageddon 1	32

See you at Elvington in June!