I need my drugs!

It seems like months since I last turned a wheel on track rather than 2 weeks. I am starting to get serious withdrawal. as I said before, we decided to give Pembrey a miss.My next fix is approaching though, when we head to Brands Hatch on the 19th of June to a trackday around the full GP circuit. I can't wait! Just over 3 weeks to go!
I got a ride on Steve's new FZR400 the other evening! It was a great little thing to ride, so nimble and light compared to the FZ750. I was really impressed...great fun! It did remind me of why I stopped riding on public roads though. I just can't help myself sometimes and as I get older, the more it doesn't feel comfortable out there. I'd much rather fall off on the race track.

Phil has returned home from Steve spencer's with his new motor and has no skin left on his palms from lapping in the valves. Bet he's glad it's just a twin cylinder!
I've been doing a few bits on the FZ, nothing too involved.
Water proofing the coils, sorting out a better front number board and getting the rev counter, idiot lights and temperature gauge mounted on a decent dash.
Phil has sorted out a replacement front wheel spacer so we don't have to keep robbing the standard speedo drive item out of his road YZF every time we want to go racing.the only other job that needs doing is to source some new dogbones for the rear suspension.

Ah!... I almost forgot... I'm booked into the new local dyno on next Tuesday to get the carbs set up properly. I will also get a bhp reading and then will go off to the nearest m.o.t station and try and blag a free weigh-in. I can then see how far off the power to weight ratio the bike is. Looking forward to that!

I'll keep any progress posted up as and when!

Do I look like a bloody duck?!

I was doubtful of getting a race at Brands because of the entry mess up. I was also doubtful the bike would have enough ground clearance particularly at the bottom of paddock hill where there is high compression as you enter the big dip. I had ordered a new ride height adjuster to help jack up the rear of the bike, but there was only a couple of millimetres gained by this.... bugger, there was no way I would run the bike if it was going to start decking out.
Steve has just bought himself a Yamaha FZR400sp. While messing about in the work shop earlier in the week, he had noted that the shock linkages ( or dog bones as they are sometimes called) were slightly shorter than on my bike. " you could always use those if your ride height adjuster doesn't turn up" he said.
As it turned out, they saved the day. The shorter items would jack the rear of the bike no problem.
With not much time to get the ferry on Friday, the ride height adjuster had turned up in the post rather late in the day and after a half hour of stripping the bike in the back of the van, I realised the thing was not going to do the job. I dashed over to Steve's and stripped the dogbones out of his FZR and legged it to the ferry, meeting Phil along the way. We fitted them to my bike in the paddock, in the rain, that evening ready for the next mornings practice.


I was rather relieved to find a half decent day on Saturday morning. I was not looking forward to the forecast rain for the weekend having never really ridden properly in the rain on full wets before.
I went out in the practice session to find the bike wouldn't rev past 8000 rpm. We had swapped the carbs back to my items earlier in the week to try to cure the bad running low down. This had worked but now it was rough as hell up in the high rev range. As it turned out , I didn't get out in the first race so with time until the next race, we swapped them back, preferring a rough low end. At least the thing would go when asked.

I was released out for race 2! woohoo!
A back of the grid start. 38th! I got the now usual, great start but it was to be short lived as the red flag came out before the end of lap 1.


The next start was great too but with so many bikes on the grid the 1st corner was a nightmare. I had to hit the brakes twice, really hard, to avoid a collision. Once through turn 1, I was on the gas hard down paddock hill with the back tyre protesting big time, spinning and slipping heavily. I really don't remember too much about the race other than it was mad! so many bikes to get by. I was held up everywhere and with a reduced race distance because of the 1st lap red flag. By the last lap flag, I could see one of my own class ahead. It had taken me the whole race to get through all the 400 bikes and get to see a Thunderbiker. Again, on that last lap I was held up, stopping me from getting to the Thunderbike, who I was visibly catching fast. I didn't manage to catch him but came in 23rd over all and 14th in my class... not bad and 2 more points.I was rather happy with that considering.

The next day was wet. Jeremy Hill had stopped by to see me and advised against using the wet tyres I had and to go get some new ones. He very kindly, sponsored some of the cost of the new items, and i have to say a very BIG THANKS to him for that.
I have not really ridden in the wet before on wet tyres. Last wet race was back at Lydden hill when I went out on supercorsas, which at the time was the wrong choice. I wasn't looking forward to it and very carefully bimbled round on the new wets in practice. coming into the paddock complaining " do I look like a bloody duck?!" and feeling not very confident. Phil relishes the wet and assured me it was all in the mind and that there was nothing to worry about. I resolved to get over the mental block I had and drummed it into my brain to go out and go for it!


Race 1 arrived and still raining I was gridded 14th. The start was good as usual, and I got the jump on a few guys and as I went through turns 1 and 2, I was amazed at the level of grip, leaning right over as if it were dry. That was it! I knew then that there was no problem and that it was just me. I carried on gunning it until out along the start straight the bike started to cough and splutter. I could hear the thing arcing and realised the wet was getting to the electrics. Then I just went backwards. I was swallowed by almost everyone. I finnished last of the Thunderbikes and no points.


Being camped out next to the Laverda guys was great. Not only had their help been invaluable, but their awning being up next to our, help shelter us from those nasty elements!....Cheers guys, it really was a pleasure!

Between races, Phil and the Alto Laverda guys helped me to work out what was going on with the bike and we spent the whole time messing about with it trying to figure out what the problem was. It was a good education for me, working with people who know what the hell they are doing and I learnt an immense amount in that couple of hours.


I really have to thank them all for their help. It was fantastic and I really enjoyed the time we spent.
The same thing happened though in race 2, so I just decided to use the track time to get into riding on the wet tyres and concentrate on being smooth. I enjoyed it and really got into the swing of it and can now safely say that I would not be troubled again by wet riding.
It was amazing!


I finished 14th again and with only 15 Thunderbikes on the grid this time, all i had to do was finish to get at least 1 point. As it turned out, one bike had dropped out and I was gifted an extra place and came away with another 2 points. So with 4 points and 3 races, I was reasonably happy with the weekend. It could have been better but also a lot worse!
The best thing was learning to cope in the wet and equally the amount in general that I had learnt over the weekend was great.



It was a bit strange to not have Phil out riding along side me. Equally, Gyles and his Guzzi were absent, strange not being camped out with us and no big Chris either. I really look forward to us all being there together at Snetterton in early July.
Myself and Phil have decided not to go to the next round at Pembrey, in Wales. Phil has a new motor, which he would rather run in at a track day than at a race meeting. Sensible I reckon!
Also, the frequency of he meetings so far this season are starting to take their toll on finances for all of us I think. Every two weeks it just too much.For the rest of the season, the events are much more spaced out... Phew!
We have booked a track day at Brands Hatch for the 19th of June, which puts us about half way between the last round and Snetterton. Phil gets to run in his motor and I get to spent some time with my mentor, Jeremy Hill, on track for some tuition. There are a few spots on the circuit that I am having trouble getting my head around. I am hoping Jeremy will help me with these and many other issues with my riding. Basically, I would like him to take a good look at my style and see where we can improve it.
We will be running around on the full Brands GP circuit, which is something I, and Phil have always wanted to do. I am really looking forward to it!

Meanwhile, back in the shed, I am fitting a temperature gauge, sorting out the carbs, protecting the coils from the wet, making some sort of box to stop the wet getting into the carbs and generally messing about. I will write the results and on-going progress over the next couple of weeks. I'm sure we'll find other stuff to mess about with too!..

A near miss!

I nearly didn't go to Brands....
When Bemsee, the Racing club, have to submit all their paperwork to the ACU and their insurers, they had next to no entry forms from the Thunderbike racers. I submitted mine just after the Cadwell races but they did not reach the club before the deadline.All of a sudden, everyone submitted their entries at the last minute, by which time, Bemsee had decided to combine both the clubman and rookie 400 classes, in with the Thunderbikes class, to get a full grid. This meant that a few guys, the last to submit their entries, got put on the reserve list and were therefore not guaranteed to get out and race. I was one of them.

In the light of this and the awful weather forecast, I was in two minds about going at all.
I decided to gamble and make the effort.
I did manage to get 3 out of the 4 available races and both practice sessions too. The gamble paid off!

I will now be submitting all my entry forms for the rest of the season, to be certain of not getting put on the reserve list in future. It's not nice being unsure of getting out to race.

It was quite an eventful weekend for me with all kinds of mechanical woes and my first time out on full wets too, which was a great experience.
As it is quite late at night as I write, I am going to cut short my post for now and write more later when I am more awake.
For now I will post a few pictures that Jules, one of the Alto performance Laverda team pit crew, kindly gave me at the weekend that he snapped at the last meeting at Cadwell Park.
Thanks Jules, and I hope I have spelt your name correctly!
Some great shots, modestly put down as "not too bad " by the photographer!



Right in the mix.... excellent!


what a great shot! Over the mountain can be spectacular.


Some of the variety of machines that make Thunderbikes so interesting.


I had a fantastic battle with these guys!


Into the bottom of the Mountain.


I recently realised, that if you click on the photos they will enlarge! d'oh...

Some real racing at last!

Cadwell Park has to be my favourite of all the circuits I have been to so far.
The setting is superb and well worth the long drive we have to endure to get there.


The awesome 1st turn, Coppice corner. Not for the feint hearted!

We left home at 6.30am and got to Steve Spencer's place for about 10am to find a nice clean engine sitting on the bench ready to go in the frame. All went well until we fired it up at about 12 noon, to find it running really rough low down in the rev range and struggling to not cut out. Higher revs seemed ok. We spent the rest of the day until 6pm trying to get the thing sorted and with some improvement, and all of us starting to get tired, we decided to take our chances and make a run for the circuit.
I really have to hand it to Steve for his efforts. It was a long day and most perplexing for him as he was convinced all should have been sweet.

We finally arrived at Cadwell at about 10pm and met Chris who had been waiting for us to give him a bed for the night. Gyles and his Guzzi were to arrive the next morning after he had spent the day trying desperately to get his bike fixed ready for the weekend. All with the Italian giant for was to be ok Gyles for the weekend.


So, Saturday morning I got up really early to get myself and the bike sorted and ready for first practice at 9am. Thunderbikes were to be the first out on track for this weekend, leaving no time to mess about in the morning but plenty of time in the afternoon once we were finished racing. I managed to get myself and the FZ organised well, and in good time for both scrutinising and signing on, leaving me ample time to get myself fed and watered and psyched for first practice at 9am.
It was a bit chilly and misty this morning but not enough to dent my confidence in putting the new motor and its host chassis, through its paces. Having been to Cadwell for a couple of trackdays last year, I was already familiar with the circuit, so could go at it early. I made full advantage of practice and quickly got the hang of the track layout and was feeling confident for the coming races.
The only bug was the bad tick over and likely hood of the bike cutting out, and with no starter motor, the thought of stalling on the line was worrying.


Sure enough, it did stall on the line at the start of the first race. I quickly raised my hand and began to push start the thing myself before any officials could get to me. She fired in a very short few metres and as I started to push backwards to my grid slot, I was confused to find a lady official insisting I pulled to the side of the track. I tried to argue I had time to take the start but she was having none of it, pointing to my bike I realised the reason was the overflow pipe from the cooling expansion bottle was flapping about. I was absolutely furious, Max Biagi? you ain't seen nothing! I can, in hindsight, see why she "blacked" me but at the time she was the devil himself.
I spent the race by the start line in the biggest sulky paddy I've had since I was a little kid. One official came over and asked if there was a problem.
"I'm just having a kiddie tantrum mate" I said.
"well you know it could have been something more serious wrong with your bike" the guy said, as I complained that it was a trivial thing that could have been sorted with a quick tug to remove the offending article.
Well it's all part of racing and the general learning curve of it all I guess. A hard lesson but one well learnt!

The next race of the day almost completely made up for it.I got a brilliant start and had my first real race of the season.Instead of going backwards from my good start, I went forwards through the field getting by quite a few riders on the first 2 or 3 laps and spent the rest of the race trying to work out how to get past Gyles and the big guzzler who was slowing me down quite a bit. He was still learning the circuit and I knew it so had that fact as an advantage.I eventually managed to get by and finished the race in 13th from the back of the grid where I had started in 23rd.

Hunting down the Guzzler!

What a great result for me.The bike ran strong,revving right out and being far more powerful than it was before.Steve has done a great job to give the level of power it has for just a standard engine. The handling was better too. The newly re-worked forks now have a little more adjustment and I was able, over the course of the weekend, to dial out the low speed problems I had at Lydden and progressively got faster as the weekend went on.


Sunday I woke from an excellent nights sleep to a very murky morning.After a short foggy practice, the damp air that shrouded Cadwell Park held us in the Holding area, waiting for our race, for what seemed like hours while we waited for the marshalls to decide if it was safe to race. Each marshall post needs to be able to see the next for safety, and once this was established, we were cleared to race. This was to be another storming race for me. Another good start for me from my 13th place, I was up to 8th by the end of the first lap. I had no idea at the time, where in the order I was. I was soon passed by Steve Joy on his Ducati 748. I found I could stay reasonably close to him and spent the next 4 laps looking for a way to pass when suddenly, his hand went up, and he pulled out.


On the next lap I was passed again, this time by Craig Ashall, who I just couldn't hold off and was running a good half a second a lap faster than me. That's where I stayed.. in 9th.
When I returned to the paddock and realised I had finished 9th, I was thrilled. I had not expected to see the top 10 this early in the year, if at all this season.

Starting from 9th for the last race of the weekend was awesome. I was totally unsure of what was to come, would I get swallowed up at the start or be able to hold my position and if so, for how long?.... I resolved to just go with the flow and see what happened and do my best.
I was feeling rather fatigued after the 1st race of the day in which I had ridden really hard and as well as I felt I could.

By the the mountain on the first lap I was told I was in 7th, but this was not to last as by the start line to begin lap 2, I had dropped to 11th. Then I fell to 12th which I managed to maintain for a few laps until the last couple of laps. I was getting very tired and messed up by out braking myself into the silly chicane and let a couple of guys get by. I held my position and managed to finish in 14th.
I was disappointed with my fitness, but I was very happy with myself for 3 races and 3 points finishes.I was also happy with the bike for the weekend as I had not had a lot of hope of things going as well as they had. I had anticipated all kinds of trouble from the bike.

Still, the engine has a real bad problem at low revs while at a standstill. I suspect sticky carb slides to be the problem as the revs take a while to settle after blipping the throttle. There's also a flat spot at around 8 or 9000 revs, the transition from needles to mains so we reckon on upping the jet size a little to cure this.

Another problem is turn in and ground clearance. Although better now, it still needs more.The rear ride height is at it's max, so some shorter linkages in the rear shock and/or a longer ride height adjuster are needed to raise the ride height and then in turn, this should help the bike to steer quicker and turn in to the corners better.It will also stop the grounding out of the exhaust and catchtray that has been happening,even though we are now running Steve Spencer items, which are a vast improvement.
There is still loads of development to come from the bike, both in handling and the suspension, the engine with more power to come and also from my self, both performance wise and through fitness. By lap 5 of the 7 lap races at Cadwell, I was getting tired and after the first race of Sunday, I couldn't get myself off the bike, I was so sapped of strength.


During the last race, on the last lap, Phil was taken out by another rider as they entered the fast first turn at Coppice. As I came past I could see he was hurt.
It was very worrying, waiting for ages for him to be let out of the medical centre. Thankfully, apart from being badly bruised in many places, he was ok, no broken bones or long term worries. The bike was a bit of a mess and once home, Phil found out that apart from a few bolt on bits that are no problem to replace and a smashed up fairing, that the gear box had been damaged. This is to put him out of the next race at Brands Hatch while we wait for his other engine to come back from the tuner....... BUGGER! to say the least.

Coppice is bloody fast!....

It was a massive relief to find he was ok but it really sucks that the next race will be a miss for him.

There was also an accident in the paddock, in the Guzzi camp. Young Chris. chief pit crew and general muscle man, couldn't hold his drink or his bike and ended up looking a bit silly!
He made us all piss our pants though!

I know ..... looks very suspicious eh?

Makes you wonder what they get up to in East Anglia!

Top bloke is Chris!
He can certainly get through some beer, and some food! but he comes in very handy when things need lifting. Who needs paddock stands when this guy is around!
I must say a big thanks to Chris for bump starting me all weekend. Cheers big guy!!

Gyles and his Guzzi came away with 4 finishes and 5 points, a relief I am sure after 3 non finishes at Snetterton.
Phil came off worse, just missing out on points and the big crash mentioned earlier.

I feel luckiest for a change, especially after arriving at Cadwell with no confidence in the bike even making it to the start. So with 12 points on the card (points at last! hoorah!) and 3 excellent races, in terms of excitement for me, I had a great weekend.
Can't wait to come back to Cadwell in August!

If I can get all the jobs done in time for Brands, I will be hopeful of some similar results next time out. Maybe a bit optimistic, but I feel I need to aim high and keep pushing to go forward.
A real shame to not have Phil there with me on track. Here's looking forward to his new engine!

Watching from the side lines

Snetterton, round 3,

It seemed like I had travelled back in time, to last year! when I spent the whole year watching,apart from the occasional trackday.
Watching from the side lines isn't so bad....... oh hell!, who am I trying to kid? It sucks!
I'd rather be out there, in the mix.
Actually, I really enjoyed myself. It was just the uncertainty of when I would be riding next. With my engines in pieces, everything is a maybe. Anyway, I'll get to that later....

On the way to Snetterton, we dropped off Phil's engine components at Steve Spencer's and had a good chat about what we were exactly going to do to the FZ motor. Then, off we went to get to the circuit before dark.
We got there to find Gyles and Chris had bagged the spot we had recommended from last year's experience. A good vantage point to be able to see the exit of Corums and the whole of Russle's chicane and onto the start straight...excellent.



Without going into loads of detail, Gyles's Guzzler had nothing but problems, but when it did go ok, he was absolutly flying! It seems Snetterton's fast straights suited the Guzzi well.
I know he had a great time and managed to bag some good points too!
The guys from Alto Performance came to the rescue of the guzzler.
It finished 1 out of the 4 races and went home with more problems than it arrived with. :-(




Gyles chases down John Hall on his aprilia "dirt bike"

Phil chases Dave Shannon on his FZR 750. We may not see Dave on the FZR anymore. He's decided to take his 400 out for the rest of the season. I think he is selling FZR, so we may at least see it in the hands of some one else. I hope so!

Phil enjoyed himself very much and managed some points as well to open his account.
Seems I've got some catching up to do.
Well I may just be able to do just that!......


After talking myself into, and then out of, riding my RSV in the Forza Extreme class at the next round at Cadwell, I decided to give Steve Spencer a call to see what the chances of getting one of the motors sorted, in what ever state of tune, to get me out in time for the next race.
I had spent the journey home from Snetterton, trying to work out some way of racing and not having to miss any more track action. Steve agreed to have a look and call me later in the week with the diagnosis.
Wednesday came.I was expecting a call but my patience got the better of me and I decided to call him........ good news! He had found a good block, some new rings, skimming of the head as it was warped, some new valve seals and a good clean up and valve seat grinding. He has found me a pipe to borrow, and some velocity stacks. A session in the dyno room and tweeking of the carbs should see her in good shape. Anything has to be a vast improvment on what I had before.

So an early departure up to Steve's, where upon his insistance, we will put the motor in at his workshop, rather that at the track as I had suggested. Good idea I guess. His experience is not to be sniffed at and I would take his advice over anything I could come up with.


Phil at Cadwell last summer, entering Hall Bends.....



and climbing up the Mountain.

So I have Cadwell Park to look forward to!
I really didn't want to miss this round. Cadwell is an amazing circuit set in excellent surroundings. A real circuit!



KIDNAPPED.......!
One titanium fork, one titanim spoon or knife....I can't remember which, plus two plastic tubs and a pack of bacon!
I was planning on melting down the titanium stuff but gas is so expensive these days. Shame, they would have made some nice light weight fittings for my bike. Phil talked me into giving them back..... Gyles and Chris are such nice guys, I guess they deserve them returned!
See you at Cadwell guys, I'll cook something nice, and I'll use our own cutlery....promise.
We did eat the bacon though, It would have gone off anyway!....nice.

Depressing, but exciting!

After 22 years of running about on public roads, it seems my number 1 engine can't put up with the race track, which is hardly surprising. I'm amazed it lasted as long as it has. My number 2 engine has also had enough! They both filled the dyno room with so much smoke, that Steve had to evacuate the place!...... sorry Steve!

The two engines have spent the last week in the dyno workshop being worked on to extract more power and get them running right. That was not to be and after performing poorly on the dyno, were then taken apart for further inspection. Steve has updated me on the sorry state of them both.

Number one has a blown head gasket, warped head, very badly seating valves, terrible scoring in a couple of the bores, one is particularly bad, and the exhaust pipe is seriously stifling the motor.
all pretty bad stuff!
Number 2 has also a blown head gasket. the rest of the motor has yet to be stripped.

It always was the plan to have one motor seriously tuned, just not quite this early in the year.
Oh well, there's no time like the present I guess!

Obviously I will miss the next round at Snetterton and more than likely the following race or two. I am rather gutted, but at the same time relieved. Neither engine would have survived another race and I would have hated to have ruined someone's weekend by possibly dumping fluid all over the race track or had one seize on me. It also means that soon, I will have a nice new motor, pumping out maximum allowed bhp and hopefully allowing me to move up the grid a few places.

So to the tuning work.
Steve has given me several options on tuning and we have reached a decision.
Rebore, new ballanced pistons and rods, new bearings, lightened crank, porting work, gas flowing , skimmed head and a multitude of other tweeks.
We have decided to loose the starter and also the generator and run total loss electrics. This, among other bits, will shed a good 6 kilos off the weight of the motor.
By the time Steve has worked his magic, we should have 106bhp at the rear wheel and shed a load more weight bringing the old bus up to, or very close to, the Thunderbikes power to weight ratio limit.

The really great thing about it is, it will give me a chance to work on other stuff. Not having to think too much about the motor now, I can concentrate on the brakes and suspension. The raised power will certainly show up both these areas and we'll see what happens.If I can get these sorted, I can then really concentrate on ME and my riding, which is what I'd rather be doing. I will hopefully be picking up my newly reworked forks from Steve Jordan when we get to Snetterton, to add to the improving package.
Now we should be getting somewhere! all I have to do now is be patient and keep earning those ££££!

Work resumes

Play time is over and work resumes as the engine gets removed, ready to go to the bench dyno.
Hopefully it will come home from the FZs good friend Steve Spencer running better, with a fatter torque curve.Not sure exactly what Steve will do to the motor until I get to his place and have a chat. Some mid range power increase would be great as would a little more top end for those long straights at the next meetings venue, Snetterton in Norfolk. I am sure there is loads of scope to just simply make it run better as I am not entirely convinced it is running that well.



I will also be dropping off the spare motor so Steve can give it the once over and see if it's worth tuning it into a proper little race engine. Time will tell, as they say.

In the mean time I will be away from home for a week which means nothing will get done.
When I return, hopefully with a more sorted motor, I will have plenty to get on with and I imagine it will be another mad rush and long evenings, getting ready to get to Snetterton sometime on the Friday evening.
I want to play with ride height and the rear shock, to complement the work that is being done to the front end forks.
A good clean up and other small mods are due too.
We are not doing the testing day, Thursday, as we decided to save funds for the following meeting at Cadwell.

I love this racing lark!

Round 2, Lydden Hill, Bemsee's home circuit.
A good weekend all in all, apart from sleeping on a hill and a bit of cold and wet on Saturday.

The bike ran fine, running well on all 4 and with no clutch slip. I however, was not running on all 4.
I really don't like the cold and wet.

Phil's Laverda decided to spring a water hose leak, 2 minutes before first practice and after trying to sort it, unsuccessfully, he missed the first race too.
The first race for me was still a case of getting to know where I was going and sorting out the correct lines. Still suffering with a horrible front end, especially in the slow turns, my storming fast start was wasted as just about everyone came past. I managed to finish 16th out of 18 finishers.

As race 2 approached, the weather went from cold and damp, to colder and wet and with not much time to decide on which tyres to run, my gamble to stick with inters proved wrong. 10 minutes before the start the rain got heavier and it became clear that wets would be the correct choice.
Phil had his bike sorted and was allowed to take the start.
Again, I got a very good start but quickly went backwards and skidded around praying for the chequered flag to come out and coming in last... not nice.

Camping on a hill is no fun, neither is being on grass!


I felt quite down about the whole day, feeling not very confident in either myself or the bike. I have a lot to learn about riding in the cold and wet!

After a nice warm evening in the back of our more comfortable van, after leveling up the bunk, and a better nights sleep than on Friday, I woke to a much better looking sky. The hotter the better for me! Heat gives me confidence.
The warm up was short, just a few laps and over in no time, but I managed to hook on to the back of one of the fast guys and learn some better lines.

Race 3 was much better. yet another blinding start, jumping up the order but not for long as loads of guys came past early on. About halfway through the race, I decided to take a peek over my shoulder to see whether I was being caught and if I was going to be last again. There was Phil behind me, and as each lap passed, I could feel him getting closer. On the second to last turn, the hairpin at the top of the hill, I felt the pressure, messed up the corner enabling him to get past. I finished second to last this time.
I managed to knock 2 seconds off the previous days time which I was happy about, but I was not happy with a few things I had done.


After a good chat with Jeremy Hill, my mentor for this season, I felt better.Some advice on certain lines and other bits and pieces were a good help and some adjustment to the forks for the second race of the day.

As race 4 got closer, very pissed off with myself, I had to turn negative into positive.
I tucked myself away in the van for a while to psych myself. I used a bit of visualisation and got myself determined to really go for it and not make the mistakes I had made previously.
I decided that I am to never look behind ever again. I knew after the last race that this is a bad thing, and that I need to 110% concentrate on what I am doing instead of playing silly games with the guys behind. Jeremy confirmed this with me.
I had, up until then, been letting the bike worry me. That had to stop too. If the bike is going to go bang or something falls off, then tough, don't worry about it. Just me and the road in front is all.
Leaving my warmers on until the last moment and not looking at anything, I made my way to the grid very well sorted in my head. If the belly pan decked out, then so be it (it had been putting me off all weekend as I still haven't got this sorted quite right yet). If I fell in the process, then so be it... bollocks to it! I had to get on top of the bike and push the thing more than I had at all so far this season.

So the lights went out and I stormed through 2 rows and about 10 places into the pack. This time I made it much further into the race before they all got me back.
The bike felt better, I felt better and although I went backwards in the finishing order again, I was happier with my performance and another 3/4 of a second off my lap time, and I wasn't last this time.

There are a few mods in the pipeline for the next race meeting at Snetterton. These include:
A change of gearing to cope with the long straights and high speed corners.
Getting the ground clearance right, including rear ride height and belly pan mods.
The front suspension is at Steve Jordan's suspension shop being sorted and a trip to the dyno to get the motor running better.

I really feel focused on improving in as many areas as I can in the coming races. This is once in a lifetime for me, so I plan to make the most of it.
Even with moments of doubt and getting a little down.... I love this racing lark!

Running on all 4 ?

I am 90% certain the bike is running on all 4, after finding another discrepancy in the carbs and spending shit loads of time trying to get to the bottom of the problem.I forgot what it's like to spend an evening at home with my girlfriend....oh yes, I almost forgot I had one!
The new brass bolt, screws into a sleeve which locates in the carb body on a slot and pin and the needle sits into this. I found this to be seated incorrectly which would explain why pot #4 only gets hot at high throttle and would also explain why the bolt was busted, a previous owner must have messed it up when trying to screw the thing in. This is a relief as I was racking my brain trying to work out what the hell I had done to bust this component.

So with all this now correctly seated, it seems to be running ok. I only say 90% as there is always that niggle of doubt in the back of my mind and that things never go that sweetly...we'll see come Saturday morning warm up!
The van is loaded and ready to go straight after work tomorrow. Just one more day of boring work....the day before race weekend always drags so slowly.
The weather forecast is a bit dodgy and I get the feeling we'll have plenty of wheel changing practice!
Well, with the clutch sorted and the thing running ok...hopefully, I am hoping to have a reasonably decent bike to ride. It will be nice to be able to concentrate on riding instead of worrying about the bike.

Race day here we come... bring it on!


Don't ask me...I've no idea what he was doing .........maybe he was cleaning up?........surely not!

Send me to the nut house!....maybe?

We are hoping that we have found the reason for all the mis-firing and trouble with cylinder number 4. While checking and adjusting the float height in pot 4's carb, we found the screw at the bottom of the needle jet was loose. On further inspection we found it was completely snaped and came away easily. I shall be ordering a new one first thing Monday morning! I really hope this cures the problem, although we found the float height was way too low, probably not getting enough gas into that carb would of course, not help the problem.

I have been getting covered in fiberglass resin again!
I have cut away the sections on the belly pan where it has been decking on the track and re-glassed these areas scalloped inwards.
Also cutting away the top edges so it sits closer to the frame and further away from the track as the bike leans over.
The exhaust was also burning a hole in the bottom so I have cut out and made a dip in the base to cure this problem.
There's not much left of the original item left now!

I have installed the new plates, which look in much better condition than the original, and robbed the pressure plate and springs from the spare engine. The springs are much longer now, look much newer and have a much more resistant feel to them. It is noticeable on the lever now too. The pressure plate looked in much better condition that the original as well.
If these mods don't cure the clutch slip then I will take myself off to the nearest nut house for a well earned rest!

I still have the forks to mess with.Once the carbs are sorted, I plan to check the fork oil level and possibly increase this in an effort to attain a bit more damping. Hopefully this will improve the handling and get me through the next race weekend, prior to sending the forks off to Steve Jordan Motorcycles to have the forks completely re-worked.

Not too much else to do other than some new oil, a bit of lock wiring and a general clean and polish, oh and a few more mods to the van.

A couple more images from Brands.... Phil, # 61, as you can see from the scrapes, he suffers from the fairing decking out! He does get that Laverda leant over incredibly far sometimes!