Well it seems to have been really busy since the first round of the 2010 championship at Mallory on Easter Monday. I didn't really touch the scooter for a week or so as I was in a lot of pain from my back and could not really move around too well!
I hadn't actually planned to do the next race meeting which was originally scheduled to be at Anglesey circuit - but the news came through that this meeting had been cancelled by the host club. obviously this is outside the control of the BSSO, but i actually thought personally that we should have been racing with the VMCC at Three Sisters, but the dates clashed and the AGM voted narrowly to make the Anglesey date championship!
So a few frantic phone calls between the committee members and we changed the venue back to the VMCC date at one of my personal favourite circuits - Three Sisters near Wigan.
Three Sisters is a love or hate circuit! For many who raced through the 80's and 90's they got heartily sick of the place as we went there 4-5 times a year ! but personally I like it. Whilst scooter racing has moved on considerably in speeds and power in recent years - which is obviously suited to big high speed circuits - personally I feel Three Sisters with its tight twisty turns and lower overall speeds has a place in the Championship. Formula 1 has Monaco - Scooter racing has Three Sisters! ;-)
So now..... I had to rush the planned changes to the scooter to be ready in time !
The exhaust was sent off promptly to John Howe at Jahspeed for the planned changes to it..... the main body was to be shortened to allow it to rev higher and move the power up the rev range, whilst at the same time making a little more clearance to the rear tyre in order to allow tyre changes without removing the exhaust to do so! The muffler was also angled up to give more ground clearance on right hand bends ( it had been touching down at Mallory hairpin!) Three Sisters will be very demanding in this respect as cornering angles are low..... if you are going to ground an exhaust anywhere it will be on the series of tight right hand bends!
I have also totally changed the suspension set up of the scooter at both the rear and the front end. The rear has been changed to the superb Chiselspeed unit which is fully adjustable, whilst the front end has been totally stripped and had the bearings changed to loose balls which smooths out the steering action. Internally the front suspension has been changed as well to allow more 'sag' to the suspension which will help in high speed bends.
Dyno testing also showed that the jetting was a little out with the new exhaust - rich in the midrange and weak at the top end. This has been changed, but unfortunately there is no time between now and Three Sisters to do more testing and set up so it will be fingers crossed!
I'm starting 12th on the grid so will be very much in the thick of the pack......
Will be good to see Jigsy back out on the flying carrot Group 6 bike, and Team Replay have a new rider out this weekend!
heres some onboard footage from Three Sisters to give you some idea of what its like...... good close racing!
