First Track test !

On Track Pictures Courtesy of Tony O'Brien

Ready To Go!

Friday 6th March and about 8 scooters entered the Focused Events Track Day. There would have been a couple more, but various scooters weren't quite ready!

Stuart Day brought along his Ducati, and also his SRP Racetech road scooter. Jon Uffindel was there on his bike, a couple of scooters from JB tuning, and a new rider with a Kegra prepared Group 4 scooter. Kevin Griffiths on his street class TS1 and Brandon Smith also out for the first time on track. Paul Priestley also brought a couple of scooters to try out.

Stuart Days Ducati and GPTS1 Road Scooter

Kevin's Street Class Scooter, and Brandon's race scooter

Ex Scooter Racer Keith Terry was also there on his R1..... wonder how long till he's back out on a scooter?

A few racers also came along to spectate, Tony O'Brien, Scott Chapman, Jigsy, Ed Hocking, Martin Wing, Ciro Affronti, Chalky White were all in attendance as well, so there was a good number of us.

So............. how did it go? Well.... thankfully it was a test, so a few odd niggles on a new engine are allowed! I was a little late getting there, so it was initially a bit of a rush! Jigsy had arrived with some fuel, so we promptly mixed it and filled the tank in readiness, checked tyre pressures...... went down to the riders briefing, then it was straight on track with the first novice group!

After 3 sighting laps slowly behind a pace bike it was back down the pit lane, ready to go again.... scooter felt great, the engine was pretty smooth in fact I'd probably say smoother than my road scooter! Power delivery is really smooth and it pulled really well out the bends. A good improvement on last years engine! I was certainly grinning down the straight!! Chalky White did a great job on the engine!

Then...... coming out the hairpin....... all stop! Engine cut out..... damn and blast!

So I had to sit on the side lines and wait for the session to end... luckily it's downhill to the pits from there!

Once back in the paddock, as it happened Chalky White and Ciro suddenly appeared just at the right moment! A quick check of the stator plate wiring revealed no feed from the pick up..... so off with the floorboard, cowling and flywheel and the reason was immediately obvious! Two loose wire on the new BGM stator plate! The main red feed and the green earth had both broken their solder. Ciro managed to suddenly find a blow lamp from somewhere or other in the absence of a soldering iron we heated a metal rod with the blow lamp to form a make piece soldering iron! The red wire was quickly re-soldered, but the green proved somewhat more troublesome as it was difficult to get in with the solder. The decision was made to just undo the pickup bolt and earth it to that instead! Problem solved, so all back together and ready to go!

Unfortunately by now we'd missed most of the second session and only got 2 more flying laps in before the session ended. Good news was that with only 4 flying laps done I was already matching my best previous times.

The niggles continued as I went out in the third session! Somehow I'd dislodged the choke cable between sessions and it was trapped half on! So this erm.... well... somewhat compromised performance! I was improving lines though and decided to stop out and ride around things just to get some laps under my belt, albeit 2-3 seconds slower than previous session.

So for session 4 the choke problem was sorted and resolved! OK... let's go properly now then!

First flying lap was straight under my previous best , and lap time continued to tumble down for 7 laps! I was really pleased with how the bike felt, and I didn't actually feel I was pushing overly hard, just concentrating mainly on trying to build my speed up gradually round Gerard's which is my nemesis as I have not been feeling at all confident through fast sweeping bends and as Gerard's feels about 4 miles long it can be described as nothing other than a fast sweeping bend! So it was really pleasing to end that session with the stopwatch showing a full 3 seconds quicker than last year. There's still another 7 seconds to find to be competitive to where I'd like to be...... but we're getting there slowly! It's all going in the right direction.

The next track session saw me stuck in some traffic for the first few laps as I had gone straight out with the main pack and despite a few guys being on some powerful sports bikes, they were braking pretty early for Edwina's and the hairpin, in fact so much so that I actually overtook 3 bikes in one go up the inside at the hairpin, which certainly made me smile in my helmet. One of the riders (on an R6) obviously must have been upset as when he inevitably re-took me... which took him until after the start line.... he was only inches away from me and chopped right in front of me...... perhaps he didn't like being outbraked by a little Lambretta!

Once in clear air the lap time dropped down again to match my new best before the exhaust tone changed and it was most definitely blowing! It was now very loud so sadly it was game over for the day! Returning to the pits and examining the exhaust proved this beyond doubt as the exhaust was split adjacent to the manifold about 3/4 of the way around it with a 2-3 mm gap opened up! Sticky offered to weld it back up as his workshop is only 20 minutes away... but it seemed a mad rush to possibly only just be able to make it back for one last session, so it was trackside now to watch a few sessions from around the track!

The offending split exhaust!

So overall.............. a good day and it was pleasing to have made good progress on getting the times down, I feel sure I had at least a couple of seconds to come as I was not pushing mega hard.

It was good also to have these little niggles on a test day rather than at the first race, so it certainly proves that test or track days are well worth doing!

The Focused Events Team had a great, well organised format, and the scooters fitted in well with the novice bike class. The day was £69 for 6 20 minute sessions, so it's like half a seasons racing track time in one day! Well worth it!

A few small jobs to do on the scooter, and Ed Hocking has the offending exhaust to re-weld! So I'll keep the blog updated with this and a couple of other small improvements I plan before the next outing which will be at the official BSSO / VMCC practice day on 27th March back at Mallory! Can't wait!

JB's Group 4 bike after being chucked into the mud at Edwina's

March Update

Well.... The race season is getting closer! It's 6 weeks now until we will be sitting on the grid at Mallory Park for the first race of the season. The winter has seen many of the racers rebuilding bikes so it will be interesting to see what everyone turns up with at the first race! I think there may be a couple of surprises in the pipeline.

So..... whats new?....... well not much I'm afraid, so this blog is more of a look forward than anything.

The first race this year is Easter Monday at Mallory Park. Easter is falling a little later this year than last so hopefully the snow that was on the ground last year will not be repeated!

March 6th there's a Focused Events track day and they have allowed scooters to take part (full race scooters with ACU licenced riders). Stuart Day has done a few track days with them, but this will be the first time that they will have had 10 or so scooters! We will be on track with their riders (mainly modern sports bikes) so it will be .... interesting! We will be circulating in 20 minute sessions, with fingers crossed 6 sessions over the day, so quite a few laps!

Full report to follow!

Then on March 27th is the official pre-season practice day also at Mallory Park. This one is run by VMCC, and we will run in 10 minute sessions this time, possibly also on track with the VMCC race bikes too, depending upon how many scooters are entered (i.e. we may have our own sessions).

Sometimes scooters take different (faster) lines so depending upon numbers we may run seperately, although it is only practice, so no-one should be going too lairy (!)

So if all goes well, then those two test days will give me lots of laps of Mallory. Which is just as well as I would really like to find 10 seconds from somewhere! I reckon the majority is sitting in Gerards which is my nemesis bend! There's also a bit sitting in the bus stop - I didn't really get that clean at all last year, but I'm hoping that the extra power from the new engine will help things along too of course!

On the BSSO front, I've been working with Eden who did the Scooterotica forum (www.scooterotica.com ) and we have now got a new BSSO FastScooter forum.... you can visit it at www.fastscooter.org
Downside to the new forum is that we have to start again with all the posts, but we now have full control of it and lots of new features too!

Next update in a weeks time after the first Mallory test!

New 2009 Supporters Newsletter

Hello All..... I'll be doing a regular newsletter during the season to keep people up to date with my own season, and also all the news from the BSSO Championship. Simply Click below and add your name to make sure you receive it! Click Here To Subscribe My 2009 Race Season may not have been possible without the support and help of some key sponsors, so I'll also be using the newsletter to help publicise their businesses and products, and maybe even give you some special offers and discounts!


Also....... theres a new scooter racing blog for 2009! Jigsy (Captain Kroozer) has FINALLY got his considerable ass into gear and got his blog started!
You'll find it here > http://scooterracer-nowornever.blogspot.com
Take a look and get up to date on what he's been up to!

Regs for our VMCC race meetings are finally out from the ACU after a hefty delay, so we'll soon be completing entry forms..... oooh exciting isn't it!

So....... how long till we are on track in 2009?

2009!

Hello All! 2009 is here!

I Can't believe its more than 4 weeks already since the last update!

8 weeks to go until the official pre-season test day at Mallory Park on 27th March. This date is organised by the VMCC who are the main organising club that we race with. The test day is always interesting on a number of fronts.

Its the first time that many people break cover with new bikes, new paint jobs, helmets leathers etc! It's also interesting as the scooters and bikes will spend a fair amount of time on track together so its great to see the comparisons in lap times.

Theres a few riders swapping classes and coming out on new bikes this year .... some are secret .... some aren't.

It seems like quite a lot has actually been going on behind the scenes during January... it seems to have been non -stop! We had the BSSO agm on 17th January, which was held at the new location of The Village Hotel at Walsall, organised by John & Sharon Woods. The AGM itself was actually a fairly quiet affair this year, with only 2 2 motions, one which was not approved, and my own, which succeeded. I proposed that we have grid positions for the following days racing rather then weekends. We had some failry in depth discussions as a result on how we actually prepare the grids...... a couple of good ideas being thrown up! Watch this space!

The evening meal and presentation was all teh better for the scooter racing slide show prepared by our very own club DJ Tim Simpson. It was great to see some old pics from baitings Dam, which certainly brought back some great memories for me of helling up that hill trying to miss the sheep shit! I even popped up a few times myself on the slide show!

After the meal we enjoyed a little dancing around........... was great to be on the floor dancing to a bit of ska and even Teenage Kicks!!!!!!!! ;) A special night indeed.

The following weekend was taken up displaying my race scooter on the VMCC stand at the Telford Classic Race Show. The VMCC guys made me welcome, and a few people took away the leaflets I ran off.

Earlier in January, myself and Dave Crampton went up to see the setup at Lambretta Cottage who have very kindly offered to help out with some sponsorship for the 2009 season. Zak and Julie at Lambretta Cottage have an absolutely fantastic set up, and its very uplifting to find such warm, friendly and genuinely helpful dealers in this day and age. They are helping me out with non specific race parts, and Rock Oils. I'm also testing some Heidenau tyres for them too. Many Many Thanks Guys, its really appreciated!

Lambretta Cottage sell their parts from their web site - www.lambrettacottage.com

.... and also from their Ebay shop - http://stores.ebay.co.uk/LAMBRETTA-COTTAGE-RESTORATIONS

... I'd ask anyone buying general parts to give them a call, or take a look at their web site or Ebay shop - remember its good to support those who support Scooter Racing! They are also LCGB super dealers ... and I'm sure if you tell them I sent you.. they will look after you! :)

What else...... phew... theres more! I've spent an evening, and yesterday spraying Dave Cramptons Group 6 Gilera Runner..... no prizes for guessing what colour! Daves making a return to teh track after a break of over 20 years! It all started when he bought a Gilera Runner 125 as a cheap little project.... except as often happens with these things ...... it wasn't cheap, or quick for that matter........ but now at the best part of £1800 later its just about ready to go as a group 6 !

2009 Full Specification

Over the last few months I've had quite a few messages and requests for more information on the specifications of the race scooter.

So i thought it sensible to do a full listing!

Will save a lot of answering questions!

So........... here goes.................

• Frame - Indian GP150
  
• Forks - GP200. Rebuilt with Taffspeed progressive springs, stainless steel one-off spring bushes, fork links modified to take brass bushes in place of nylon, Stainless pivot bolts.
• Front Brake - ScootRS external hydraulic disc, stainless hose, Gilera runner master cylinder
• Bodywork - GP200, fibreglass front mudguard, fibreglass side panels, strengthened floorboards.
• Handlebars - SX200 (lower than GP), perfectly matched rods internally, perfectly free throttle operation.
• Ignition - BGM stator plate, custom lightened Vespa PK flywheel, plastic cooling fan. Ducati Coil, Agusto advance/retard unit.
• Barrel - Rapido Race 200. Tuning by Chalky White - Replay Scooters. Full Race Tune. 31.5HP
  
• Piston - Suzuki
• Cylinder Head - Readspeed Centre Plug - Nippon Denso Spark Plug - NGK rubber HT cap
• Crankshaft - Chalky White special. GP split and rebuilt with Jap con rod. Tig welded
• Carburettor - Mikuni TMX35
• Crankcase - Italian SX200 (!)
• Gearbox - Li150 Pacemaker
• Clutch - 6 plate - Surflex clutch plates
• Chaincase cover - Li 150 - internal modifications to take 6 plate clutch
• Gearing - adjusted to circuit, using 46 or 47T rear sprockets, 15. 16, 17 ,18 fronts.
• Chain adjustment - Nylon top adjuster only
• Exhaust - Hand made one off full race exhaust , carbon mufller , Malc Anderson / MSC design specification, fully rubber mounted.
• Rear Suspension - Hagon adjustable
• Rear Brake - one off rear set brake, GP performance brake shoes.
• Tyres - Dry - Dunlop TT92
• Tyres - Wet - Sava Monsun wets
• Seat Unit - Fibre glass single seat
• Cables - Nylon lined, gear tie rod drilled and m6 retaining nut.

2009 Engine Upgrades - Dyno Results

Since the racing at Joigny in France, the engine from the race bike has been with Chalky White at Replay Scooters in Rothwell.

Chalky originally built the engine for himself to race, but never really got around to it! Chalky spoke to me at Cadwell, and was delighted that his engine had finally made it onto the track!

You may remember that at the final BSSO race at Cadwell I had what proved to be a 'phantom' twisted crank... i.e. it wasn't actually twisted despite giving the symptoms of a twisted crank! I had managed to run at Cadwell and at Joigny by using Ralph Remnant's (SRP Tuning) spare Motoplat ignition set up.

So after France, Chalky offered very kindly to check over the motor, and try to get to the bottom of the ignition problem. We also agreed that he would do some more work on the barrel to provide some more power for 2009. When he had originally tuned the engine, he wanted something with a reasonable spread of power and a rideable delivery. The engine had proved to be great for my return to the race track after 13 years away...... enough power to scare me, but not enough to spit me off...... but above all (except for the ignition problem) reliable!

I had been giving 2009 a lot of thought after Joigny. I was enjoying very much the thrill and adrenalin fix of being on a race track, but realisitically at 45 and such a long time away, I ain't going to be challenging Stuart Day and Charlie Edmonds any time soon!

So I decided that some economical power improvements to the motor, and as much track time as possible using test days at Mallory and the like, would be the best way to go!

So.......... fast forward.......... Chalky has done an absolutely superb job on the engine. Improvements are;

Crankshaft - New crankshaft has been built and fitted. A good quality GP crank was split by Chalky and rebuilt with a longer Japanese con rod. This new crank will be able to handle the extra power Chalky was working on!

Barrel - The existing Rapido barrel was reworked. Transfers were enlarged through their whole length. Exhaust port considerably altered and raised to give 192 degrees of exhaust. The inlet was enlarged and smoothed to improve the matching of the barrel to the inlet manifold.

Ignition - The old ignition stator plate has been totally replaced with a new one. A BGM stator plate was used to provide the sparks! The previous flywheel (modified Vespa PK with plastic fan) was cleaned up and skimmed to tidy up the internal damage.

Agusto 8000 - Chalky's superb Agusto advance / retard box of tricks has been added to improve power and pickup.

Exhaust - A few cracks were found in the exhaust system, so these have been welded and fixed. New exhaust rubber mounts.

So.... after Chalky had done all the above changes, I took my frame down on Christmas Eve and we re-fitted the engine, and put the bike on the dyno for a couple of 3rd gear power runs to see the improvement. At the start of 2008 the engine had been setup with a Mikuni 35mm carb on the Chiselspeed dyno and had produced 23.96 HP so both of us were keen to see the improvements. In my mind I was hoping for 27-28 HP.

The engine started easily when we bumped it up outside (to please Chalky's neighbours!) then it was up the ramp and through the workshop keeping the engine running whilst we strapped down on the dyno. We had checked the Agusto advance / retard system with a strobe, so we were good to go!

The first run..... just under 31HP............. big smiles all round.....


The second run ..... 31.5HP!!!!!!!!! ..........

Heres the dyno chart>> ( click Chart for full view )




Chalky said that as he accelerated the engine felt really smooth - like a very powerful road bike...... great spread of power...... should be superb out of bends.

The engine is producing over 30HP across a pretty broad rev range. I have always preferred engines with this type of power delivery so I am well pleased with the results. Torque is pretty good as well with maximum of 20.7 Nm at 7700 revs (peak power was at 8100 revs).

Theres a little work to do on jetting, with something wild occuring between 6 and 7,000 revs, but it's safe so we will play around with jetting at a later date.

So..... were we pleased? You bet!!!!!!!!!!!

Unfortunately due to external factors I was not able to go play at Mallory Park Plum Pudding on Boxing Day, but hopefully in February / March I will be able to start testing at Mallory practice days..... I reckon the first race meeting will be a great feeling !

A really big Thanks to Chalky White at Replay for all his help and great work on the engine. Very much appreciated!



Chalky's Contact details are;

Replay Scooters
2 The Avenue
Rothwell
Northants
NN14 6EY
Tel (01536) 418893

December Update

Well people............... not a great deal happening with regard to the bike at the moment....... but here's an update.


I had decided originally to build a new motor for next year, but have you heard............. there's a credit crunch!!!!!!! I also decided that in reality....... money would be better spent on track time re-learning to ride fast rather than on some mega motor that I can't ride!

Chalky White of Replay Scooters in Rothwell had originally built my engine for himself, but never really made it out onto the track. Chalky introduced himself at Cadwell, and very kindly offered to relook at the engine and do some more work on it to help me out.

So after the racing in France, I dropped the engine out and took it to Chalky. The plan is to do some interim work on the barrel to produce some more power, and of course sort out the knackered ignition system! (Thanks again to Ralph at SRP for the loan of the Motoplat) and then in the spring do some further developments for 2009 with a possible change of exhaust system, and also going to direct scoop cooling. With Chalky's help this can be achieved hopefully with minimal outlay, leaving money from my small racing fund to use for some track days and tests, which in reality will probably be worth more time than a bonkers engine!

So...... what else has been happening? Well over a few evenings, rather than waste time sitting in front of the TV, I used it productively to edit a video which is a spoof of Hitler's reaction to Tony O'Brien's mega small frame Vespa. Its been well accepted and already doing the rounds of scooter forums, and quickly racked up 1,000 views! For those that don't know, there's a number of alternative versions of this video clip from the German subtitle film 'Downfall'. The original film is apparently very good, but somehow people have produced umpteen spoofs of this video clip with alternative subtitles, with everything from Churchill stealing his Big Macs, to him having problems with Microsoft Vista!

So I can't claim originality for the idea, but it was great fun, and actually harder than it looked trying to make things fit, and in places even match the sound of the German words.



Enjoy!

So................ what else is happening? Well, the BSSO AGM is only a month away so it will be interesting to see if anyone is going to propose anything radical or controversial! With all the development going on in the road scene, with some VERY well engineered clutches, barrels and even gearboxes coming along, it would seem the right time to complete a well overdue review of the BSSO Racing regulations and specifications. The published ones are desperately in need of review and it would be great to simplify them and help out the many newcomers showing interest in racing. At the moment it's looking like we will have some full grids in 2009...... economy permitting!

We don't have a calendar of events finalised yet but I know we have the offer from the VMCC to race with them again. They are really a great bunch, and they and the spectators make us very welcome and enjoy the spectacle of howling scooters blasting around!

My good friend Dave Crampton will be a new entry next year on another bright green machine! This one will be a Gilera Runner, built to compete in Group 6. Dave's from an engineering background and has a number of subtle, but very trick additions and modifications to his Runner. It will be interesting to see how he goes - but I have a sneaking suspicion he ain't going to be at the back (no pressure!)

If I don't update before Christmas........ Peace and Love....... Happy Christmas (war is over!)