Cadwell Park Race Pictures

Many Thanks to Paul Thomas for these pictures of the BSSO round at Cadwell Park

British Champion - Charlie Edmonds - Performance Tuning

Jon Davis

Steve Wright with Guy Topper Chasing

Mike Bonnett - Kegra

Jon Uffindell and James Campen had a race long tousle!

Dave Crampton

Ed Hocking Team Replay - Head down Trying hard! 

Phil Bevis in close 

proximity!

Double Race Winner Guy Topper

Thanks again to Paul Thomas for pictures

Cadwell Park June - What - No Brake!

I got to the circuit at teatime - just as the classic cars had finished........  some great machines there!

My good mate Matthew arrived for his second race in 20 years!   His new motorhome and trailer was pretty nifty!   Chalky White arrived too with his new retirement vehicle.....  mega !

Saturday night saw noise testing out the way - scraped through!.....

Flippin' eck it was cold the night before!!!!!

The van was bloody freezing......  is it really summer?  So up and cooked some bacon to warm up!

Dave Crampton and Mars Bar Jonny arrived and soon the paddock was filling up.

Practice..............  hhhhhmmmmmm  gearing is a bit high maybe...........   still experimenting really as the engine characteristics are different to last year.  I was running and Li150 Pacemaker box and had opted for 17/46........   just that bit out really.  Cadwell is always a bit of a compromise gearing wise, but i was not really far enough out to have the hassle of changing the sprockets........   which is what Chalky told me during his motivational talk!

So......  stick with it and just try and go faster!

Race 1 - got a decent start and had a good tousle with Rob sumner and Tim Simpson for a few laps.  What I was finding was that I was struggling with speed up the hill from the hairpin and over the hill, where the gearing could have been a little lower, but by the end of the straight I was maybe 4-5 mph quicker so was able to outbrake a few at the end of the straight.  The Gooseneck as always is a challenge and on teh last lap Steve Wright went off line coming out of it and so very nearly managed to stay upright - eventually succumbing to a slow speed tumble almost down at the next bend on the grass.  Thankfully Steve was fine and suffered no injury.  Guy Topper won from the front row being chased hard by Charlie Edmonds coming through from well down the grid.

Race 2 - not such a good start,  and was quickly in a tousle with Rob and Tim again, but this time joined by Dave Crampton too.  The three of them went round the outside entering the main straight , but once down the dip and rising uphill and back onto the flat I reeled them all back in and passed them under braking for the right hander........... however........ trying to scrub off speed I went for the rear brake..... ermmmmm  .... the pedals not there!  OOps.... looking down the pedal was flapping around.... looking back up ...... erm...... I'm all out of track!

Fighting with Rob Sumner in front, Dave Crampton alongside, Tim Simpson Chasing ...... then it all went wrong!

Dave C was about to tip into the bend - only to find me going straight on trying to slow down!   Oops........  he has no choice but to be straight on heading towards the tyre wall!  he managed to stay upright fortunately and makes it back on track.

If the brake pedal had actually come right off it would have been better......  but it was hanging by its cable and flapping around in the breeze.  It seemed no matter where I went to put my foot the loose pedal was under it!  It was such a distraction.  I let Rob and Tim go and just concentrated on getting round to a finish and collect the points!

Dave C had stopped on track after his motor appeared to nip up.....  later inspection would reveal total destruction!  Poor dave has really not had the luck in his debut season!  If it can go wrong it has done......  No wonder he calls himself Unlucky Alf!

So its another long lay off till Lydden Hill.  The intention is to do a track day or Mallory test in the gap and get some valuable track time as I'm not feeling so comfortable this year - the 3 race meeting so far have been nothing to write home about.... more speed and confidence badly needed!

Lydden Hill is the next race meeting on July 31st .......  Another small circuit - but one where corner speed is so important.  Fingers crossed for a better weekend there.

Three Sisters May 2010

The last few weeks has been manic busy with one thing or another - and Three Sisters seems like a long time ago!

Round 2 of the BSOO 2010 Championship was originally scheduled to be at Anglesey on the full circuit there. I had not actually planned to enter that race, so when it was cancelled due to lack of entries for the motorcycle club ( ironically scooters outnumbered bikes on the entry !) we spoke to the VMCC who we normally race with and were very pleased to reschedule our round back to the Three Sisters Circuit near Wigan.

So ahead of the meeting I had a lot of things to change and experiment with for Three Sisters. The new 2010 exhaust needed shortening and was quickly despatched off to Jahspeed for modification to allow higher revs and a little more clearance to the rear tyre to facilitate easier tyre changes.

I also paid a visit to Charlie Edmonds for a little help and advice with suspension set up. This resulted in a new Chiselspeed rear shock which gives much more adjustability in the setup. Additionally I stripped the front forks and went with a completely different setup.

http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/ee113/tonyobri/three%20sisters%202010/three%20sisters%202010%20800dpi/_TOB4708.jpg

So..... Friday night I arrived at the circuit and put together the new marquee before wandering over to the Jahspeed Funbus for a half of shandy ;-) Those essex boys know how to relax at the end of the week!
Saturday morning Dave C and Mars Bar Johnny arrived to spectate and later on the pit crew of choice arrived. All was set.....

So..... looking forward to the 'old favorite' Three Sisters circuit I ventured out on track for first practice - eager to try the new suspension set up...... first lap coming off the hill I applied the front brake for the 90 degree right hander and the front end was just all over the place,........ and again at the paddock right hand and going into the heavy braking zone into the left hand the front end was just locking up and skipping around like crazy.

Back into the paddock there was much head scratching as to what was occuring. Charlie came over and described the scooter as 'looking like a dancing kangaroo!' which actually felt an apt description. it was simple horrid to ride.

We wound up the front dampers and also the rear shock to stiffen them up - all we could really in readiness for race 1. Unfortunately whilst the changes had helped it was still wild and locking up solid under braking. I tussle with Biddle initially and the super fast Group 6 of returning Jigsy was fun - if a little frustrating !

Race 2 was more of the same.!

On Saturday we also were to have a 3rd scratch race just for fun..... so I thought I mat as well have a go despite the handling problems. On the second lap there was banging and clattering under acceleration and initial loss of drive..... so i pulled in and we set about stripping the motor with my trusty pit crew. The problem revealed itself in a damaged front sprocket which was spinning on the shaft and not allowing drive. In the rebuild I'd accidentally used a crappy Indian sprocket - so this was replaced with a good Innocenti one and we were good to go again on Sunday.....

Sunday...........

I had some breakfast then decided to strip and rebuild the forks back to their original set up - not the easiest of jobs to do in the paddock and not one you would do for fun! I decided to try putting the front suspension back to its original setup.

This was finished with Chalkies help literally as an extra unexpected practice was called......... with some rushing around i missed the first lap but could get some valuable testing of things..... it was better - but still locking up under heavy braking.

Chalkie who was watching closely from track side identified that the BGM dampers were bottoming out under braking .....

Further examination and measurement revealed that I had 15-20mm less distance between the damper mountings than others.... so consequently i had insufficient travel..... meaning that the dampers were bottoming out on their rubber bushes to easily.

A little scouting around found me some trusty escort standard dampers to use for the rest of the day - to at least prevent the locking up.

So overall a really disappointing weekend which had knocked my confidence in the bike under braking and resulted in a lower than expected result ......

Three Sisters Preview

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!

Mallory Park - Easter Monday - First Day of Term... Pain!

So......  after the winters wait it was over to Mallory Park on Easter Monday.

I loaded the van and all the gear on Sunday afternoon. Miles was out for the afternoon and I couldn't be bothered to wait for him to get back - mistake!  A little after I'd loaded everything my back started to be very painful, which steadily got worse as the day and evening went on.  I actually fractured vertebrae a few years ago and my back is basically a bit of a mess and will never really be right again.  There is a lot of damage and I do have restricted movement in it .  The break was caused by a little 'incident' when I fell off the back of a 14 foot half pipe whilst skateboarding (!!!!!!)

So the pain I was now in was actually the worst it has been for many years.  I dosed myself up with painkillers and hoped for the best.... and vainly hoped that the adrenalin would overcome.... alas not!  Scrutineering was smooth, with no issues.  It was great to see my old mate Roland Davis back helping out with the weighing equipment for the controversial new weight regs this year.

So - onto first practice..... my doubts about the clutch proved to be correct!  I had experienced clutch problems on the test day and again when trying to do some dyno testing at Replay Scooters... and it just didn't 'feel' right somehow.....  it managed to last a whole lap and a half before starting to slip and give up the ghost.   So practice cut short ...... the bike was straight on its side being taken apart.  Fortunatley I had good mate Johnny Gilbert to lend a hand, and Chalkie White soon appeared to help out too.

The top cork had managed to free itself and had spun out the top of the clutch bell..... which was a bit odd as this had never happened before!  The corks had also partially broken up with plenty of cork floating around in the oil!  They were comprehensively destroyed.

After much head scratching as to why this had happened Paul Baker from SRP Racetech helped out with the load of 6 new Surflex red plates, and with Chalkies help we did some pick and mixing of steels and with a little addition we had the top cork in its rightful place... and a test around the paddock followed by a little adjustment, fingers crossed showed it was good to go!

So.... first race...... a decent initial start of the line ..... well a little too decent thought the stewards who managed to dish me out yet another jump penalty!!!!  The scooter with the new exhaust felt initially strong, but as the race progressed it was increasingly hard to move around as my back stiffened up.... but more importantly whilst the new exhaust gives grunt out of bends, the change in the engine characteristics became more noticeable.... and it was very apparent that I'd lost some straight line speed on the straights.

Race two was pretty awful and a real struggle to be honest, and I was pretty glad when it was over.  But on the positive side I had two points finishes which was more than several others managed so I actually scored decent points despite all!

I was in bed within half hour of getting in and feeling and looking very grey!

Monday was a visit to my trusty osteopath for emergency treatment.... damaged facet joints in between the vertebrae .... ouch to the back...... ouch to the wallet.... it's likely to be 4 weeks worth of treatment to get it sorted....

As for the scooter...... well.... a dyno session at Replay made things clearer, and as I type this John Howe is remodelling the exhaust to allow the motor to rev and bring the power maximum higher up the rev range.  The exhaust was a prototype after all so modification is to be expected, but Jahspeed are onto it!

Hopefully the back will be sorted out for the next race!

Mallory Park Test Day - More Pictures

All these pictures are Courtesy of Iggy Grainger 
  

Click here for Iggy's Book - Scooter Lifestyle

 

Mallory park BSSO Test Day

Well... here we go...... the first track action for 2010!

The weeks prior to the Mallory test had been really hectic one way or another.  Unfortunately I had totally run out of time to do the intended new paint job.... but my good mate Dave Crampton's Gp6 was looking nice once it was all bolted together!

The big changes to the scooter for 2010 were all based around the new 2010 exhaust.  John Howe at Jahspeed has done a brilliant job with this new prototype design for Group 4!  It looks and sounds amazing.  Initial dyno test shows 2 HP increase and more torque...... although achieved slightly at the expense of a wide power band as its a bit peakier now!

The new exhaust is built around the engine and runs real close to the back tyre and will nicely warm the rear tyre ready for left handers!!  The engine now has direct air scoop for cooling (the aluminium cooling scoop was erm,... interesting to make!)  In order to allow for the scoop cooling I have a new cylinder head - large!!!!!!

Chalky White at Replay has remachined the combustion chamber to a new 2010 shape, and also machined down the mag housing to a bare minimum..... no cooling fan now!

So...............  following the initial run on a dyno it was time to get on track.  Finishing Dave's Gp 6 had been very much a last minute affair with lots of midnight oil being burnt.....  which meant we had to take it to Mallory having not even started it (more in a future update on the Group 6 bike)!  So once we had got there.... I proceeded to get ready to go out.......  whilst Dave proceeded to try to start his for the first time!

so.............  first session....... felt great to be on track and the new exhaust sounded great!  It was really cold so would be taking a while to get the tyre warmed up (Chris Geyton managed to bin his scooter at the second bend!)   .............  scooter felt good.....  but the new exhaust seemed to have changed some of the engine characteristics and although I had put in higher gearing than last year... it was not by enough as I was hitting 4th really early on the straight.

The first session was over all too soon............  as I pulled in Dave was still struggling to get the Gp 6 running as the clutch was permanently binding.....  decision was made to strip it and see what was up!

The second session seemed to come around really quickly and we were back on track.  The sun was out now and the track was getting warmer, so time to try a bit harder!  End of the session again came all too soon and towards the end there was just a little clutch slip starting.......

So adjusted the clutch and then checked on Daves progress which had been good and the clutch problem  seemed to have been sorted and it was firing into life!

The third session was just before lunch and the clutch slip was much more noticeable!  As was the gearing issue now I was getting more used to the power delivery of the engine.  I thought about stripping it to check the clutch and change the gearing but by now the sun had dipped behind the clouds and it was starting to get really cold.........  so opted to just adjust the clutch again and hope for the best.

Dave had now made it out on track and was enjoying riding the Gp 6 although gear change was an issue and will need to be modified!

Next session.....  I managed a couple of laps and then called it a day as the clutch had totally given up the ghost and there was virtually no drive at all!

So we spent an hour or so chatting and catching up with other riders and spectators, including Kieran Doherty - a world renowned photographer who is hoping to attend a few meetings this year to complete a photoessay on scooter racing.  Check out http://www.kierandoherty.typepad.com/kdblog/  and www.kierandoherty.com for his work.

The clutch problems will obviously need sorting out, but the exhaust seems to work well ......  I guess some new experimentation with gearing will be needed so I am hoping to do a couple of tests or track days to iron this out during the year.

First race is back at Mallory Park on Easter Monday .... 5th April........ looking forward to it!