Wednesday 10 April 2013

2013 Round One: Croft Sunday


In the morning, dad and I walked the track once to explain my lines and gears to him. We were joined for a second lap by Gary Biddle (58) and Rob Sumner (84) and watched Paul Green (49) cycle past us a number of times.

In race three, I was back on the same pace as the previous day but being mighty careful with my front brake now - the brembo replacement will be fitted by Mallory Park. I had a bit of a moment at the start of the race, accidentally starting with the automatics but realised my mistake in time, reversing back one row to my starting position. Unfortunately, there were a few others who made the mistake who got a time penalty instead but over the course of the race, I found my way to sixth in group four again.

In race four, I had a great battle with Bert Conneely (51) and Stewart McKenzie (96). It was a fantastic finish to the weekend as Stewart, Bert and I swapped places on the last two laps and there was a real tustle.

A list of objectives for us both has been drawn up for the next round - Mallory Park. Preparation is certainly an aim for the season and we are already dramatically improved over 2012's efforts.

Tuesday 9 April 2013

2013 Round One: Croft Saturday

As previosuly mentioned, I have been busy with University since October 2012 so as a result, I was unable to aid my dad much in getting the bikes prepared for Croft. He was working to the last minute and all night on Thursday and had help from Replay Scooters on the Friday so understandably I arrived at Croft first and set up camp. Not before too long, he arrived and the camp was complete. We had a little chat but hit the hay very quickly.


As I mentioned in a previous post, I'd rather not bore you with my account of the racing so at this meeting I tried to record some footage. Despite working rather unsuccessfully, it confirmed to me that the video is not only a great way to show the events but also a good tool to remind myself of tracks.

I hadn't visited Croft before so in the practice session I followed Tony Rudd (54) the whole time to attempt to learn competitive times. I was respectably only three seconds of the fastest group four times for the session so had certainly entered the weekend with confidence. Dad (43) had retired the session with a broken gearbox which was a brand new DRT box.



The first race came and I was again following Tony Rudd (54) overtaking him but unable to keep infront on the straights and finished the race behind him in a respectable 5th place in group four.



The second race came and I was with Tony Rudd (54) and had been caught up by Robert Rees (27) and Damon Tunnicliffe (2) but a handful of the front brake going into the hairpin on the penultimate lap saw me hit the track and roll around in the conventional rag-doll style. It was a great shame to have fallen as I was battling for fourth place and felt I could have got it given the next lap. Unfortunately, dad (43) came off in the same race so we both would have to start from the rear of the group fours on Sunday's races.

I had some great racing over the day that ended with a self-diagnosed sprained wrist but I was very excited for the Sundays races. Hopefully over the season, we'll be seeing more of this:



Photos: Lee Hollick Photography 


Race Scooter: All events occurred 6th April 2013


Tuesday 26 March 2013

Test Day 2013: Mallory Park

Before I got to the test day, there were a few tasks to be completed. For a start, the entire engine was still stripped from Cadwell Park 2012 so we had our work cut out to reassemble and fix things along the way. Nothing had drastically been altered but we had changed the magneto gasketing for a custom made, stronger counterpart. I had managed to get away with only using one piston through 2012 so a new one was machined and used in assembly. Otherwise, no real changes - same gearbox and overall drive ratio, same top end and despite our best efforts, the same exhaust.

A DRT gearbox has been selected by using the criteria decided at the 2013 AGM but has yet to see manufacture and I am still messing around with exhaust pipes. I will just have to lean off the bike a bit more to alleviate the ground clearance issue.

I failed to start the bike at home on my own as the clutch is a real pig when it is cold and the rebuild didn't help. However, now that I could drive the Mazda Bongo, I took the bike over to Replay Scooters to be started and hopefully tested. However, it soon became clear that the six months I had experienced away from Lambrettas had resulted in me being very rusty - leading to some stupid mistakes.

At the dyno, the clutch was far too tight and a replacement cable was required so that was the first thing. The throttle cable had also found its way out of the housing leading to difficult starting and the carburettor not closing properly. A few more teething problems were found such as the HT lead routing but within an hour, we had tested the bike on power and despite reading lower than the start of 2012, it was consistent with what we had found towards the end of the season.

So we were both ready for the Mallory Park Test Day. And what a cold, cold day it turned out to be. Scruiteneering was passed with a not on loose forks and my numbers being too close together but we were both ready with plenty of time before the first session... which came and within a few laps, I felt surprisingly confident with the feel of the bike again.


I felt much stronger through Gerrard's and took people on the outside which was a confidence boost. I wasn't pushing too hard and braking for Edwina's was far off a fast pace - as was the racing line due to a well placed patch of oil. Up to Shaw's corner was good and I felt good though the whole section. Devil's elbow still saw me not on full pace but entering Gerrard's felt much more stable than it had last year with my rear suspension properly adjusted. I could feel a massive improvement over the previous year's test day.


No changes before the second session but on the last lap the bike developed an issue. I made it back to the pits and with a moment of deja vu realised that the ignition mount had let me down in a similar fashion to the previous year... and also in a similar way to Lydden Hill. However, the bike had been tested and I was confident in the setup oncemore. New parts would be required but the engine had not let me down drastically and everything was repairable before Croft.


Dad had also had an issue with his bike, the plating had chipped on his newly tuned Mugello engine and forced him out in the same race as me. We both watched the rest of the day and were impressed with everyone's performance but most notably Mike Bonett - who looked fantastic despite not feeling well. It was also nice to see the DKS pair in formation reminiscent of spectating Chris Geyton and the recently passed Jon Uffindell in 2012. Jon will be a noticeably missed character in the paddock and never forgotten.

Onto the first round of the season at Croft will see us struggle with the Easter weekend and deliveries but we are entered and I am eagerly anticipating learning the new circuit. Good luck to everyone heading up there and we will see you there.

Photos: Lee Hollick Photography 

Race Scooter: All events occurred 21st March 2013

Tuesday 1 January 2013

Race Scooter: Winter news

After Cadwell Park, there was a little recovery time before I booked a last minute cheap holiday and shot off to Fuerteventura - a nice end to the season. Straight after this, I went back to York University for my last year in education for the foreseeable future. My arm had just about healed by the time I was back in the UK - the bruising went a lovely shade of green whilst on holiday.


In the few days that I had between commitments, I managed to take the top end apart to inspect the damage. It transpired that the tightening of the mag housing had cause the bearing to explode so I lost all support on the flywheel side. I was very lucky that there wasn't more damage to the internals than what we found.

Onto the overall progression over the winter and we first arrive at the purchase of a hydraulic bench. Hopefully, we won't have to use this often but it should make life easier when bikes need to be worked on. We also plan to insure both of us on the Mazda Bongo, not only to alleviate dad from all the driving but to transport bikes for testing when dad is unavailable. Both of these changes should dramatically reduce the stress levels we experience lose to race meetings.

We also solved an issue that will have been contributing to my gears jumping and possibly the oil leak. The button head of the wishbone assembly was rubbing on the crankcase internals so moving this should dispatch that issue and hopefully provide a better seal for the oil.


In my work at university, I started to design my own exhaust as part of my final year project. I progressed to the point of three dimensional drawings - using my own simplified CAD system and I also produced sections for a straight pipe to be tested on Chalkie's dyno at Replay Scooters.



And the last real piece of news was that I won an award at the BSSO AGM. I received 'Best Newcomer' which was a really big surprise and a very proud moment. It currently stands on my windowsill for everyone to see.


So what is in store for 2013. Well not much I'm afraid. I have very little time away from my University commitments and will have to entrust a lot of work to my father, who already has his own work to do. Near the start of the season I plan to fit a Brembo radial master cylinder as the one I currently have fitted is for two discs so lacks any sort of feel.

My blogging process is also likely to change over the season in order for me to give quicker updates and not fall behind as happened near the end of 2012. I would aspire to get footage of every session of a weekend and give a summary of results and the inevitable problems. This way, I can concentrate on other updates which is the part of my story that everyone seems to prefer reading.

Good luck to everyone that will be involved in the BSSO 2013 championship and roll on March 21st.