Tuesday, July 7, 2009

The end!!

Due to an overstretched budget and continous running costs the bike had to be sold.
Thanks for following
Dave Bennett

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Dyno test and problem finding

After Steve Ruth had repaired the stripped thread I managed to get the bike down to Eric at Ekquire motorcycles in Bury St Edmunds, I wanted to find out what the motor was pushing out and get the carb jetted correctly. Every time I come down to Eric's I warm the bike up outside but this day it wasn't having it! I changed the spark plug and eventually she burst into life but still no tick over, (idle for you guys in US....Dave!!!). I managed to get the bike on the dyno and take it through a power run, 64.8bhp at the rear wheel but it was dropping off around 7000rpm. I came down a size on the main jet and set about starting the bike again, but it just wouldn't fire. Eric then appeared and said there was a way to find out if it was fuel related or ignition, so as I was starting it he was spraying brake cleaner into the bell mouth of the carb, when it failed to start he said it was almost definitely the ignition. When I got home I removed the generator, CDi amplifier and coil. Starting with the coil I used a Mega metre to test it, all ok, same with the amplifier box, but when I tested the generator I found that at least 3 of the coils had open circuit. A new generator was fitted and I gingerly pulled the bike back onto the rollers, then with antipidation I let out the clutch, almost immediately the engine burst into life and was idling around the 2000rpm mark. I let the engine warm up then adjusted the tick over to just over 1500 rpm, the motor sound so crisp and by my reckoning it was playing up when Simon was testing at Mallory so what will she go like now the ignition has been sorted?
The bike was now ready for the European Supermono race the next day at Snetterton, and I loaded everything I needed into the van.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Simons first ride

I arranged to meet Simon at Mallory park so he could have a ride on the Mono, the weather was not looking good so decided to put cut slicks in so if the worst came to the worst he could at least splash around for a few laps. I had also geared the bike for Snetterton so it may be a little to high, but will see how he gets on. As there wasn't too many bikes for the session they declared an open pit lane, so Simon headed out for his debut ride on the bike. His first few laps Simon was acclimatising himself to the characteristics of a Supermono, from about the 4Th lap you could see he was settling down and each lap he was going faster by at least 2 seconds! He came in after about 12 laps with his best time being 1'02", but he did say the it was still very damp around Gerrard's and was not really powering out of the corners in fear of a highside. The weather continued to improve and a few small adjustments were made to the Idle speed and gear shift position before Simon took to the circuit again. Even on the out lap you could see that he was more confident on the now dry track and on his first flying lap he got down to just over the minute mark, he could not improve as he hit traffic but after about 6 laps he came in as the session had been Red Flagged. When we were talking about the session Simon noticed that the belly pan had quite a lot of oil residue, and when the belly pan was removed we found the Crank locking hole bolt was weeping oil, I tried to tighten the bolt but it just kept turning. When I removed the bolt you could see that the thresd had been stripped, this had also happened to my other engine when Steve was rebuilding it so it must be a trait of Rotax! I tried to reseal it but with no thread to bite into it was fruitless. I was not happy letting Simon go out again as if the oil got onto the rear tyre it could have him off, Simon agreed but said he couldn't wait to get back out on it as it was "FUN". I will get the bike to Steve this week so he can drill and fit a Helicoil as he had done with my other engine, I have also asked Steve to help me set the carb as its still not idling correctly, more news soon I promise.

PS sorry no photos

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

The Supermono Cup has been cancelled

It has just been announced the the British Supermono Cup has been cancelled for the remaining of the season due to lack of entries, with this news my rider Ash Norrington, (A cup contender), is unsure if he will continue to race in the Mono class this year. I have offered my Bike to Simon Hedges, a Nottingham rider who has just got hold of a Yamaha SRZ660 that he intends to race in the Mono's next year. He will be riding it in the Eoropean Round at the Snetterton BSB Meeting, and it all depends on the way the bike performs to whether I keep it or sell it.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Looks promising

As all the riders I offered the ride to have other plans I posted the offer on the Supermono website, I was contacted by a present Monoist who asked if it would be ok for his mate to race it! I wont say too much now as it is not 100% but his friends is a former British Superbike rider who has won on more than one occasion, he has also raced in World Superbikes.
Watch this space

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Riderless for the European Supermono race

After offering the ride to Mick Hammonds he contacted me today to inform me he was unable to take the ride as he had prior engagements that he could not get out of, and he really wanted to be back in the Mono's!! I have another rider in mind and have contacted him, I am just waiting on the reply.

It will be disapointing if the bike is not out there, so much so that I may dust off my leathers and enter myself if a rider does noy emerge soon, we have just over 3 weeks to get the bike dialled in for whoever rides it so I really need to know one way or the other very soon. I will put a posting on our website asking for suggestions and will see what pops up.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

European Supermono at Snetterton BSB

The European Supermono Association has secured a support race at the British Superbike meeting at Snetterton in June, and the majority of the British Supermono riders enter to put on a good show. The licence requirements are that you must hold a Clubmans racing licence or above to enter, as Ash failed to finish at Cadwell last weekend he was unable to get his final signature to move him up to Clubman status. After a lenghty phone call with Ash it was decided that he would concentrate on the British Supermono Cup series, using the entry fee he would have paid for the Euro round to acclimatise himself better with my bike, ie at track/test days at circuits that are on our calender. This left me with a bit of a dilema as all my sponsors are local to Snetterton and it would have been a great showcase for the bike, I notified Richard (TFL), Nick (BPS), Dave (Cabtec) and Ray (LRM Fibreglass) to explain the situation, all of whom returned messages along the lines of " Thats racing!!"

However with the engine from Nick Oliver arriving early next week the bike should be running and on the dyno by next weekend, so with the approval of Ash I put the bike up for someone to ride at the Euro round, I dont really want to let a current rider use it but rather bring in someone that had not started the season. My first thought was Alex Hutchinson, (Im following his and his brothers blog on here), as he had his ride taken away at the eleventh hour! Alex got back to me saying he had been offered another ride for the Euro round but thanked me for asking. The other person I was thinking of was a well known face around the Supermono Paddock for the last 4/5 years, he always had a smile on his face no matter what had happened on the track. He was dogged with machine problems but he is a very good rider and quite agressive when needed, and I honestly think he would have finished top 5 if the bike had not let him down. His name is Mick Hammonds.
I managed to get the engine out and down to Steve, and as you can see it was quite a mess inside when he managed to get the head and barrel off, this has been caused bt oil starvation to the underside of the piston. This got me thinking about the oil feed and return lines, I had contacted Rotax who had sent me a line drawing of the oil lines, it clearly shows the feed as the furthermost forward, so thats how I connected them. Steve checked this out and to my dismay he proved that I had connected the oil lines to the wrong unions, expensive mistake to make I know!! Steve told me I would need a new con rod, barrel, piston, and vavles. I had the rod and valves but not the barrel and piston, I tried several places but all were out of my price range so I was beginning to think this was going to be the end before it actually got started. I contacted a former Mono racer who had a 97mm Nikasil barrel but only a flat top piston, this would get the engine back on the track but wil lose BHP! he also said he had a 100mm Omeag piston but as the scored barrel is 100mm the piston would be too small. Steve said I needed a 100.5mm so the barrel can be honed out to that. I got in touch with JE pistons but they would only sell them to me if I bought 4, much too expensive. I was in loggerheads of what to do when Ash called, he told me that he had been speaking to Nick Oliver, (another Mono rider from The Isle Of Man), and he mentioned that Nick had a 671 Rotax engine that he used last year, I contaceted Nick and he very kindly gave me an offer I cannot refuse. Dave Harnet is picking the engine up from Nick at Anglesey this weekend and I will be picking it up from Dave early next week, so all being well it should be on the dyno by next weekend.






Monday, May 18, 2009

Rounds #1 & #2 Cadwell Park

Arrived at Cadwell Park late Friday afternoon and we got on with the job of setting the bike up, ie lock wiring bolts, adjusting clip ons, suspension etc. I took the bike to Scruteeneering on the Saturday morning and it passed with flying colours, however it needed to be noise tested so we started the bike only to find that the Scitsu tacho was reading 8000rpm on tick over, (idle). After trying several different routes for the pick up wire Andy Duncan kindly let me borrow his Scitsu. Off to the noise test area and to be honest I thought it would fail but at 104dcb it was within the limit of 105dcb.

Qualifying:
Ash did not complete a lap due to fuel starvation caused by the new fuel cap not having a breather.

Race 1:

As this was the first time Ash had ridden the bike I was not expecting too much, he finished the race in 14th but his lap times were improving every circuit considering the gearing was all wrong.

Sunday warm up:

Ash arrived at the assembly area only for the bike to cut out, after frantically trying to start it I realised I had neglected to connect the fuel line!!! Ash completed less than a lap as the weather had turned quite bad and he was on cut slicks, however he was happy with the changed gearing.

Race 2:

Ash got a better start and was already going faster in the damp conditions than in the dry the day before. On the second from last lap Ash failed to appear and whne he eventually got back to the paddock he informed me the engine just lost power. I will post the diagnosis when I find out more.