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
Thursday, May 28, 2009
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.
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.
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.
. 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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
