Robw#70
13-06-07, 10:28 PM
Right finally back to reality and come down from the weekends experience.
Last week was spent preparing for the weekend, which included getting the bike quiet enough for fridays test day noise limit of 88db:eek: (even on the paperwork they recommended insulating the fairing!)
I decided the easiest way to do this was to fit the std system, carbs and airbox, so a bit of time on the dyno and all was well.
We were booked on the 10am boat and with the journey including the worst of the M25 and arriving at dover for 9am traffic, so we thought we'd leave early:rolleyes:
Turned out we missed all the traffic, arrived in record time and rolled in to dover for 7.30!! which meant an 1 1/2hr wait in a carpark until steve and sarah arrived.
Off the boat the traffic was pretty slow all the way taking 7 1/2hrs to get to the circuit, so a very long day.
I was down as a reserve for the test day, even though I had paid in time it seemed the locals got preference, with most brits booking 4 sessions and only getting two.
So the whole day was spent to and from the office, waiting for nearly an hour in the reserve que, then told to come back in an hour and at about 4pm I was the last reserve and the only one turned away:o
This gave me some extra time to refit the flatslides and exhaust prior to scrutineering, but it didn't help the fact I had not sat on the bike since early April and no idea where the circuit went:confused:
I was sat in the scrutineering que next to the factory NCR dripping with titanium and carbon, little did I know it was the sort of machinery I was going to be up against on my humble SV already frowned upon by the mechanic wheeling the NCR, to top it off I failed the noise test as they revved the bike alot higher using their own device to set rpm, but a change of can got the bike all scruitineered.
A quick cycle round the track friday night to get an idea of where the track went, a few beers then bed.
Having looked at the times and results from the previous year and comparing them to riders that I knew their uk laptimes (Supermono's, DD's and Andy Peck) the races ahead didn't seem too much of a worry, little did I know the top six would all be on or under last years FL, with the quickest by 4 secs:eek: and later we found alot of the front runners were from WSS, SBK and German/Dutch SBK riders.
Saturday morning and it was already getting hot, I left the gearing as it was as learning the circuit was my main priority, but once out on track the bike was hesitating on part throttle at lower revs (which is normally its strong point for grunting out of corners:confused: ) so I had to keep the revs up, but a couple of laps in and I was confortably lapping around the 2.00 mark and managed to drop in to the 1m59's.
I dropped the needles and changed the gearing for the next qualifying, The bike felt better but still hesitating, the gearing had helped but the bike was still flat out for the last 4 corners in top!!
The changes helped and I was straight in to 1m59's, until it was red flagged!
On the re-start I pushed on dropping to 1m58's then 1m57.9 which left me 26th on the grid of 42:cool:
Another gearing change for the last qualifying session (another 25mins in 30+deg:dozey: ) and I was straight out on pace knocking off a few more tenths to a 1m57.1 leaving me 25th on the grid for sunday:smoke:
New tyres scrubbed in warmup ( was using last years part worns for qualifying) and all felt good, the bike was stil a bit flat, but I had geared round it.
Race 1 and im on the outside for the 90 deg first corner, I had a good start off the line, enough to compensate for the lack of power and the long run to turn one, I opted for round the outside, but a bit more reserved than I would normally having seen a few people ride in to each other in qualifying, I made quite a few places round the next rh loop, but out of the left handed hairpin I may as well have got off and pushed, Massively out horse powered all the places I had made soon dissappeared leaving me 22nd and battling with a 999 and a 998, when behind them I lapped consistantly in the 1m56's, but when I got pushed wide and had a bit of track I got in the 1m55's until I caught them up, they slowed me in the corners, I soon found I could pass them round the outside on the fastest part of the track, the sweeping left hander on to the start finish straight (top gear at 9500>10k with everything dragging:eek: ), but the straights were just a bit too long, once in front i'd get passed 50yards or so before the corner:rolleyes:
I finished 23rd with a FL of 1m55.5, exhausted and hot, but not lapped and a decent laptime.
Race 2 and I was up for it (mentally anyway:dozey: ), A good start kept me with the row in front and I pushed hard around the outside with the front pack insight entering the hairpin, only to have the backwards feeling again on exit:o , thew pace was slightly slower in this race and my tiredness was showing having to concentrate a bit harder to stay on pace, I got in to a scrap with a 1098, passing him on both sides at any opertunity, only to be trounced on the straights, leaving me to watch him pull away fighting it lock to lock, I could get alongside out of the last chicane, but he came past each time front wheel in the air.
On the last lap I pushed hard in to turn one and got in front to the hairpin trying to make a gap, but 25yrds before the end of the next straight he blasted back past and pulleda gap, I decided to stay behind and follow him home as my entry and corner speed had got to silly levels to try and stay with the more powerful bike and I didn't want to throw it away knowing he could grunt back past with his extra 50hp out of the last chicane:burnout:
I finished 22nd with a FL of 1m55.8 and not lapped!
Given the competition I think we did pretty well on our shopping bikes, we all qualified and not at the back of the field at a circuit we had not ridden before in a European championship race for 1000cc twins:smoke:
Here's a link about the bike that came 2nd!!
http://www.ncrcorse.com/us/
A big thanks to Steve, SVracer and Chunks for all your help getting there and getting things organised;)
And well ridden the pair of you and well done to Chunks letting Steve cremate your bike:p
I'm still on the hunt for pics but here's one for now
http://www.opfietse.com/foto/duc2007/dsc_0154_1024.html
Last week was spent preparing for the weekend, which included getting the bike quiet enough for fridays test day noise limit of 88db:eek: (even on the paperwork they recommended insulating the fairing!)
I decided the easiest way to do this was to fit the std system, carbs and airbox, so a bit of time on the dyno and all was well.
We were booked on the 10am boat and with the journey including the worst of the M25 and arriving at dover for 9am traffic, so we thought we'd leave early:rolleyes:
Turned out we missed all the traffic, arrived in record time and rolled in to dover for 7.30!! which meant an 1 1/2hr wait in a carpark until steve and sarah arrived.
Off the boat the traffic was pretty slow all the way taking 7 1/2hrs to get to the circuit, so a very long day.
I was down as a reserve for the test day, even though I had paid in time it seemed the locals got preference, with most brits booking 4 sessions and only getting two.
So the whole day was spent to and from the office, waiting for nearly an hour in the reserve que, then told to come back in an hour and at about 4pm I was the last reserve and the only one turned away:o
This gave me some extra time to refit the flatslides and exhaust prior to scrutineering, but it didn't help the fact I had not sat on the bike since early April and no idea where the circuit went:confused:
I was sat in the scrutineering que next to the factory NCR dripping with titanium and carbon, little did I know it was the sort of machinery I was going to be up against on my humble SV already frowned upon by the mechanic wheeling the NCR, to top it off I failed the noise test as they revved the bike alot higher using their own device to set rpm, but a change of can got the bike all scruitineered.
A quick cycle round the track friday night to get an idea of where the track went, a few beers then bed.
Having looked at the times and results from the previous year and comparing them to riders that I knew their uk laptimes (Supermono's, DD's and Andy Peck) the races ahead didn't seem too much of a worry, little did I know the top six would all be on or under last years FL, with the quickest by 4 secs:eek: and later we found alot of the front runners were from WSS, SBK and German/Dutch SBK riders.
Saturday morning and it was already getting hot, I left the gearing as it was as learning the circuit was my main priority, but once out on track the bike was hesitating on part throttle at lower revs (which is normally its strong point for grunting out of corners:confused: ) so I had to keep the revs up, but a couple of laps in and I was confortably lapping around the 2.00 mark and managed to drop in to the 1m59's.
I dropped the needles and changed the gearing for the next qualifying, The bike felt better but still hesitating, the gearing had helped but the bike was still flat out for the last 4 corners in top!!
The changes helped and I was straight in to 1m59's, until it was red flagged!
On the re-start I pushed on dropping to 1m58's then 1m57.9 which left me 26th on the grid of 42:cool:
Another gearing change for the last qualifying session (another 25mins in 30+deg:dozey: ) and I was straight out on pace knocking off a few more tenths to a 1m57.1 leaving me 25th on the grid for sunday:smoke:
New tyres scrubbed in warmup ( was using last years part worns for qualifying) and all felt good, the bike was stil a bit flat, but I had geared round it.
Race 1 and im on the outside for the 90 deg first corner, I had a good start off the line, enough to compensate for the lack of power and the long run to turn one, I opted for round the outside, but a bit more reserved than I would normally having seen a few people ride in to each other in qualifying, I made quite a few places round the next rh loop, but out of the left handed hairpin I may as well have got off and pushed, Massively out horse powered all the places I had made soon dissappeared leaving me 22nd and battling with a 999 and a 998, when behind them I lapped consistantly in the 1m56's, but when I got pushed wide and had a bit of track I got in the 1m55's until I caught them up, they slowed me in the corners, I soon found I could pass them round the outside on the fastest part of the track, the sweeping left hander on to the start finish straight (top gear at 9500>10k with everything dragging:eek: ), but the straights were just a bit too long, once in front i'd get passed 50yards or so before the corner:rolleyes:
I finished 23rd with a FL of 1m55.5, exhausted and hot, but not lapped and a decent laptime.
Race 2 and I was up for it (mentally anyway:dozey: ), A good start kept me with the row in front and I pushed hard around the outside with the front pack insight entering the hairpin, only to have the backwards feeling again on exit:o , thew pace was slightly slower in this race and my tiredness was showing having to concentrate a bit harder to stay on pace, I got in to a scrap with a 1098, passing him on both sides at any opertunity, only to be trounced on the straights, leaving me to watch him pull away fighting it lock to lock, I could get alongside out of the last chicane, but he came past each time front wheel in the air.
On the last lap I pushed hard in to turn one and got in front to the hairpin trying to make a gap, but 25yrds before the end of the next straight he blasted back past and pulleda gap, I decided to stay behind and follow him home as my entry and corner speed had got to silly levels to try and stay with the more powerful bike and I didn't want to throw it away knowing he could grunt back past with his extra 50hp out of the last chicane:burnout:
I finished 22nd with a FL of 1m55.8 and not lapped!
Given the competition I think we did pretty well on our shopping bikes, we all qualified and not at the back of the field at a circuit we had not ridden before in a European championship race for 1000cc twins:smoke:
Here's a link about the bike that came 2nd!!
http://www.ncrcorse.com/us/
A big thanks to Steve, SVracer and Chunks for all your help getting there and getting things organised;)
And well ridden the pair of you and well done to Chunks letting Steve cremate your bike:p
I'm still on the hunt for pics but here's one for now
http://www.opfietse.com/foto/duc2007/dsc_0154_1024.html