Trackday project K3

With the application completed and in the post today, I turned my attention to getting the bike ACU compliant.

Starting with the belly pan which needs to be able to hold half your engine's oil and coolant.
Unfortunately I had hacked it up somewhat in my eagerness to get it on the bike!!

I had made a hole to clear the exhaust and also taken a bit off the bottom lip to clear the side stand, which is now off.

I got the usual fibreglass kit which was ok but produced a pretty thin layer even with two layers down.

So for the lip rebuild I did the usual two layers of stranded matting and finished it off with a layer of old t-shirt doubled over the first two layers. Now it looks a lot meatier. I think I will put another "t-shirt" layer over the middle hole too just to be safe.



Not pretty from the inside but it'll do the job.



Then some more toys arrived, so I'll be getting busy with these to lock wire the usual suspects of oil filter, sump plug and filler cap.

Yesterday was a trackday at Cadwell Park, organised by Focused Events and I was joined by SVGTI for a cracking day out. Firstly the weather was perfect, a little too warm even in the leathers! But more than made up for the washout earlier in the year.

Got to say I was disappointed with Focused Events this time, a simple thing really but wasted a lot of time!
Essentially it seems they took loads of bookings for the inters group and then herded most into the novice group including me.
But I took it well enough and had two sessions with them, but that was enough! Surely you would cap the bookings for the groups to avoid this.
Finally after getting moved to the Inters and employing my new tactic of getting to the head of the queue in the waiting area (even if the tyres do cool down more) I was able to enjoy some free track in the afternoon, having said that I think I only got a handful of laps across the sessions where I could actually take my own line at my own pace, can't wait for that to change when I get racing! As I'm sure I'll be pootling around at the back by myself come race day!!

Still, I managed my best lap times so far round cadwell (According to my GPS app) with the best actual lap of a 1:54 and a best optimal (Piecing together all the best sectors) of around 1:53. I think the NGRRC minitwin record is 1:40 so still work to do!
Throwing the bike into Coppice without braking, just with a roll off is epic fun! And the bike feels very planted even at 90+ through there.

Got some issues thou, my "quick action" throttle which is just an R6 throttle tube, is giving me issues, I can either have no play in the rotation of the throttle with occasional sticking! OR about a 12th of a turn freeplay in the throttle action without any sticking open. I went with the freeplay for obvious reasons but it is very annoying when in slow corners, trying to feel for removing the freeplay and then getting the throttle back on steadily is not great.

And I'm scraping the pegs a lot more with increased angles, I could fit the Valtermotos or my rearset riser plates, but then I can barely fit my long legs on the bike!
I think my only option is to raise the seat but not so easy with the existing subframe.

Here' a video from the last session, I will try to get a highlight reel up later including some not so composed riding!!

Sadly I don't have footage of SVGTI (Real name Andy) from the Group 1 sessions, it was his first time back at Cadwell since the incident!

Almost to the year since our first trackday together, at Cadwell, Andy took a big hit going down into Mansfield.
We think he hit first gear and something untoward happened (Still an ongoing investigation) such that he was sent over the bike landing heavily on his shoulder.

A quick trip to A+E later and the road to recovery began. So with him only having completed one other full trackday at Blyton (got his pegs and kneedown that day!) in September since then, it was with some trepidation that we came back to Cadwell.

But we can report that all is now well, apart from the usual d1cks cutting him up on the apexes, Cadwells demons are now behind him, onwards and upwards.
The free instruction on the day was taken full advantage of which spurred him on even more.

So big claps all round mate.

Thats enough man love, normal service resumed soon.

Here's a mashup video of the day!

All in good humour!
Apart from the serious moment with the man laid on the track of course, wish him a speedy recovery.

Before I call time on the R6 throttle tube which is being a bit of a pain recently, i decided one last attempt could be tried before splashing out on a venhill.

Whats happening is that the cable slips off the cam and underneath it, thus sometimes there would be slack in the cables, other times it would be just right.

Anyway I have created some cable guides in the housing from some tie wraps superglued to the bottom half.

Not sure if the glue will hold forever, but cheaper than a new throttle assembly!

Its been a while but finally we have more news!!

Andy wanted a new look for the 2014 season and has gone all out this time!

The mixture of blue and black will be replaced with an all black scheme (Except the frame) and the Sharkskinz fairings went off to find a new home.

The new choice of fairings is looking sexy so when they get back from the spray shop we'll be back with more pics.

No major mechanical changes done to either of the bikes over winter, general servicing as usual.

Itching to get back on track now, come on March 1st!! I won't even care if its wet!!

So here's Andy's / SVGTI's progress:

Mudguard now black:



Tank, RVRacing subframe and seat given a coat:



Looking mean!

Other than general servicing of the bike, not much will be changed for the 2014 season.

Suspension can't be re-worked yet until the emulators arrive.
(New ktechs to go in)

So the only major change is at the back end.

RVRacing made me a subframe and after a quick splash of paint she's nearly ready. I have a plate to be sprayed and bolted on to rest the ECU etc on.

So here's what it should look like eventually:

[mkr]

Great thread,(good luck with 2014 season).

Snuck into the shed on monday night and finished the seat area.

Tucked the electrics onto the plate as best I could then fitted the new exhaust hanger.



The seat went on too with the new seat foam:



All thats left to do before Cadwell on March 1st is oil change and bleed the brakes to get fresh fluid in the lines.

I've also applied some yellow vynil to the belly pan for the numbers:
Will be racing with NGRRC at Cadwell in May #91 and hopefully a race in April at Darley but thats a maybe at the moment!

A week to go before first trackday, oil changed, original dog bones re-fitted and a good de-gunk all round. Took some photos whilst she was out: