wharfy
19th July 2010, 21:54
VMCC Round Three
Executive summary:
* I didn't crash
* my new suspension is great and the service from CKT is shit hot.
* I had a great weekend
The "yarn" - for those with time to kill
I'd decided to splash out on the 675's suspenders in a big way – a shiny new Ohlins rear shock and RaceTech internals and tube shortening for the front end ( a mod developed specifically for the 675 by CKT in conjunction with Shaun Harris ).
CKT were pretty busy but confident they could get the job done in time for round 3, despite my swanning off to the UK and Ireland and only giving them a couple of weeks ( a bit less when deducting courier time and weekend ) .
The van was overdue for a warrant so I queued up at sparrow fart on Saturday 10th at the VTNZ test facility ( 6th in line !!). The rear brakes needed balancing – bugger.
Monday morning I loaded the trusty Hornet into the van, called Auto Brake and Clutch and asked what it would cost to do the job. Between $40 and $400 was the answer and they wouldn't know until they pulled the drums off. Took the van into ABC unloaded the Hornet and headed to work.
New shoes, wheel cylinders, drum machining and $375 later I loaded the Hornet back into the van and drove home with my now well balanced van !
Unfortunately when the good folk at CKT examined my forks they discovered they were bent ! This required them to be sent to F1 engineering in Hamilton for straightening. My shock arrived at work on Wednesday. It was much admired by the Metservice bikers ( and a few non-bikers who were impressed by the quality of the machining and gold “bling” ) I was able to slot it into place on Wednesday night without drama.
Thanks to sterling work by all involved the forks arrived on Thursday and I received some good natured ribbing about building a bike in the office (I toyed with the Idea of parking the 675 by my desk on Sunday night but I'm not sure if the senior management's sense of humour extends that far ). The forks too slotted back into place without drama, and by midnight the trusty (and newly warranted) 1989 HiAce van was packed ready to head for the Friday practice.
The lovely Katie O'Donnell was working in Palmy on Friday so I dropped her off on the way to the track.
Friday was a cracker of a day in Fielding !! It seemed that the high over the country had stalled and I was confidently predicting that Saturday would be fine as well to anyone who would listen ( with the caveat that “I'm not a forecaster” )
Robert Taylor came over to where I was pitted and adjusted the new suspension and seemed quite pleased at how close they had got to a reasonable starting point with their original settings.
I was a bit nervous, as I had only done round one and that had been pretty conservative, I was still a bit “gun shy” from Paeroa.
I rolled out onto the cold but dry track, instantly even an old duffer like myself could feel the difference in the bikes suspension. It felt great ! I trickled around for a few laps gradually increasing the pace and was VERY impressed that the front end felt much more stable especially under brakes. The rear also felt much more compliant and at my modest pace I was feeling comfortable on the bike.
At the end of the session RT asked me how it felt and I told him I was quite happy with the way it was set up and would continue to take it easy until I was used to the new feel.
Shaun came and asked me how it was going and checked the tyres, they had done Paeroa (4 laps ) and round one but looked pretty good.
Another session and increasing the pace a little and again Shaun checked the rear tyre and we agreed that it was in fact looking better.
I spent the rest of the day lapping at a modest pace not really sure how fast I was going without any lap times. The bike felt great and I knew that I would have to re-learn all my brake points and how hard I could “get on the gas” but the mission this round was to NOT CRASH so I would not be going “hard out”.
Towards the end of the day I shot into Palmy to pick up Katie. She gave me a hand to pack up and we headed for the Drovers Return for a steak and a beer and then back to the Motel for an early night.
Saturday 17th – Race Day
One of the many advantages of doing the Friday practice ( besides a day of work, sorting out the bike, getting a bit of a groove going etc.) is that on Saturday you can rock up and things are ready to go !!
The overnight rain had made the track pretty wet looking but I was confident that it would not rain during the day. I toyed with the idea of putting wets on for qualifying but they are a bit worn plus I was sure the track would dry quickly.
Qualifying
F2
Well the track looked like shit, with lime patches all over the where !!
I was very cautious as I figured I would rather start at the back of the grid than NOT start !!
No ones times were really flash but mine were distinctly un-flash but I was not too concerned. I joined Biggles at the rear of the grid
F1
Again times were poor but a slight improvement over F2 (notice I'm not putting the times up – those particularly ghoulish can look them up !!)
Racing
F2 race 1
Average start but still last round turn 1 the track was not confidence inspiring with plenty of water still lying about and all that lime was a distraction. The race was pretty uneventful even though I did manage to pick up a couple of places by the end. I was actually quite relieved to get the first race “under my belt” without incident. The bike was going great and felt really stable despite the crap track conditions. My times were once again not flash but improving.
F1 race 1
The track was improving all the time and despite trailing the field from start to finish my time improved again and felt comfortable on the bike. Also the attrition rate was quite high so I picked up a couple of points
F2 race 2
I got a slightly better start this time and was amongst the field as we rounded turn one, this seemed great until someone had a moment and Darrin (who I was right behind) had to take evasive action and I managed to slip through on the inside he caught me again however by the time we got to Dunlop and he dived up the inside (with a bit of a wiggle) he must have thought we were close as he looked over his shoulder on the exit to see if I was still there. That's the only time I got close to him all day
The rest of the race was pretty uneventful but I did feel like I was racing even though the only time I swapped places with anyone was on the first lap.
F1 Race 2
Once again my start was average but my second lap was my best for this race, somehow I had managed to screw up the venting in my visor and by the time I'd done a couple of laps and started to breathe a bit heavy I could barely see. I popped the visor open one notch and that improved things but every time I got up a bit of speed on the straights the wind pressure closed it again and it would start to fog, having to take one hand off the bars to open the visor before each turn is a definite handicap ! My times got slower each lap and scratcha who I had managed to get ahead of in the first lap got me under brakes going into Dunlop and made it stick.
F2 Race 3
I had not been able to figure out the venting problem so taped a couple of bits of plastic onto the helmet seal to hold the visor open a millimetre or so and that improved things considerably but it was still a bit of an issue. I still managed to enjoy the race and swapped places with a couple of people . My times were fractionally down on the best of the previous race but consistent. My rear tyre was starting to wear and the track was getting colder but the bike was behaving very well despite my ham fisted riding.
F1 Race 3
The last race of the day and the field was diminished , partly due to mishaps and partly I suspect because people didn't want to have a mishap on the cooling track.
My start was OK but I gradually drifted towards the rear of the field even though my lap times improved throughout the race I swapped places with Ross McKeague and he got away in the second and third laps, I managed to put in quicker time for the last couple of laps and had a final lunge coming onto the home straight but it was to little to late and I couldn't catch him. Heading back to the pits the first few spots of rain hit my visor – well timed
Katie and I packed up the van and headed into the rapidly deteriorating weather towards Wellywood stopping to enjoy a burger at Route 66
Despite being last for a couple of races and close to it for the rest I had a great day racing and am very impressed with my new suspension. I am sure that as my confidence returns and I get used to the new set up my times will come down.
As a reward to myself for not crashing I might have to invest in a lap timer so I can make the best use of the test day.
Thanks to all the volunteers and Vic Club members who put this together, a great day.
Thanks to CKT for pulling out all the stops to get my forks ready and setting the bike up.
And of course to the Lovely Katie O'Donnell for the help in the pit and being there.
Can't wait for round 4
Executive summary:
* I didn't crash
* my new suspension is great and the service from CKT is shit hot.
* I had a great weekend
The "yarn" - for those with time to kill
I'd decided to splash out on the 675's suspenders in a big way – a shiny new Ohlins rear shock and RaceTech internals and tube shortening for the front end ( a mod developed specifically for the 675 by CKT in conjunction with Shaun Harris ).
CKT were pretty busy but confident they could get the job done in time for round 3, despite my swanning off to the UK and Ireland and only giving them a couple of weeks ( a bit less when deducting courier time and weekend ) .
The van was overdue for a warrant so I queued up at sparrow fart on Saturday 10th at the VTNZ test facility ( 6th in line !!). The rear brakes needed balancing – bugger.
Monday morning I loaded the trusty Hornet into the van, called Auto Brake and Clutch and asked what it would cost to do the job. Between $40 and $400 was the answer and they wouldn't know until they pulled the drums off. Took the van into ABC unloaded the Hornet and headed to work.
New shoes, wheel cylinders, drum machining and $375 later I loaded the Hornet back into the van and drove home with my now well balanced van !
Unfortunately when the good folk at CKT examined my forks they discovered they were bent ! This required them to be sent to F1 engineering in Hamilton for straightening. My shock arrived at work on Wednesday. It was much admired by the Metservice bikers ( and a few non-bikers who were impressed by the quality of the machining and gold “bling” ) I was able to slot it into place on Wednesday night without drama.
Thanks to sterling work by all involved the forks arrived on Thursday and I received some good natured ribbing about building a bike in the office (I toyed with the Idea of parking the 675 by my desk on Sunday night but I'm not sure if the senior management's sense of humour extends that far ). The forks too slotted back into place without drama, and by midnight the trusty (and newly warranted) 1989 HiAce van was packed ready to head for the Friday practice.
The lovely Katie O'Donnell was working in Palmy on Friday so I dropped her off on the way to the track.
Friday was a cracker of a day in Fielding !! It seemed that the high over the country had stalled and I was confidently predicting that Saturday would be fine as well to anyone who would listen ( with the caveat that “I'm not a forecaster” )
Robert Taylor came over to where I was pitted and adjusted the new suspension and seemed quite pleased at how close they had got to a reasonable starting point with their original settings.
I was a bit nervous, as I had only done round one and that had been pretty conservative, I was still a bit “gun shy” from Paeroa.
I rolled out onto the cold but dry track, instantly even an old duffer like myself could feel the difference in the bikes suspension. It felt great ! I trickled around for a few laps gradually increasing the pace and was VERY impressed that the front end felt much more stable especially under brakes. The rear also felt much more compliant and at my modest pace I was feeling comfortable on the bike.
At the end of the session RT asked me how it felt and I told him I was quite happy with the way it was set up and would continue to take it easy until I was used to the new feel.
Shaun came and asked me how it was going and checked the tyres, they had done Paeroa (4 laps ) and round one but looked pretty good.
Another session and increasing the pace a little and again Shaun checked the rear tyre and we agreed that it was in fact looking better.
I spent the rest of the day lapping at a modest pace not really sure how fast I was going without any lap times. The bike felt great and I knew that I would have to re-learn all my brake points and how hard I could “get on the gas” but the mission this round was to NOT CRASH so I would not be going “hard out”.
Towards the end of the day I shot into Palmy to pick up Katie. She gave me a hand to pack up and we headed for the Drovers Return for a steak and a beer and then back to the Motel for an early night.
Saturday 17th – Race Day
One of the many advantages of doing the Friday practice ( besides a day of work, sorting out the bike, getting a bit of a groove going etc.) is that on Saturday you can rock up and things are ready to go !!
The overnight rain had made the track pretty wet looking but I was confident that it would not rain during the day. I toyed with the idea of putting wets on for qualifying but they are a bit worn plus I was sure the track would dry quickly.
Qualifying
F2
Well the track looked like shit, with lime patches all over the where !!
I was very cautious as I figured I would rather start at the back of the grid than NOT start !!
No ones times were really flash but mine were distinctly un-flash but I was not too concerned. I joined Biggles at the rear of the grid
F1
Again times were poor but a slight improvement over F2 (notice I'm not putting the times up – those particularly ghoulish can look them up !!)
Racing
F2 race 1
Average start but still last round turn 1 the track was not confidence inspiring with plenty of water still lying about and all that lime was a distraction. The race was pretty uneventful even though I did manage to pick up a couple of places by the end. I was actually quite relieved to get the first race “under my belt” without incident. The bike was going great and felt really stable despite the crap track conditions. My times were once again not flash but improving.
F1 race 1
The track was improving all the time and despite trailing the field from start to finish my time improved again and felt comfortable on the bike. Also the attrition rate was quite high so I picked up a couple of points
F2 race 2
I got a slightly better start this time and was amongst the field as we rounded turn one, this seemed great until someone had a moment and Darrin (who I was right behind) had to take evasive action and I managed to slip through on the inside he caught me again however by the time we got to Dunlop and he dived up the inside (with a bit of a wiggle) he must have thought we were close as he looked over his shoulder on the exit to see if I was still there. That's the only time I got close to him all day
The rest of the race was pretty uneventful but I did feel like I was racing even though the only time I swapped places with anyone was on the first lap.
F1 Race 2
Once again my start was average but my second lap was my best for this race, somehow I had managed to screw up the venting in my visor and by the time I'd done a couple of laps and started to breathe a bit heavy I could barely see. I popped the visor open one notch and that improved things but every time I got up a bit of speed on the straights the wind pressure closed it again and it would start to fog, having to take one hand off the bars to open the visor before each turn is a definite handicap ! My times got slower each lap and scratcha who I had managed to get ahead of in the first lap got me under brakes going into Dunlop and made it stick.
F2 Race 3
I had not been able to figure out the venting problem so taped a couple of bits of plastic onto the helmet seal to hold the visor open a millimetre or so and that improved things considerably but it was still a bit of an issue. I still managed to enjoy the race and swapped places with a couple of people . My times were fractionally down on the best of the previous race but consistent. My rear tyre was starting to wear and the track was getting colder but the bike was behaving very well despite my ham fisted riding.
F1 Race 3
The last race of the day and the field was diminished , partly due to mishaps and partly I suspect because people didn't want to have a mishap on the cooling track.
My start was OK but I gradually drifted towards the rear of the field even though my lap times improved throughout the race I swapped places with Ross McKeague and he got away in the second and third laps, I managed to put in quicker time for the last couple of laps and had a final lunge coming onto the home straight but it was to little to late and I couldn't catch him. Heading back to the pits the first few spots of rain hit my visor – well timed
Katie and I packed up the van and headed into the rapidly deteriorating weather towards Wellywood stopping to enjoy a burger at Route 66
Despite being last for a couple of races and close to it for the rest I had a great day racing and am very impressed with my new suspension. I am sure that as my confidence returns and I get used to the new set up my times will come down.
As a reward to myself for not crashing I might have to invest in a lap timer so I can make the best use of the test day.
Thanks to all the volunteers and Vic Club members who put this together, a great day.
Thanks to CKT for pulling out all the stops to get my forks ready and setting the bike up.
And of course to the Lovely Katie O'Donnell for the help in the pit and being there.
Can't wait for round 4