There are no truths outside The Gates of Eden (Manfeild)
Round Four
One of the MANY advantages of not crashing is you do not have to spend nights in the shed FIXING the bike, you can instead spend nights in the shed ENHANCING the bike.
The 675 was a pretty damn good bike when it hit the streets in 2006, the engine especially drew rave reviews. It was so good that Triumph felt no need to make any changes until the 2009 model year. It wasn't perfect though and one of the issues for people who raced them was the oil pick-up was at the rear of the sump and when braking hard for a turn the oil would surge to the front and the pick-up sometimes came above the surface, this meant that when the load came on the engine exiting the turn it could sometimes deliver air instead of oil ! The “workaround” was quite simple overfill the oil. Triumph pretty quickly came out with a “fix” in the form of a “race” sump gasket (that prevented the oil surging up into the crankcase) and higher rated pressure relief valve. Even someone with my modest mechanical skills can fit this item with the bare minimum of swearing and skinned knuckles.
Some of you may remember that after NOT crashing last round I had promised myself a lap timer to make better use of test days, after a bit of web surfing I discovered that even a low end one was not cheap so I opted for a bottom of the range Starlane GPS lap timer, the selling points being you don't need anything on the pit wall (how many people have gone home and left their beacon sitting on the pit wall ? ) you can set intermediate points around the circuit (in addition to the start/finish line) and you can download (via blue tooth) your sessions onto a computer for analysis AND it will draw a cool map of the track and replay your laps ! (I just love geeky computer shit
Thus armed I could barely wait for the Friday practice, the weather was even looking good for Friday ! It was only on Wednesday that I realised I hadn't actually asked my boss for Friday off !! Lucky for me he's a pretty good bastard and approved my leave application.
The weather was good, the bike was running sweet and I was starting to get used to the new suspension Mr Taylor checked in with me to see if I needed any tweaking done ( I'm not pushing it hard enough to require any – yet) During one of the early sessions the bike cuts out, all the instruments are dead, bugger, a bit of wire jiggling and I am off again . Back in the pit the loose wire is tracked down and a new spade connector crimped onto it, plugged in and were good to go. The shiny new lap timer told me my times were improving and I fitted a new rear tyre for the last couple of sessions and managed to get my lap times low enough to get kicked out of clubmans (just).
I was really looking forward to the long circuit, I had previously had better results there (except for the time I crashed at the back hairpin and the time I crashed at Dunlop and the time I ran out of gas and the... Oh well I LIKE it )
I was in a pretty good mood and enjoyed a nice steak, a beer and some bullshit with Scuzeme, Scratcha, Mental Trousers, Frenchy and Niksta at the Drovers Return.
Before retiring to my sleeping bag
in the van outside the gates of Manfeild
Race Day
The Lovely Katie O'Donnell's (lovely) mum is very fragile and Katie would not be joining me this weekend. I woke to a very damp Manfeild Saturday, it wasn't pissing down – but definitely wets the order of the day. I had only done one meeting on my wets, but Scuzeme had done the 2008 3 hour endurance race with them so they were pretty much past there use by date but – hey they were cheap
F2 Qualifying
On the dummy grid, quick check to see if my transponder is working, bugger no light, frantic fiddling with wiring – no luck – I go out anyway to have a bit of a look at the track and try and get some feel for the wets, I know that they work, I can see people wizzing past in a cloud of spray but I can't bring myself to lean the bike over or open the throttle. The transponder issue is academic, I would be at the back of the grid anyway....
Back in the pit the Tim Gibbs timing folk come over with a spare transponder for me. I methodically go through the wiring and discover that the jumper I had fixed on Friday had been plugged back into the wrong place #$%^ dick !
F1 Qualifying
I was correct in my assertion that a working transponder would make little difference to my grid position, back of the grid in F1 as well.
F2 Race 1
Its surprising how much fun you can have racing for last place (err.... I mean to NOT be in last place) but somebody has to be last and it was me.
F1 Race 1
Pretty much a replay of F2 race, I can't believe I'm so useless in the wet, I mean fuck I ride to work in Wellington EVERY DAY !!!
Even though I was shitting every time the bike slipped a bit it was good fun and I even got my knee down (by accident – but without and accident ?) at turn one.
F2 Race 2
Wetter again, slower than before, the extra time for this race meant I was lapped, a good view of how it should be done ….
F1 Race 2
This was a great race, I watched it from the stands, great show by Choppa and Sketchy
Despite my poor results I had a great weekend, always good to catch up with people and meet some new people.
Once again Vic Club put on a good show, this shit DOESN”T just happen – a few people put in a lot of work.
To all the helpers thanks – this is just about the most fun you can have wearing leather...
The attached image is a carefully selected portion of the screen from the digirace software that came with my lap timer, all the embarrassing numbers cropped out...
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