I'd parked up to close and couldn't make it, lucky you couldn't hear what I was sayingOriginally Posted by Danger Dave
In the riders seat
I'd parked up to close and couldn't make it, lucky you couldn't hear what I was saying
"If you can make black marks on a straight from the time you turn out of a corner until the braking point of the next turn, then you have enough power."
In the riders seat
Wanganui Cemetery circuit 2013
Monday before I leave and we’re out at Dave’s place giving the sidecar a once over, nut and bolt check, putting the correct circlip on the selector shaft, riveting the chain link where it was coming apart and loading up ready to go.
Tuesday there’s the 316km drive to Picton and a smooth sailing to Wellington, I hadn’t organised anywhere to stay as I figured being Christmas eve it wouldn’t be too hard to find somewhere, originally I’d thought I’d head up as far as Levin or Sanson but ended up driving the whole way to Wanganui and getting a Motel there.
Wednesday I head off down the pits, a bit early as it turns out so I go for a drive around Wanganui out to the beach and piss about for a while and then head back.
Alex and Glen are pitted in the same area and Pig and Goober turn up as well and set up beside me and before too long scrutineering opens up and we sign in and get the bikes checked over.
They seem dead set on finding something wrong with every bike and when I go through we fail the 65mm ground clearance check as the catch tray is sitting too low, an easy few seconds and it’s fixed and passed and we pack up and leave the sidecar in the shed for the night.
We get down there about 6am the next morning as Matt needs to sign in and get his gear checked and once done the wait starts.
Riders briefing comes and goes and Nick Cole show he’s needs a hearing check by asking a couple of questions that we’ve already been given the answers to.
Wanganui virgins
People who haven’t raced here before are first up for a 4 lap familiarisation and although I’ve raced here a few times Matt hasn’t so we line up to go out in it along with Pig and Goober and few other sidecar and solo teams.
The few laps we get are a good warm up and we’re back to the pits and wait our turn.
Practice 1
We intended to take it a bit easy and learn the track sort out some braking points and some lines through the railway line and up through the cemetery.
Coming out of T2 and onto Taupo quay there’s some fairly atrocious bumps which are tending to push us out wide and Goober/Pig come past us flat out between T1 and T2 and for a moment I think they’re going straight ahead but he gets it stopped and turned and carries on.
We pull back in and find we’re running 12th out of 17 and give the bike a look over and get ready for qualifying, I also ask Matt to move up a bit on the bike to make it easier to slide the rear and get rid of some of the push.
Qualifying
Well this doesn’t go quite as well as I’d hoped, I was planning on dialling it up bit but after leaving the pits and getting on the straight up to the bridge the Sidecar dies and we coast over the bridge and pull off on the outside of the main straight.
I can smell burning plastic and as we’re trying to pull the body off I can see smoke coming from the battery compartment and I’m wondering how I’ll break the news to Jo that her bike has burnt to the ground.
The smoke stops and luckily there’s no fire and they red flag the session to get us out of the way.
The steward says “we had to red flag that because of where you’re stopped” so I point out to him that with a dead bike we didn’t have to much choice of where we were going to end up, next we’re told we shouldn’t have been trying to get the body off so I explain we were more than a little worried about the fact it was smoking.
We get pushed down the end and load on the trailer and watch the remainder of the session from the run off area, a few laps later and we see Tracey/Tina go into the bales on the bridge and the red flags come out again, we see them both up and walking so know they’re not too badly off.
Tailored back to the pits and now we have to see if we can get it fixed.
Up on the stands and off with the panel and find the battery bracket has broken bracket and let the battery fall over so it’s shorted out on the tub and melted the earth wire, I borrow a inline crimp terminal to fix the earth wire and use a bunch of cable ties to strap the battery down and it fires back up straight away..
While it’s up there we bleed the brakes and check over the rest of it.
Parade
I wasn’t going to bother with the parade but Matt is keen and it’s a good chance to make sure it’s running properly, lap one is pretty unpleasant with no helmet and light rain, we’re just behind Pig and Goober and I’m thinking the sidecars are getting a pretty good reception but it turns out the clapping and cheering is all for Guy martin who is right behind us.
Race 1
Due to not even getting a lap in we’re off P17 dead last.
Lights out and as I try to launch Dave/Darren in front of us bog down and I don’t even have enough space to swing out past them so I have to slow up and by the time we’re going again the field has a good lead on us.
Pretty uneventful and we pick up a few places getting past Dave/Darren, Bob/Jason, Barry Fane/ Aida Gulbransen.
We come up behind Alex/Glen about lap 4 and start putting a bit of pressure on them, after chasing them for a couple of laps we make a pass to move in front up to 12th but Alex/Glen come back straight away and then Barry/Robbie, Aaron/Denny and Adam/Stu come flying past and get between us which gives Alex/Glen enough of a break to get away.
Last lap and Burt/Neville come past and then the Farm boys do the same on the line.
13th place finish, best lap 01:05.858
The bike was a bit tail happy under brakes so we make a bias adjustment in between races have a look over it and gas it up.
Race 2
I tell Matt before we go out I’ll park slightly further back and be aiming to go to the middle of the track in case the same thing happens on the line.
Lights out and we hammer it, we swing left into the centre of the track and we’re in the middle of the pack down through T1/T2, we’re already past the slower guys who held us up last time.
I’m harder on the brakes into corners and harder on the gas out of them and the rev limiter is working overtime.
First 4 laps and we’ve gone past 3 bikes and onto the back of Alex/Glen again, he’s a bit quicker over the bridge but I reel him in down the straight and try and get under him in T1 just to get cut off.
Down Taupo Quay over the railway line and through the cemetery I can’t quite the run I want and try the inside up to the bridge and just about get the nose taken off for my trouble.
Outside of T1 trying to get it squared up early and still not making it, with a couple to go I notice we’re gaining on the Lawrances and as the white flag come out we’re right up on them.
I’m right on the back of Alex/Glen off T2 and hard on the gas as we exit, I finally get the run down to the railway line and pass both the Lawrances and Alex/Glen and then get a good run up through the cemetery.
I’m expecting them to come back at me as I turn up towards the bridge and hold a tighter line but once I get to the bridge I know they can’t do it before the flag.
9th place finish, best lap 01:01.818
Missing the qualifying cost us a better grid position which would have helped heaps and looking at the lap times I could have run with the bikes a place or two or front of us but overall we came away fairly happy.
We’re now both a bit more confident in the bike and how we can ride it and looking forward to seeing how it pans out next weekend at the NZ Nationals Rd1.
Thanks to:
Jason and Michelle Bishop @ Sourced - http://www.get-sourced.co.nz/
Joanne van der Westhuizen @ Career Success - http://www.careersuccess.co.nz/
Shane Murray @ Straight and Paint Rangiora - http://www.straight-n-paint.co.nz/
Chrissie Whitfield @ Whitfield consulting - http://wfconsulting.co.nz/
Warren Watty @ Masters of painting
"If you can make black marks on a straight from the time you turn out of a corner until the braking point of the next turn, then you have enough power."
Que?
Ta
Interesting weekend with our chair not running right. I think we've narrowed the problem down to the timing being backed off a touch. So it's heating the exhaust valves to the point that it's leaning out and gets weaker and weaker every lap.
More interesting is fucken Warwick being oblivious of where his chair wheel is. He gave us a wee love tap in race two, then forced the pirate over on us so hard it looked like a third tip over this season in race three.
In the riders seat
I know where it is, it's right where I want it to be, I had no way of knowing where the Pirate was when I turned in and I would have thought it was pretty fucking obvious to anyone behind me what I'd be doing, it didn't even rate a mention from the Pirate
You're used to tipping over anyway
"If you can make black marks on a straight from the time you turn out of a corner until the braking point of the next turn, then you have enough power."
Saving the goat....
Typical long bike riders.......
Is it still beastiality if ya fuck a frozen chicken??
In the riders seat
I'm trying to emulate the LawrancesTypical long bike riders.......
"If you can make black marks on a straight from the time you turn out of a corner until the braking point of the next turn, then you have enough power."
Hardcore Biker
Hey leave me out of this. I wasnt even there LOL
In the riders seat
That's obvious, there would have been a lot more panel damage if you were
"If you can make black marks on a straight from the time you turn out of a corner until the braking point of the next turn, then you have enough power."
Ta
Now you're starting to actually fuck me off bro. "Behind you"? Beside you, more fucking like it!I know where it is, it's right where I want it to be, I had no way of knowing where the Pirate was when I turned in and I would have thought it was pretty fucking obvious to anyone behind me what I'd be doing, it didn't even rate a mention from the Pirate
You're used to tipping over anyway
You clearly think you're faster than you really are, or people wouldn't keep having to take evasive action to bloody miss you!
Fuck, I was worried about making mistakes and cutting people off when we got up and running. At least I know what fucking shape the bike I'm riding is!
i'm a wanker
sounds like a good weekend then
In the riders seat
It was mint, doesnt sound like Drew enjoyed it quite as much as I did thoughsounds like a good weekend then
"If you can make black marks on a straight from the time you turn out of a corner until the braking point of the next turn, then you have enough power."
Low personal B.M.E.P.
Now you two have got me interested in coming to watch round two at Levels....
i've watched fistfights in the pits at speedway but never at roadracing, it'll be a first.
i'm motarded
In the riders seat
I'll give him a hug and make up
Just watched the CTAS footage and it happened much earlier than I thought he was talking about, I moved left to pass the Farmboys well before T1
"If you can make black marks on a straight from the time you turn out of a corner until the braking point of the next turn, then you have enough power."
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