Ruapuna Nationals 2008 Rd 1
After a bit of a oil pressure problem with the normal outfit we were going to be on a 1991 LCR for this event and it was going to arrive Thursday
About 1pm it finally turns up at the track and we get set up, unfortunately due to having to sort out the #77 bike they hadn’t managed to finish the one we’d be racing on, so the rest of the afternoon was spent fitting the fairing, catch tray, changing the brake fluid and trying to sort out a extra handle for me on the back.
Friday morning sees us in Darryl Cotton’s workshop at 7.30am getting a new handle tigged up and the brake pedal chopped and changed to accommodate Divvos extra length,I manage to fuck up fitting 4 out of 5 rivnuts to bolt the handle down and then have to shoot into town to buy some moreso I pass that job over to someone else who has a bit more success and the handle is bolted on.
We finally get out onto the track mid afternoon and it feels like crap, it’s pushing the front everywhere, locking the front brake and all over the place, we weren’t expecting to break any records but it’s pretty disappointing, we put on a better front tyre, change the brake bias and jack up the rear preload before we head back out again (yeah yeah I know one change at a time) the bike is transformed and we’re two happy campers when we pull back inwe pull the wheels off and I borrow a tyre machine from the nice gent for Whangarei and put a new set of tyres on
Saturday morning
We bleed up the brakes and get ready for qualifying
Q1
We’re using this to scrub in the new tyres so we take it a bit slower for three laps and then pullback in, it’s feeling better but still pushing the front and the brakes are fading, we shoot back out for just 1 more lap as we’ve broken a fairing mount, the oil cooler blows right across me when I tuck in down the straight and it’s hot as fuck on what’s turning into a scorcher of a day, back in the pits and me and Denny bleed the brakes and Divvo and I have a chat about body position down the straight
Q2
We go out and push harder the infield sweeper is giving us trouble with the front pushing so I’m trying different positions to get the rear to light up and bring us around, as we exit the infield sweeper about lap 4 it the engine goes off song as we hit the next right hander the outfit locks and slide and I thing Divvo has cocked up the gear change until I see the smoke as we pull off the track, we have a bit of a engine fire going on and the bodywork sustains a bit of damage as Divvo tears it off, apparently when it went there was a 2 metre fireball out the back, the fire gets put out and we get the recovery vehicle to pull in behind us and sitting backwards in the outfit with my feet on the bumper get them to push us in
It’s not looking good with a rod out the front as the big end has let go, but Divvo gets on the phone and tries to source a engine, eventually we end up with one off another local crew (thanks Bill and Paul) and everyone gets to work pulling to bits, me and Bill shoot off to his place and pick up the engine while the dead one gets pulled, Ace mechanic Goober starts pulling bits off it to swap over and Flipper53 digs a spanky new sump out of the trailer to run on it instead of the crap one that contributed to the blow up
7.5 stubbies later the new engine is in and after a bit of a struggle with the exhausts is fired up and we leave the track about 9pm, top effort by Bo and Divvo getting that sorted
Sunday
It won’t fire up as the battery is flat, I’m bending and riveting alloy plates to hold the side fairing place after the damage ripping it off yesterday, we go out for the 4 lap scrub session and I try a few different body positions to get rid of the front end push
Race1
Our first start on the new outfit and it’s a goody, we hold 4th until we hit the sweeper a bit hard and get a bit loose, I’m not out far enough and we run a bit wide and three outfits blow past us, they’re a bit quicker than us and we can’t stay with them and have a pretty lonely race, the chair guard has broken and is rubbing on the tyre so there’s big clouds of smoke in certain corners while I’m leaning on itthe girls on the ex Lawrence Bro’s F2 600 outfit are gaining on us but we’re keeping an eye on them , I’m working on body position as just like Divvo the new outfit is a sensitive we thing, we come in 8th with a best lap of 1.53.993 some 4 seconds a lap slower than the old outfit
The guard rub has dicked the tyre so I head off and change it and then get the rivet gun and alloy out again to bodge something up, I’m pretty tired and going by the way Divvo is ½ asleep lying against the chair he looks like he could do with a nana nap as well
Race 3
Not such a good start this time, and we get hammered into turn 1, Graeme/Paul go around us at the hairpin and Alex/Glen are all over the back of us for the first couple of laps, we follow Graeme/Paul for the next few laps and are doing it easy, there’s a few opportunities to pass if we push it but Divvo settles for just putting a bit of pressure on and when Graeme/Paul are slow out of Turn1 we cruise on by and start dropping them off, Alex/Glen has been left behind with a slipping clutch and overheating and the girls aren’t putting the pressure on like last time, our best lap is 1.53.401 and a 9th place finish
Even though we’re some 4 seconds a lap slower than the old outfit we can see potentially if we can get it and ourselves dialled in we can be much faster on this one
Congratulations to the Scrivy/Sidecarbob combo for taking out three wins and the NZGP title, the Lawrences were showing a good turn of speed on their new outfit as was Pete Goodwin on the ex Klaffi LCR and Steve/Denny on the ex Reeves LCR
Handy hint for the weekend, if Divvo ever asks if you want to see his fly eyes make sure you say no
And thanks once again to the lovely Joni for spending her birthday at the track, keeping us feed and making sure we kept our fluids up as it was fairly hot day
Originally Posted by scracha
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