Suzy V for Sale

Plans are underway for next year. Unfortunately, Suzy V has to go :-(

She's been a faithful servant - a veteran of 5 Manx Grand Prix and earning 3 replicas for her efforts. Just one DNF with a faulty battery and a finishers medal after some plonker replaced the carb diaphragm cover the wrong way around before the race.

This year, outgunned and underpowered against the modern machinery, the 13 year old old carb-fed sweet-lookin' gal did a best lap of 109mph and finished 9th in her race. The first Suzuki home - she showed 'em what's what.

Original Suzuki front-end goes back on...

Frankenstein Aprilia front-end (with the help of Kawasaki bottom clamps, original stem and GSXR top clamp)...

...goes back in the box for the next bike.

Ay yes... all 'original' again.

She's been immense. I'm going to miss wringing her neck around the Isle of Man.

IOM 2014 - Day 4 - All Qualified

Been absolutely flat-out with the bike for the last week so a bit behind in the posts. Yesterday was out first scheduled race, but it has been postponed till this afternoon because of poor weather - give us a chance to catch up a bit... roll-back to Tuesday last week...

Parc Firme and Glencrutchery Road

With my first laps under my belt on Monday and both the Aprilia and Suzuki prepped and ready to go, Tuesday wasn't too busy. Kevan and I had a look at the Ducati and started prepping it for the next session.
Because we had time, we decided to fix the minor fuel weep at the back of the tank where the fuel pump wires go in and the reserve warning float is. We stripped the tank out and tried a few things. We only made it worse. A job for tomorrow as we got the Aprilia and Suzuki up to the Paddock and scrootineering.

Kevan on the wee Suzuki

Massive queues again and a long wait. We got the Suzuki through and Kevan just got the Aprilia through by the time I was up in pit-lane and just about to head out for a few laps on Suzy V - the wee Suzuki.

Conditions were dry and sunny... but a bit cold and still quite windy. Not as bad as Monday night though. I head off down Glencrutchery Road and take it easy - I let the course come to me. By the time I'm up at Ballacraine I'm more comfortable and getting into it.

The 3 or so more bhp that Gary Smith found in the carbie are definitely there on the track. I'm doing 9800rpm down past the Highander. Sweet! Time for longer gearing :-) But the little bike is hard work. She' s flicking her head a bit and is a bit of a handful. I'm knackered by the time I get back from 2 laps. We need to make changes.

I take 10 minutes rest, have a drink and a banana and hop on big Betty. The first time I wind the Aprilia's throttle to the stop and hit 10 000rpm in every gear is always a bit of a shock to the system. I get forced backwards in the seat and hang onto the bars for dear life. Bray Hill seems so much faster on the big Vee Twin.

The Aprilia is a big bike and takes some muscling around. I feel like she's not turning in as well as I'd like and pushing the bars to steer through quarry bends and other fast corners is like having a gym work out.  But on the whole, she feels good... just where we were in the last practice before last year's cancelled race.

Home safely

On the second lap, I start running through some sections a little quicker than the lap before, get on the gas earlier and generally pick up the pace. She feels good, but is still bottoming out in the forks heavily and is very unstable under heavy braking, with the rear wheel in the air and swinging all over the place. Something to improve.

A good night's work with 4 laps under our belt - 2 on each bike now and we're all qualified. On the Suzuki I did 103 and 105mph - my fastest ever on the wee bike. On the Aprilia I did 107 and 110mph, just a few seconds off my personal best! :-)

Later that night we learned that Stephen McIlvenna lost his life on the Mountain Mile that evening. Stephen was a Newcomer the same year I was and went on to win the MGP Junior race in 2009. Very fast and experienced - he will be missed. Condolences to Stephen's friends and family.

Stephen McIlvenna - RIP

IOM 2013 - Day 6 - A Few More Laps

Thursday turned out to be a sunny and warm day. We worked all morning on the bikes, making changes to the Suzuki and Ducati to try get them to work better. Both were feeling too hard so we softened them up a bit. Ducati was hard to turn in and running wide so jacked up the back a bit too.

  

What a way to spend the evening :-)

  

In the garage prepping the bikes... 

Another few hours in queues to get through skrootineering. What a waste of time! We get the Duke up and ready for the first session. It's then we notice the ignition is on. We check it out... battery is dead. Bollocks!

Ducati belly-pan damage...

On the left from Begarrow, right form Bray Hill.

Must have left the ignition on overnight. Nic gets going on removing the fairings and poked battery. I get back to the van and then to the garage to borrow the battery off the Aprilia. We fit the new battery, and get the fairings back on. There is only half an hour before the session starts so go down to the van to get my kit on and Nic takes the Suzuki up through skrootineering.

I get up to pitlane with 10 minutes to spare and start the Duke to get her warmed up. She's running for 10 seconds before I notice fuel pissing out from under the tank. Oh crap! I dash across to Parc Firme, grab the tools and get to work.

I undo the bolts and try work on the fuel lines under the full tank of fuel... trying to let too much slosh out. The fuel line clamp wasn't on properly. I sort it out and mop up the spilt fuel. It's warn, sunny, I'm in leathers with bikes warming up all around... pretty soon the sweat is streaming down my face. There is a 20 minute delay to the start of the session, it's pretty frantic, but I fix the problem, get the fuel tank back on and have a few minutes to cool down.

Norton TT racer with a 'Norton developed V4' apparently

The 'Domiracer' prototype was on display... I liked it. Lots of trick bits and hand-crafted stuff... ruined by the el-cheapo vinyl 'carbon' wrap. Why don't they just make it in carbon?

 

Soon we're off down Glencutchery Road again. The big Duke is great, pulling like a train over 7000rpm. Pretty soon I'm hitting traffic again. I work my way through the traffic and the changes we made feel good. We're heading in the right direction :-)

The old girl is pulling beautifully. I only rev her to 9000rpm before changing... got to treat her good... this is only practice. I'm only hitting 9700rpm down to wards Brandish, so think a tooth shorter on the back should get me to 10000.

Beautiful MV Augusta triple being raced by Gary Johnson

The second and flying lap started well. Much less traffic and I can focus on the track ahead and what I'm doing. As I get up onto Cronk Y Voddy straight, she cuts out. Damn! Thoughts of a blown engine and dollar signs go through my head. I coast to a stop at a gate and get her off the track and ahainst the open gate to have a look. No oil, all looks okay. Hmmmm.

Great shot of the Duke through Appledean. I was trying a different line... I think it worked :-)

I get my helmet and gloves off and look for another minute or so. I'm just about to climb through over the wall and trudge through a small fiel to the next marshal post that's 50 yeards away. It's then that I spot the cut-out switch. I must have accidentally hit it. It's a silly design and really close to the throttle. Note to self "Replace standard cut-out/start switch and move to left handle-bar.". I get my helmet and gloves on and indicate to the marshal over the wall that I will continue.

I roll the bike back on track and head off again. Takes a few miles to get back into it, but pretty soon I'm enjoying the best race track in the world again.

Pretty Ducati in the evening glow :-)

I get back to Parc Firme  in good time when Nic meets me with the warmed-up Suzuki. The session started 25 minutes before, so I have to get a wriggle on. I hop off the Duke onto the Suzuki and blast off down Glencrutchery Road. I hold her flat-out down Bray Hill. Steady through Quarterbridge and Braddan and then open her up through Snugborough. She's going well.

A mile later and I spot a yellow flag in the sun dazzle. I slow down. As I get to bling kink/rise of the flat-out Ballahutchin I see a marshal frantically waving a flag. Less than a second later I go over the rise and there are two bikes two riders down. There are chunks of soil and bike debris everywhere. I'm still travelling at around 90mph. I squeeze those brakes hard and watch that I don't go over any debris, bikes or riders. Both the riders are motionless as I pass. Doesn't look good.

Back in the garage that night - safe

Next marshal post is green flag. So I put what I've just seen behind me and focus on what's ahead. Takes a few corners, but by the time I'm at Crosby I'm flying again. The lap is going well. Then, just after Ginger Hall I come to waved flags again. A rider is down and as I pass, avoiding debris and a bike, he's picking himself out of the air-fence. A mile down the track at Glantramman and I see the red flags. Session over.

 I thought my painted number-boards were withstanding the stone-blasting quite well, until Thursday evening... they took a battering.

Apparently there was another big incident just after the one I passed. We are held at Glentramman for almost an hour before the travelling marshal comes through and collects riders on the way back to the Grandsatnd. I couldn't believe how many riders were already following him home. Seemed like hundreds! I normally ride alone on the roads and being in this queue of a hundred or so race bikes going through Ramsay and over the Mountain felt strange. Like I was in some sort of biker gang!

So on the Suzuki I only did a 'shake-down' first lap, a 100mph lap and now this half a lap. Not good for qualifying but at least I'm qualified :-)

Manx Prep - Suzy V

Been prepping Suzy V for the Manx... clean, check everything, new battery, move the rad, oil change, brake fluid change, measure everything again... lockwire, polish the screen and do the numbers.

 

Had a few clearance issues at ManxGP 2012...

 

Filter and some sweet Rock Oil - first time I've changed oil on the wee bike!

Hand-cut vinyl numbers... yeah, baby!

Made a new helmet bump-stop (when everything bottoms out at the bottom of Bray Hill, the helmet normally clouts the tank/damper)

... it has a hole to hold the gas cap during the pit-stop. Factory!

I then ordered a new gas cap because the one I have has 'issues' ... ho-hum.

 

 

All numbered up and ready for the Isle

She's now ready to rock 'n roll. Two bikes out of three done. Worried I gonna run out of time with the Ducati... engine is still coming together and I got loads to do on her.

CB650 Cafe Racer

Lovely wee bike by Ugly Motor Bikes

Thanks to Cafe Racer Culture for the link.