ManxGP 2012 - Day 3 - First Practice

After a no-go day and a day of rest, there wasnlt much to do on the bikes. Opportunity to tart them up a bit. I like tarting the bikes up. Hand cutting vinyl is like making cut-out pictures back at pre-school. It's therapeutic... and your hands stay clean :-)

All smiles 'n sunshine on the appraoch to Kirkmicheal

In the afternoon I hauled the bikes up to skrootineering. Most of the day-paddock swamp had dried out and it was warm and sunny. I got both bikes through skrootineering with no problemo. Somehow I got the start time of practice wrong by an hour... the air-ambulances taking off let me know practice would be underway soon. I got siuted and booted and headed up to pit-lane with my trolley of paddock-stands, emergency tools and fuel.

The number police got me in yesterdays scrootineering... so I added more '38's to keep everyone happy 

Practice was delayed 20 minutes while marshals got to thier posts. After Saturday's lack of marshals, I think they had an influx of new marshals... they'll get into the swing of things soon.

I call the Aprilia RSV Factory 'Betty'... she call's me 'Al'

After Saturday's disaapointment, it was a relief to be pointing down Glencrutchery Road with the starter's hand on my shoulder. I feel the tap. Braaaaaaaaaaaaaaap! I forgot to get the wee bike into gear. Doh! Clunk! Braaaaap-braaaaap-braaap. Following the rider ahead down towards St. Ninians.

Betty gets Sideburned up!



The other rider was going really carefully. I had to sit up down Bray Hill... not risking a pass till over Ago's Leap. Take it easy... some heat into the old, worn tyres. After Union Mills I get me head down. It was like I was never away!

I take it steady, remembering I'm on old tyres, dodging the damp patches and re-aquainting myself with the course... and the speed! :-)

Suzy lookin' sweet with here bling front-end



The new front-end on the Suzuki feels awesome. Firm and planted. The biggest improvement is on the brakes - Brembo's rule! At the heavy braking points (end of Sulby Straight, into the Cregg) I'm holding up 50 yards short! Great forks and brakes with such a light bike - big-time negative g's. No more squeezing the brakes as hard as I can and then feeling the front-end squirm around as the forks flex backwards under stress. I need to get used to this.

The queue for skrootineering - Alan Jackson is back on his #14 Moriwaki

Up the mountain. Just after the Mountain mile and I'm eveloped in swiring mist... by the Verandah is thick fog. Visibility down to less than 50 meters. I knock it back two gears and just follow the white line. At Kate's Cottage it clears but the session is red-flagged. They run the next practice session up to Ramsay and then red-flag it again. Everyone gets a lap in.

Great to get on the bike and do 2/3 of a lap. Great to know my home-brew front-end is working.

ManxGP 2012 - Day 2 - Tourism

I sat and looked at the bikes this morning for 5 minutes. Not much to do on them. So I had a lazy morning visiting the Faeries, getting a few things from race shop, visiting mates in the paddock and got out to Peel for a pubbie and a bit of tourism around Peel Castle in the rain.

Faerie Bridge

Isle of Man has a lot of things going for it... but the food isn't one of them. It's generally shite.



On the way back to the van, the rain stopped. Within minutes, the promenade was full of locals srolling along licking ice-creams. It was still overcast and only 16 degrees. Suddenly, the place was alive!

Cup 'o tea in the rain...

...swimming in the rain

Twenty minutes later, with queues still in the ice-cream parlour, and ice-cream faced kids only just starting to nibble thier cones, the rain started again. Five minutes later, the only folk scattered around the seafront were tourists. Crazy. Apparently it's the thing to do on weekends on the Isle.

The Isle has loads of sculpture and art in unexpected places

Cannons guarding Peel Harbour.



An afternoon nap, followed by scruptious home-cooked dinner with my hosts Brett and Julie-Ann and then some MotoGP. There have been worse days. :-)

Peel Hill

I love castles

ManxGP 2012 - Day 1 - No Show, So No Go

Day one is always busy. Kit inspection, transponder test, sign up for road traffic insurance, check details and signing on. This all takes a while. Then riders brief. Then technical briefing... With a trip out to buy more overalls and get some groceries in between.

Waiting for technical briefing

The overalls - every year I forget them. 'fireproof' overalls are a requirement in pit lane and parc ferme. The first year I didn't have a clue that they were needed... and managed to find a few white decorators boiler suits at B&Q. The butt of many a paddock joke. Second year I was organised and had some that I had bought online ... they we're too small. Every year after I have forgotten them and bought some more on the island. This year I've gone for Navy Blue.



 One of my favourite TT pics in the briefing room

Back to the quagmire Day Paddock with the bikes. Suzy up to scrootineering. Queue. She sails through. Paddocks stands and fuel up to parc ferme. RSV Factory up to scrootineering. They don't like the numbers and not enough space on steering locks. Problems to sort for Monday. Rainy morning turned to warm afternoon sunshine. Hoping to get a lap in on each bike.

 In the mud... as much action as we saw all day

Practice is delayed 30 mins. As I'm about to get suited and booted, they announce the practice is cancelled due to not enough marshals. Bugger. First practice is always untimed  and it's always good to have a wobble around... start to remember the place and give the bikes a shake-down. Gonna have to do that on Monday... with rain forecast. Oh well... that's the Manx.

At least the newcomers got out for thier escorted first lap... I remember mine... tomorrow's story...

ManxGP 2012 - Day 0 - Getting There

Travelled up to Liverpool for the 19h15 ferry to IOM. The 2 hour jurney from work took 3 1/2 hours. You'd have thought all Brits were used to driving in the rain... panic when rain-drops hit the windscreen and the motorway traffic stops. Pathetic.

I get to the ferry before the doors are closed, but I'm not allowed on. The Capt. says: "We've already transmitted our numbers.". Well, transmit "+1". Twit. I'm told that although the later ferry from Heysham is booked full, I could probably get on. Worth a shot.


As close as I was allowed to the ferry - bastirds!

Another 1 1/2 hour drive up the coast and I'm there when they open up the ticket office at 22h00. I'm put on 'standby' till 02h00 while they load everyone else up. A few hours restless nap in the van. Back hurts. I get teh ok to board. I get onto the ferry to find a space they could fit 10 trucks into. WTF is that 'standby' all about?



Smooth sailing




Another few hours kip on the ferry and we arrive at the Isle an hour early at 05h30 to mist and rain. Glad not to have had green-faced, stomach-wrenching vomit-fest like last year's rough crossing. Unpacked and garage setup, jerry cans filled and shit gotten together for signing on.

Man-cave for the next 2 weeks

My Landlord is awesome and makes room for the ManxGP effort

Forecast is good for the first run down Bray Hill this evening. Need a few hours more sleep and a shower... but feel the massive weight of just making it here is lifted. :-)

Cosy conversation. The newbie gets introduced to the Bray Hill by Suzy V...
"So is that it?"
"Yep, that's it"
"Jeez, a bit norrower than I thought. And a lot steeper."
"Just wait till you're going down here flat-out in sixth."
"Holy shit!"

ManxGP 2012 - The Start

Pulling out for the sixth Manx adventure
Focussing on the process...
Not the outcome

Through St. Ninians, jump, bullying the bike around
Because your life depends on it
Flat-out through Kirkmichael
Thunder booming off the village walls
Just feet away, the scenery flashes past
An old flickering movie
Honky-tonk plinking away in my head

Bikes tooned, tested, tweaked 'n tied-down...
Everything packed, stacked, racked...
I'm feelin' jacked!

Ah yeah!

Running

I'd never run before. Due to lack of other training facilities during the week I started running 7 weeks ago to try get fit and lose a bit of weight. My goal was to be able to do 5k before the ManxGP. Last week I did 5k. Tonight I did it in 24min 56secs. More than a really slow lap of the TT course!

:-) Goal achieved... running sucks... now... on to the ManxGP!

Mallory Testing

On Wednesday I took some time off work and got up to Mallory Park to test the Manx weapons. Because of work (so much for taking time off), I arrived late and missed the first hour :-(







Sure beats the hell out of work! 

All set to get out on track and the noise tester comes around, that's when I find the Aprilia RSV is in 'limp' mode and won't rev over 3k. What a ball-ache! A few calls and help from Aprilia guru Don  and I manage to get her running ok - looks like a faulty oil pressure sensor. Must be faulty becasue I unplugged it and the engine didn't much itself. In the end I managed to get 2 decent 10 lap sessions in on the SV and 3 sessions in on the Factory. A good shake-down.

Shit way to start a test session...

Setup for racing around the Isle, of course they were way overgeared but felt solid and stable. Just what's needed. The new SV front-end is superb... feels like a proper bike now. You can brake so much later and harder, all while keeping perfect composure. It feels solid and doesn't waggle around and flex under heavy braking. The Factory is fast, but I struggled with the way-too-tall gearing around the menagery Mallory - I couldn't get out of 5th gear. I need to get used to that quickshifter and the feeling of keeping it pinned while changing gear.

Neither of the bikes blew up or fell to pieces - the new front-end on SV worked and feels great... and the Factory felt strong. I found a few little potential problems that need attention...  so just a bit more work and they'll both be ready to haul ass down Bray Hill. :-)

Carroll Shelby

I only just found out. Sad to hear that one of my heros, Carroll Shelby died back in May.

"Carroll Shelby"
by one of my favourite artists, Tom Fritz.

One of his best quotes:

"If you don't go do what you wanna do, you're just bullshitting yourself."

I also love this one... close to home:
"I brought some Tuli cattle over from Rhodesia. Print Rhodesia, will you, instead of Zimbabwe? Because that guy Mugabe is an asshole."

More of this great man's brilliant quotes and things he's learned:
http://www.esquire.com/features/what-ive-learned/carroll-shelby-quotes-12234

Testing

On my way to Mallory Park to test the Manx weapons
:-)

We Go Factory!

Earlier on in the year I was thinking about the ideal Manx GP weapon for the Senior race... and two bikes made the shortlist (VeeTwin, 1000cc maximum). A Ducati 999 or an Aprilia RSV Factory. Couldn't afford to build and tune either (especially a Duke) so have been keeping an eye open for a decent ex-race machine.

For Sale - Race bike that's been thrashed around and thrown down UK circuits all it's life.

She looks a bit gawky and weird when nekkid - that huge air scoop swallows small babies and grannies whole - mean!

By the time May rolled around, nothing worthy came up and I had resigned to giving it another go on the old 1998 Aprila RSV. She's been to four ManxGPs... but only completed two... and only one I would consider a success (2006). Besides, I couldn't really afford another bike.

Everything gets lockwired for racing on the Isle...

...everything...

...it's da rulz!

Things that aren;t lockwired are Locktighted.

Mid-May, in the 'For Sale' section of a race forum, I spotted an RSV that I raced against in 2004 and 2005. My mate Don Plane built the engine back in 2007 - with a mild tune. It had all the right bits and was worth the asking price but it had sold the next day and I only saw the ad a week later. "Pity." I thought and got down to prepping the old beast.

The mandatory overflow tank...

... and non-mandatory rad mesh. Not seen much on short circuits, but on the Isle, catch a stone without it and it'll end your race. I've had these battered before.

A week after this the ad popped up again - the seller had been messed about. The bike was only 10 miles from me so I went to see it. I assesed what it was and how much it needed doing for the Manx, the asking price, the spares it came with, the 'honesty' look of the owner, the history and the "duh-duh-duh-duh" of it's 990cc Vee Twin. I had really try hard not to look too keen and bite the owner's arm off... I even tried to haggle on the price... but it was a very weak attempt. I wanted it!

Quick-Action throttle and new Rethal grips...

... and a few more bits robbed from the old RSV. Tasty levers! Tank also lifted an inch so that she can breathe...

So, at the end of May I bought an Aprilia RSV Factory - a bike that I can't really afford and have no space for. It's only a 2003 model... 9 years old... but 5 years younger than the Manx tool she's replacing. That's gotta be worth at least 1mph per lap! I had the SV in bits on the workbench, so the Factory was stuffed in the corner of the garage.

A quickshifter... felt awesome when hammering through the gears flat out on the dyno... gonna be fun!

The standard pegs on these bling rear-sets look nice but are functionally crap. Proper Harris stylee pegs from my old bike's spares box...

While wedged between other bikes, I managed to do some acrobatic contortions and get her forks and shock out. All checked, serviced, springs changed and set-up by K-Tech (fuck-me, they've become expensive!).

We got Ohlins! Refreshed, resprung and setup for some Island lapping

Trying out a different lightweight battery... I think it's lighter than the Durbahn ones I normally use

In June I managed to re-unite her with Don who gave her a health check and a toon-up. Ditching the ram-air bollocks the previous owner had fitted and a bit of dyno work got her from 126bhp to 132 bhp at the wheel. Nice! She was given a good run on the dyno and came back with a clean health-check. I was half expecting her to blow up... you never know who has done what to ex race bikes... and there are a lot of muppets out there. Super-sweet!

MRA Plexiglass screen - twice the price, but it's the stuff they make fighter-jet canopies out of. No holes. Werf it mate!

After I finished the SV last week, I hauled her onto the workbench early Saturday morning for some Manx-proofing. Sorting bikes properly and an making things that aren;t quite right, right. Takes a lot of fiddling about and mucking around. By 19h00 last night she was ready for testing.

An old pic I found online of John... I normally saw the rear view in 2004/05... he had an unfair advantage

Booked a test session at Mallory on Wednesday afternoon to take her and the SV for a spin. Hopefully all will be well and that just leaves a bit of final prep and they are both ready to lap the Isle of Man.

Basic paint on - still to be liveried up... red, white 'n blue!

SV Island Racer

Been flat-out the last 4 weekends getting the bikes ready for the ManxGP. A few months ago I was thinking about how I can improve the SV650. The front-end has always been the weakest part; spindly non-adjustable forks and seriously crap brakes with floating calipers.

Ba-bling ba-bling!

Also, one of my fork legs was bent at a funny angle, but I only ever noticed it when bimbling down the access road after doing a lap of the TT course. I still had the original Ohlins/Brembo front-end that came off Candy before her rebuild. "Perfect!" I thought. Turns out not to be so easy...

Suzy gets introduced to her new front-end...

I spoke to quite a few so-called fabricators/engineers... they all shied away from the ideas I had. No-one was really up for it or just too busy doing more exciting stuff. I'd almost given up on getting it done when by chance I got referred to Steve Mann.

Works of art! Proper machining showed how out of alignment standard, modern Japanese stuff is.

Steve has an awesome workshop down the road from me in Stony Stratford and works mainly on old brit bikes. He just love bikes in general and is an ex grass-track racer - so understands racing. He even used to build his own frames. He's a great fabricator. With his lathe, mill, welders, spray booth and many years experience, there isn't much Steve can't do.

It all just fitted right in!

Some proper stoppers and wheel - no mucking about this year!

The thing about customising is that you change one thing and it has this domino effect. I thought I'd save a bit of dough by not doing the usual GSXR swap and use parts I had knocking about. I landed up spending about the same... but do feel slightly better that I'm a conscientious recycler. Besides, I'd far rather hand over the money to an engineer who is a skilled craftsman, an enthusiast and has passion than to a Chinese factory (Suzuki). Steve stopped counting the hours he'd worked on getting it all right. A swell guy! Hell, he's even coming over to the Manx now!

Lookin like a proper racer with clip-ons...

...that are 'borrowed' off Candy. Times of austerity.

On Saturday, with many hours of Steve's help, I finished the front-end conversion. The SV now has a bad-ass, wide-boy, ohlin-forked, brembo-calipered, oz-wheeled, k-tech-tooned pukka front-end. AND I still havn't changed the geometry at all. So, in theory, she should now be one sweet-handlin, mega-stoppin, superquick-lappin island racer.

Ooooh, yeah! Now we're talkin!

Just can't wait to open those old-skool carbs up down Bray Hill and see if it's all worked!