Workin the 888

Been flat-out working on the 888 this week...

Got some tasty bits from Mode Performance... some MotoGP bling. I don't normally do anything to a race bike that'll cost me cashola and not help me go faster for longer. But these reservoir holders are just too cool... and not too pricey.

I didn't want to drill and tap the SP3 'plaqued' top clamp... so made a few brackets form some angle ally and bolted them (with locktite) into the unused ignition barrel bolt holes...

... looking proper factory!

At last year's Classic TT/Manx GP, my little Suzuki destroyed it's exhaust end-can, so I borrowed the right side can from the 888 for the Lightweight race. The 3 laps burned the carbon. I think the packing had moved around and the Suzuki might have been running a bit lean.

I had to grind some spot welds to get the can open and shoved more packing in there. These cans are really well made and I had my mate Steve spot weld them once assembled again so there is no risk of them coming apart.

Adding lightness... 

Lightweight, period looking Moto Master rear brake disc arrived from Germany. Nice piece of kit!

I also bored out the front spindle, dropping just over 100g from it... every little bit helps...

Added a bit of weight here... strengthening brace (welded underneath to the original cross-piece) and repairs on the rear sub-frame after I found a few cracks on it. This little cross-piece takes the weight of a full tank with the bike bottoming out at the bottom of Bray Hill and Begarrow... and me wrestling the bike from side to side with my knees/thighs. It takes a lot.

888 Dyno Day

End of last week I headed down to Southampton to meet RedMax Steve Hillary down at Doubletake Motorcycles to give the old girl a dyno run and set her up for the new Oronero airbox, velocity stacks and MADASL spaghetti exhaust.

She sounds crisp and clean and spins up a lot faster now - thanks Stafford Evans for the Kaemna light flywheel and lightened primary gear. An ally clutch basket from a 1098 was also fitted. Together with the close ration gearbox, when revving hard, you're just grabbing gears. It won't be as extreme on the road, but with a quickshifter, it would be immense! Maybe next year.

The following is some of the engine work was done by Steve...

Fit lightened flywheel

Fit lightened primary gear (standard 2:1)

Fit ally clutch basket

Fit slipper clutch (thanks MADASL Mark Lumb for loaning this)

Check, torque, locktite all bottom end nuts and bits that can fall off

Check head and shims

Replace belts 

Check EVERYTHING

Steve and Nic of Doubletake Motorcycles

They have McGuiness's first TT winning bike - McGuiness offered to buy it, it wasn't for sale so he had a replica built. I will never sell my first race bike.

Interesting thing about the belts - they were new before last year's TT... after the TT, they were discoloured blue. A sign of them getting too hot. Extreme rpm for suck long periods of time and no ventilation I reckon. This year I will run without belt covers... or come up with some ventilation.

So, other than the lightened bits and some vernier pulleys to make setup easier, the engine is completely standard. Just a Oronero carbon airbox and velocity stacks to get the air in and a MADASL spaghetti system to get it out (oh, and an Oronero crank breather box). On the dyno, we played around with the fueling, but in the end just needed a little tweak using Steve's magic yellow box for it to be optimized for the new setup.

Last Year: Blue

This Year: Red

Keep it above 6500 and we'll be okay

Last Year: Red

This Year: Blue

Definite gains in 3rd, 4th and 5th

Compared with last year, we've lost some power mid-range... but it's now smoothed out and it's moved to the top. On the TT Mountain Circuit - this is where she'll live. These are usable gains for flat out riding.

Looking forward to what she feels like on the road :-)

500 Two-Smoke GP at the Classic TT

Gonna have our work cut out for us if we're going to get the better of Anstey on the Padgett's 500 GP smoker! Hell... I'm gonna savour the moment he comes flying past :-)

Bruce Anstey to ride YZR500 for Valvoline by Padgett's

Ducati 888s, 500 GP bikes... it's gonna be a corker!

PPIHC

Another great result for Travis Newbold at this year's Pikes Peak International Hillclimb. Read all about it.

Sad news about Bobby Goodin.

PPIHC is defo on the bucket list... a lot of Ducatis out there :-)

More 888 Stuff

In May, I was busy with a few brackets so that I can reposition the electrics that are under the seat to the front of the bike. The heatsink and ECU are the main parts. The current weight distribution of the 180kg bike is exactly 50/50 front to rear. I'm hoping moving these bits from one extreme to the other will get us closer to the theoretical ideal of 52/48.

My standard cable-drive tacho is quite deep and has the cable connection at the back, this prevents me fitting the ECU flush with the back of the dash. It was a pain in the ass, but after a lot of measuring, tweaking and fiddling about, I now have it all fitted with enough clearance. Maybe a task for Phase III - a electronic tacho. I like these: Stack Tacho

Also made up some new ally fairing brackets...

There are a few other little works in progress, but the next big thing to get done before I took time out to get married was to get the bike down to Mark Lumb of MADASL Racing to fit the spaghetti system. Mark has a cool workshop with loads of interesting custom Ducati projects...

Nice! :-)

It took a bit of persuasion to fit as this was the first SP Mark had made a system for. But with the help of BBB Fabrications Steve Bailey on a Sunday morning, it was all sorted and looking sweet!

Thanks Mark and Steve for your help on this :-)

Mark then kindly dropped the bike off with Red max Steve Hillary for the engine work. Mark is also lending me a slipper clutch for the TT. A top guy!! Get in touch with Mark at MADASL for spaghetti systems, vernier pulleys and all sorts of other Ducati mods.

Fast forward a few weeks... all the engine work has now been done (more on that later) and I'm meeting Steve down at the dyno late this afternoon to set her up for the new air-box/exhaust see what she does with this new setup.

My Kinda Guy

Just love the Petrolicious story of Jack Griffin:

He Raced the 24 Hours of Le Mans with No License and No Experience

I have an idea of how this feels; the first time set off down Bray Hill on the Isle of Man for my first ManxGP in 2005, I had been riding a motorbike for around 3 years and had only been racing short circuits for 15 months...

:-)

More Work on the 888

...from a while back...

Some more delicious black-gold from Peter at Oronero...

With a new, lighter and more reliable race loom on the way from Peter, the ECU can be moved to the front of the carbon air runners. This will help with the weight distribution (standard is 50/50) and also allow the use of the Corsa crank case breather box (above). There is a lot of does work/doesn't work chat about the large volume crank breather. The fact that the Corsa bike had  them for years and this is something Cosworth did on all their engines of the era leads me to believe there is something in it... even if only 1 bhp at 10k rpm.

This year I'm using Peter's Corsa velocity stacks and just running with a mesh against the front frame bracing (still to be done) to keep the nasties out. We'll see how this works with new exhaust on the dyno.

Breather box installed - it's a beauty!

Been experimenting with some rear brake reservoirs...

In the end I went with this adapted HRC version. Adding lightness...

I also managed to finally track down some decently priced rear-sets. Second-hand from Rudy in Holland. After a refurb, new bolts and fitting my preferred foot-pegs, they came out a treat. My adapted originals will go into the spares box... always nice to have a back-up!

More lightness added :-)

Workin' on the 888

Been bollocks to the wall since April on the bike. Between this, work and organizing stuff for my wedding (this Saturday! :-)  I haven't had much time to do a few posts. I've done my bit on the bike and dropped it off for an exhaust and tune-up last week. So, here's the first update in roughly chronological order...

My mate Steve Mann at MTS Classics has been helping me loads with little bits 'n pieces... even turning a socket-cap into a light-weight oil sensor blanking plug...

A couple of grams here... a couple of grams there... it all counts!

Struggled with the brakes on this bike since I got it. Some brand new callipers from Mode Performance... great value, but not money I'd intended spending. At least I have peace of mind with the callipers. Still not happy with the feel of the lever though. 

I've robbed a Brembo radial master cylinder of my old Aprilia... the lever comes too far back to the bar for my liking. Not sure on the way forward with that one (without throwing more cash at the brakes).  Any suggestions?

Some nice looking clip-ons. They look light-weight, but are only a few grams lighter than the OEM steel ones. Ducati made those SPs good! At least a bent bar can be swapped out in a few minutes with these. Rentals are a bit heavier and I don't like the all those numbers an markings on them. These look trick.

The front half of a 3-piece carbon air-box from on of my sponsors - Peter from Oronero. A shame to cover it in foil... but if it keeps the air being sucked in a few degrees cooler, it's worth it.

The standard battery tray is pretty heavy and made for one of those lead-slab batteries. Needed to sort that. Got some ally together, planned, measured, cut, drilled and took it down to Steve Mann to get some TIG treatment....

... a lick of paint and hey-presto!

This drops nearly half a kilo in the quest for more lightness :-)

More coming soon...

Triumph Scrambler

Here's a sweet lookin' Truimph scrambler by Kingston Custom

Thanks Cafe Racer Culture blog for the link.

Ducati GT-R Cafe Racer

Here's something nice from Spirit of the Seventies... a 'Ducati GT-R Cafe Racer'. It's almost too 'nice'. I love it :-)