IOM 2014 - Day 3 - A Good Start

The whole day was sunny and dry but with a cold wind. Temp hovered around 13 degrees all day. All looked good for first practice. Unfortunately, all three of my classes were in the same practice session - we should be able to get 2 laps per session. Kevan and I got the old Duke and Aprilia through skrootineering with the plan to get one lap in on each.

Up to pit-lane for the start... a little nervous and just keen to get the first lap under our belt. This year the first 16 seeded bike go first, followed by the next seeded group of 17 to 40. With the Ducati and Suzuki I'm in the second seeded group. This is a big help - I get to start with riders that will run similar lap-times. Less traffic which equates to faster laptimes :-)

We start 10 minutes late after they do the Newcomers speed controlled lap for Newcomers that missed Saturday's lap. This leaves it too tight to do lap on the Duke, come in after 1 lap and then head out on the Aprilia for another lap. We decide to get 2 laps in on the Duke. Tank brimmed, engine warmed up, we stare down Glencrutchery road eager the get going. Revvs up to five and a half grand... tap on the shoulder and I ease her away. As the clutch grabs, she does a little six inch hovering wheelie and in seconds we're hammering through the gears toward St. Ninians traffic lights.

The old girl is feeling sweet. Revving up really quickly and pulling like a train from 8000 rpm. I found myself revving her over the imposed 10 000rpm limit  2 or 3 times during the lap, much easier to do with the lightened engine components. Something to watch. Down past the Highlander pub she's pulling just over 10 000rpm... this is on the longer gearing we used for last year's practice to try give the engine an easier time. She's definitely got a few more ponies at the top end - she was a few hundred rpm short of this last year.

I wore my new wedding ring on a chain around my neck. Lying on the tank, it dug into my sternum nicely. Yeouch! I tried to keep my chest off the tank, but every big bump would hammer the sharp edges of the ring into my bone. A bit uncomfortable!

I did away with my usual Pin-lock on the inside of my visor and tried an anti-fog coating. The Pin-lock restricts my vision a bit. Around Glen Helen it seemed as if my visor was steaming up. I tried to direct my breath downwards, but continued to have this fogging. I had to slow down some sections just because I couldn't see properly. During teh laps, my eyes were stinging and started watering. I screwed my eyes up to try clear my vision. So, not sure it my vision was blurred because of a fogging visor or because my eyes were watering.

I managed to open my visor vents going over mountain and that seemed to help. Warren Verwey also had stinging/watering eyes... was it something in the air? Was it the anti-fog coating? Was it fogging up? I'll go back to the Pink-lock for next practice and see... yeah... hopefully we'll see ;-)

On the second lap there are lack of adhesion flags and then rain flags around Appledean. The track is wet all the way through to Ballacraine. I ease off and keep the bike upright. Up through Doran's bend and it's dry again and I get the hammer down.

The handling is a bit off. She turns in okay and is stable-ish. Hitting bumps with teh bike cranked over, she feels like she's wallowing around the center. It's a bit unsettling, but I can ride around it. She also does it when I'm heavy on the brakes. Brakes by the way are fantastic... serious bite and hold teh bike up quickly. All the lightness I've added will help a lot with this as well.

Twice I hit false neutral when going from 6th down to 5th. Heart-in-the-mouth moment when this happens at 140mph... I manage to stomp her down into gear as I'm tipping her in through the turn. Happened at Hilberry and on the mountain. Need to be more positive with my gear-change.

On lap two, there is an incident at the sharp left-hander just after Ginger Hall. Waved yellow flags and a group of 6 riders on Supersport and Supertwins are bunched up. Green flags are waved on the corner after and I fight my way through this pack all the way till Ramsay Hairpin.

I have a good run over the mountain, catching a Supersport machine that sailed past me down Sulby straight. He holds me up a bit but I bring the old girl home safely. Back in Parc Firme and I'm buzzing. I soak up the feeling and the privilege of being able to lap the best race track in the world. There is simply nothing like the TT Mountain Course on closed roads. Fuckin' awesome!

Laptimes: 102 and 105mph. Super happy with that start :-)

IOM 2014 - Photo Shoot

After my Landlords finished the ceiling on theer garage, we moved the bikes back in. Kevan spotted a great photo opportunity...

Thanks for the pics Kev!

IOM 2014 - Day 2 - Day of Rest

Sunday is a day of rest on the Isle of Man - no racing or practice. With yesterday's practice cancelled and the bikes all ready to go (well... except for a few keys...), there wasn't much to do but chill-out, watch MotoGP, go for a few laps in the van, visit friends in the paddock, go for a run and eat an awesome home cooked roast dinner - thanks for Brett and Jules (my island landlords) for the dinner :-)

One of Alan Hermiston's beautiful Matchless

A relaxing day... but kinda like the calm before the storm. I want to just get out there an go fast - I'm a bit impatient and hate waiting.

Our landlords are also refurbishing their garage... so luckily we don't have to work on the bikes. They've been outside in the weather (with covers on) and all the tools and bits are all packed out the way. I hope they finish it tomorrow... could do with setting it all up for Tuesday when we'll be working on the bikes.

The organizers (MMCC) have mixed the practice schedule around and tomorrow we only have all three bikes in the same session. That sucks. At best we'll be able to get two laps in. We're aiming for a lap on both the Ducati and Aprilia... but around here, you never know. Also, Alan Birtwhistle should be here in the morning with the tooxbox and keys :-) Looking forward to that!

IOM 2014 - Day 1 - First Practice

After a few hours good kip, we were up early to unload the bikes and get our stuff together for signing on, paperwork, briefings, first skrootineering and hopefully get out for first practice... oh, and visit the Fairies. Ummmm... and organise to get the toolbox and bike keys!

Getting my gear and fireproofs checked, signing on, road insurance, rider's briefing and tech briefings go quickly and soon we're loading up the Ducati 888 and getting her ready for skrootinnering. Luckily the Duke has a keyless ignition, so at least we have one working bike :-)

Kevan with the old girl

Last year skrootineering was a nightmare with queues over an hour long... this year, the old girl sails through in half an hour :-) We fuel her up in pitlane and I go get me gear on for first practice. Dark clouds have been looming all day and it's quite chilly, but the rain was holding off so all was looking good for a lap or two.

"All In" flies through skrootineering once again

I'm really keen to get that first lap in... settle myself mentally and just get everything going. I get my kit on and head up to pitlane. Phil Taubman, the Clerk of the course comes on the tannoy. Bad news... not enough marshals. To run a race of practice, they need a small army (over 500) marshals around the 37.7 mile course. Unfortunately a passenger on one of the morning ferries had a heart attack and they had to turn back. With the ferry running with one engine short, they couldn't make up the time and this pushed all the other crossings back a few hours. A lot of the , marshals couldn't get on the island on time :-(

Stafford Evan's immaculate Duke 888/944 looking fantastic in pitlane

They let the Newcomers do their speed-controlled lap and cancel the rest of practice. This is is the third year in a row that Saturday's practice is cancelled. I bust my ass to get here for Saturday practice... Bugger!

Despite the disappointment, we end the day well by having a good braai with Warren Verwey and Mike Dickenson :-)

John McGuiness's little setup in the paddock

IOM 2014 - Day 0 - The Crossing and Keys

Yesterday our Manx Grand Prix / Classic TT got underway. Up early to finish off some work and try get those "Just before you go..." work requests done. Kevan, who will be helping me out and spannering for the fortnight, arrived around lunchtime and we got the van packed. Unusually, we leave on time and enjoy the stop start traffic jams and crap weather all the way up to Liverpool ferry terminal. A 2 1/2 hour journey that takes 4 1/2 hours - normal.

After a year of being cosseted in a warm garage, the old bikes are dragged through a typhoon :-(

We pull into the ferry terminal with an hour to spare. Off to a good start (we've missed this ferry a few times before!). Kevan casually asks "You got the bike keys, right?". "Yeah, sure. They're in the tooxbox.". Toolbox. Toolbox? Fuuuuuuuuuuuck! I get that sinking feeling. We left the toolbox in my garage... right near the door... so we wouldn't forget it. Oh bollocks!

Too late to go back, even if we can get a place on the next ferry.  Going back would mean missing first practice... would also mean paying another exorbitant ferry crossing. We go through the options. Flights and hire car, passenger ferry crossing and hire car, courier, help from others. We make some calls and start putting a plan together. Soon we're onboard the ferry and heading out of Liverpool. We put some posts on a few facebook groups and the word goes out during our crossing. As I'm finishing up some more work at the end of the sailing we already have a few folks willing to help.

Posh seats for the team!

The good news is that the Ducati 888 has a keylass start, so at least we'll be able to get out on her until we can get the toolbox and other bike keys.

The ferry has one engine broken, so the crossing takes longer than usual. At midnight we dock in Douglas - I'm knackered. We roll off the deck and within minutes we're on Bray Hill. Getting out of the van and standing on Bray Hill... I start to feel those familiar heebie-jeebies :-) Now I'm getting excited :-) The last few weeks have just been so manic that I haven;t had much time to get excited about it all. Now I feel it! :-)

We unhitch the bikes, park up and crash for the night. Tomorrow afternoon we head out for first practice - oh yeah!

Data Logging

On my Sunday test run with the Ducati SP3, I tested a Vbox Sport datalogger that my friend Ant has kindly lent to me. It's not connected to the ECU and just gives GPS location and time. From this it works out speed, route, g-force etc. It makes interesting reading...

The software is difficult to use and pretty crap. But I think it'll be useful on the Isle of Man - I hope I'll have enough time to muck about with the user-unfriendly software to get some meaningful data from it. Maybe I just need more practice with the software.

Here's something interesting that I got from it. From a standing start, I accelerated briskly... not a race start and not redlining every gear. She did the 1/4 mile in 11 secs. Ducati are making a  song and dance about the Panigale Superleggera doing the 1/4 in 10 secs... will be interesting to see what the old 888 does at the race start down Glencrutchery road.

Road Test!

On Sunday I managed to get out early on the 888 on damp roads for a wee test. I did a 50 mile loop with some bumpy twisties and dual-carriageway.

As I'd felt a few weeks earlier when taking her for an MOT, the combination of lightening the primary gear/flywheel/clutch basket, the close ration gearbox (tall first gear) and moving some of that mid-range torque/power to the top has made her an awful road bike :-(

She needs at least 5000rpm and a slipping clutch to get her going without stalling. Around town I use first gear... a lot. She's not the most comfortable to ride stop-start and under 40mph. But... get her wound up... and she flies! She is so sweet between 8 and 10k :-) She feels like she'll pull 10k on the gearing I'm running - last year she could only got up to around 9750rpm. We'll see what she does on the IOM through the fastest sections - past the Highlander pub (just after Wagon n Horses Leap and before Greeba Castle) and just before Brandish.

I also tested a data logger I'm borrowing - a Vbox Sport. More on that in another post.

Nothing broke or fell off :-) She worked well. I'd jacked up the front and rear to try give a bit more ground clearance - this has increased my swing-arm angle as well as my squat on acceleration so under power the forks are a steeper angle leading to less stability (one change affects all!). For a short circuit she'd be mint - turns in real easy :-) (higher c of g will help this too). A bit too flighty for IOM, so I lifted the front a bit more - the short test ride in the afternoon was more stable.

One thing that you can only start to get a feeling of on the roads it the sensation of very high speed just feet away from the road furniture. It gets scary pretty quickly. Because I hardly ride bikes, it's something I need to get used to quickly on the IOM. Looking forward to it!!

Ducati Monster Cafe Racer

A damn sweet looking Ducati Monster airhead cafe racer from South Garage. Just love that exhaust link pipe!

Thanks to Cafe Racer Culture for the link!

Fire Gear

While I was away, the Manx Motorcycle Club (MMCC) announced that the pit crew have to wear approved fire-retardant gear. Typical knee-jerk reaction following the two fire in pit-lanes during this year's TT - apparently it's the insurance company (and lawyers) who are forcing this change. Nice if they could have given us more time to get equipped, but lawyers have no frikkin' clue about what motor-sport is all about and I guess they don't give a damn either. So... every fire-retardant gear supplier in Britain has had a mega rush on their stock in the last 2 weeks.

TT 2014 - Grant Wagstaff gets off his bike in a hurry

The MMCC have managed to negotiate that only the for this year, just the refueller has to have the fire-retardant gear, the other pit crew can have what we've been allowed in years past. This helps a lot because a fire-retardant suit is quite dear. I've managed to get away with just over 200 quid for a suit, balaclava, goggles and gloves. Next year, the hand goes in the pocket for the rest of the crew.

I'm happy to ensure the safety of my crew, but it's another expense that is making the Classic TT/ManxGP less affordable for Privateers while the organisers pay good money to professional riders and teams for us to compete against. This is the corporate world - it's just business.

Loomed Up!

I've spent the last 2.5 weeks overseas for work - really crap timing with all the Classic TT/Manx GP prep that needs to be done. I was in China and a lot of websites are blocked - Facebook, YouTube, Google... and my blog, so I couldn't do any posts. Got back on Friday evening and had my nose to the grindstone since...

Front-mounted ECU

I worked many a late night in the week before my trip to just get things done. Got the Suzuk SV prepped and up to Alan Birtwhistle who then shipped her to the IOM for me - thanks Dude! This is a big help as my van 'n trailer really struggles with 3 bikes and all tools, spares, wheels, tyres, gear and crap I take with me.

While I was away, Oronero Peter finished up and installed a new race loom for the old girl. A few hours after I got home from my trip, Peter dropped the bike off. I spent yesterday securing the new wiring and checking everything.

Neat!

Proper suff

The 24 year old Italian electrics were always a risk that almost stopped us starting last year's race (starter solenoid connector failed 1 minute before the start - we were lucky to get her bump-started). Peter has built a beautiful, brand new loom with quality connectors and all the proper bits. This also allows me to mount the ECU and heat-sink up front, between the Oronero carbon air-runners. Proper Corse!

Peter wired in a neat little horn button and wiring that just plugs in for the MOT and road tests :-)

Start/kill switch - genuine Honda for reliability

This will help get the front to rear weight distribution which was 50/50 before closer to the theoretical ideal of 52/48. It also allows me to use Peter's beautiful under-seat Corse crank case breather box. 

More Oronero carbon lovliness

By moving the reed valve to after the breather box, it effectively increases to volume of the crank cases by a good few liters. This reduces the air pressure caused on the piston down-stroke. Less pressure = less resistance = more power. Apparently this only works at high rpm and the gains are small. But I figure if the Corse bikes all ran this setup for many years and Cosworth race engines of the era all had similar set-ups, there must be something in it.

Uber-light weight shock reservoir mounting and reed valve setup

Some advantages of the new loom: more reliable, lighter, less clutter, better weight distribution and use of the big volume crank breather :-)

Standard loom - 3.5 kg of wires, switches, relays and connectors. Race loom is saving at least 2kg!

With all the standard wiring gone, all is neat and tidy. Because I'm running with open velocity stacks this year, I fitted a stainless mesh over the front spars where the tons of cool Manx air is going to come rushing in. Flying stones are a hazard on the roads - even a small one being swallowed can ruin your day.

Next up - a road test!

This was from a few weeks ago, before the new loom. I strapped the ECU to the side of the bike to give her a daytime MOT.