It was Brands time again. One of the best circuits on the calendar and a real challenge for a driver. Problem was, the weather forecast was pretty poor. I’d booked a half day testing on the Friday before the race and we went down on the Thursday evening and set up camp in the burgeoning RGB village in the middle of the outer paddock. On the Friday morning we seemed to be just about the only people there. The clouds were lowering above us threatening us with doom and despondancy.
Fettling again
Yet again, it’s back into the garage with a few things to sort. However, before that, here’s something interesting. You will remember that I was in a real race at Silverstone with a certain amount of position swapping going on. It seems as though the action was actually a little closer than I’d thought, as here’s a small battle wound…
Competition returns
So, last weekend we returned to Silverstone for the start of the new season. Traditionally RGB races at Silverstone (which up to now have been held on the August bank holiday weekend) are held in climatic conditions that more resemble the depths of winter than a summer, even an English one. However, this weekend was to work out well. It got a bit gloomy on a couple of occasions but that was it. Amazing…
Silverstone bound
Well, it’s really close to the first race of the season now, so it’s time to make sure the car’s ready to go. To be honest I feel very unprepared but we’ll see how the Silverstone test day goes. As you’ll know the only test I’ve done this year was the trackday at Rockingham (see the photo above courtesy of Charlie). I really should have put more time into it but haven’t managed to find the time.
Rocking On
Time for the first track outing of the new season. I booked a track day with Bookatrack at the Rockingham circuit which isn’t too far away from us. I went to Rockingham many years ago in the Fury, when I was first learning to drive it. So, although I could just about remember the way round there wasn’t much in the way of knowledge; especially as the circuit we were using this time was different.
Dynomomomometer
Rather amazingly, I seem to have reached the end of the winter mods and reconstruction of the car. I’ve done all the suspension setup, although as usual I might do it again. I’ve also done the corner weighting.
So, all that’s left before the start of the season is to test the thing.I did drive it from the garage onto the drive again which worked. I then used the reverse to get back into the garage, which didn’t work. However, I’ve now fixed that. (Some dozy pillock had wired the motor wrongly.)
To get myself finally set up I trudged up to Harrogate today to get the car dynoed. This is the same place I took the J15 in its earlier CBR1000RR07 incarnation so, even though the actual numbers from the dyno are not relevant, the comparisons are.
Hitting the ground dawdling
I managed to find a bit more time to get onto the car at the weekend. And, as you can see from the photo and jumping ahead a bit, I’ve got the car down on the ground and all the bodywork back on. Addmitedly I’ve now taken the bodywork off again but that’s in the nature of the racecar beast. Bloody hell, though, I’d forgotten how horrible the roll cage looks…
Red again
At last I feel as if I’m getting somewhere. Given what I need to do before the season starts that’s a good thing.
I’ve finished sticking the airbox together, and the final version is in the photo on the right. Actually, that’s not quite final as since then I’ve arranged a couple of little brackets to stabilise it to the roll cage and covered up that hole which was a failed attempt at getting access to one of the fixings on the top of the standard airbox; I’ve decided to live without it.
Running again
Back again, although still with little to report. What’s worse is that I’ve got some exams to mark this week so that’s going to make progress even slower than usual.
All the same, after putting the new engine in I put all the wiring back. Of course, this was a lot quicker than last time as everything was cut to the right length. You can see some of the wiring in the photo on the right. Not really very interesting though, being the same as before.
Back to work
OK, I know I’ve been tardy about posting lately, but not very much has been going on. However, I’ve been re-invigorated by a trip up to the Autosport International show this week, along with Adrian. I didn’t actually buy anything but it was great looking at all the bits and we bumped into loads of fellow RGBers.