And so it comes to a sputtering end. It’s not been a great season, to be honest. I don’t seem to have been focussed enough and there’s been a lot of other things going on that have rather taken my eyes off the ball. Still, the last meeting of the season was reasonably good, almost a race…
Tag: Silverstone
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.
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.
A damp squib
…whatever one of those is. (Actually, it turns out that it’s a small explosive device.) It’s what the Birkett turned out to be.
I’d got myself all ready well in advance, here’s the car sitting on the trailer and, after a morning lecturing to students. I jumped on the train, zoomed down to Cambridge and drove to Silverstone. There, miracles of miracles (they must have got some new security guards) we got in easily and parked up for the night.
Working on the chain gang
Hmm, I think I’ve found a bit of a problem, which might just explain the problems I’ve been having with the new engine.
After the first outing at Snetterton I’d noticed that the chain had needed adjusting quite a lot. That seemed a bit odd but I didn’t think too much about it. However, I’d noticed that the same thing applied after the Silverstone race. At first I was wondering why the chain was stretching so much, or perhaps the sprocket was moving slightly. However, I think I’ve found the problem…
Exhausted, completely knackered
After all the faffing around with the exhaust I put the old exhaust system back on again, feeling bad that that wasted a set of header seals which are some alarming price. Like that I could get the car ready to go to Silverstone. This was the annual club August bank holiday weekend meeting where all the formulae get a race, meaning that everyone gets just one race.
Exhausting work
OK, I’m back. It’s been a while but we’ve been on holiday and I spent a week away at a conference which explains the lack of progress.
In fact, if I’m honest there isn’t really much to say anyway. After the Snetterton race I’d decided that I needed to sort the exhaust system out. I spent a while phoning around a few builders without any joy. I’d imagined that they’d all be twiddling their thumbs at this time of year. However, that appears to not be the case. So, after discussing it with Andy I thought I’d try something that I’ve been meaning to have an experiment with for a while. This is making my own exhaust. After all, it’s just a pipe and as Andy manages to make them out of a collection of mandrel bends, why can’t I?
“The time has come,” the Walrus said, “To talk of many things…”
And in particular, “where the heck have you been?”
Well, I’ve been busy. I realise that’s not a good excuse but I really have, honest. I’ve just finished teaching a 4 week long class to a set of Masters students (and writing the exam they have to take) and I’ve been trying to concentrate on getting my thesis written. Problem is, I keep thinking of more things that ought to be in there so I’m actually going backwards on that one.
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Soaking in Silverstone
Last weekend it was time, yet again, for the club’s August bank holiday meeting at Silverstone. This is the one meeting of the year when all the racing formulae are at the same meeting so it’s very busy, and bustling. I’d decided not to test as I know the circuit rather well. However, after swapping the clutch I thought it’d be useful to do the Allcomers race which was absolutely first thing on the Saturday morning, so as to check that everything was working.