this is hard work!

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scooble
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this is hard work!

Post by scooble »

Well, I had my first race meeting on my new novice licence and what a hassle. Started off with the 35mm carbs with the the vforce reeds and I was being out dragged by TZR250's. Jetting was way to rich. Went down from 155 to 152, and still too rich but had nothing smaller. So stuck the 28s back on and got it dynoed to find its putting out a wopping 43hp at 10.5 afr. Went down to 132.5 mains. The afr improved to 12.5 to 1 ish. But the power was still 43hp. So then removed the airbox lid and experimented. Put 150 mains in, got a good 12.5 afr, but still 43 bhp. Virginia Power was kind enough to lend me a spare cdi. I went out for the last race and couldnt really tell if it made any difference as I was so knackered. Had a few moments when the rearsets touched down and it getting a bit wobbly but I wasn't last despite being at least 20 bhp down on what it should be. Oh, my mechanix/housemate says she'a tired. ( its been a bonkers hectic day)
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scooble
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Post by scooble »

just when you think that things couldn't get any worse - they did!

Last thing saturday, virgie lent me her 56hp cdi which I used in the last race (although I didn't notice any difference) - so first thing sunday, I stuck it on the dyno and it still made 43hp.
So my housemate/mechanic and I set about taking out the tuned engine and installing my standard engine.
Got it in with 15 minutes to spare before my next race which started to rain as I was in the warm up area.
Started the race in full wet conditions with an Michelin SM front and supercorsa rear and 'shimmied' round for 3 slow laps only for the gearbox to lock up in 6th coming into clearways. Back locked up momentarily before something broke and made a noise like crushing a bag of kettle crisps.
I slithered into the gravel and watched the rest of the race.
So - all in all, 3 days at Brands, 2 F#@KED engines and one pissed of Scooble - Priceless!

With 43bhp at the back wheel, I decided to make the bike as light as possible by removing as much as I could from the fairing;
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Post by Bikemike »

Gutted for you Trish, I thought racing was meant to be fun :(
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Post by Luders »

Bad luck Tricia, I hope it hasn't put you off.

If it's any consolation, I went through a fair amount of pain and shit getting my bike developed.
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kwackman12
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Post by kwackman12 »

Sorry to hear about this Trish, I had these sort of problems when I had my KR i went through 3 engines at three different track days, when i decided to start racing I gave Graham File a couple of engines & three cranks + loads of new parts, I ended up with an engine putting out 59BHP it lasted the whole season "I changed the rings halfway through 26J Yamaha pistons" & is still going strong now "2 years later" It cost me in excess of £1500.00 including the 35mm Carbs. Sounds a lot to layout but at nearly £300.00 a meeting the last thing you want is blown/troublesome engines.
It was good to meet you again, are you intending to do any more races this season?
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scooble
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Post by scooble »

I was only planning on doing one meeting, however, as it was such a disaster and I was unable to run at a pace that I know I can do, I hope to be back out again at the end of September.
I'm off to Bob Farnhams whis weekend to get the engine sorted, and after that, I hope to get it setup on a local dyno.

One of my colleagues of work took a few pictures;
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would be nice to simply turn up, put fuel in, race and go home :-s
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Post by Luders »

scooble wrote:would be nice to simply turn up, put fuel in, race and go home :-s
Hahaha, yeah right, we all think that and when you get your bike running right you will have weekends where you can just enjoy the racing and not be worrying about the bike between races.

It's frustrating when you feel your bike is letting you down and like you Trish, I've been developing my KR and trying to make improvements to the bike as a whole and not just engine.

Racing is so much different to just riding your bike on the road or even doing a track day. I found the competition can be a high standard and when you're starting, it seems everyone else is in a better place with their bikes than you.

I've had a very mixed couple of seasons so far of good and bad weekends, but mostly bad for various reasons counting my broken wrist, as one in particular.
I'm in a much better place now than what I was. I have a better understanding of the changes made to increase performance of both the engine and suspension and the affect these can have on reliability.
I've had situations in the past, where it's taken me a few races of unreliability to figure out what exactly the problem was being caused by.

Reliability is the key to success and now I'm more focused on making smaller changes to the bike. It’s easier to manage and troubleshoot if something new isn’t working.
In the past, I had days where I was trying to manage and understand several problems. This was purely because changes made to the bike over the past 12 months (or more) have been quite drastic.

I’m glad you're going to give it another crack, I'm sure you'll be in a better position next month

I’m also always happy to help a racer out if I can, so just let me know if there’s anything you need.
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