Of course after a couple of years back in the saddle I started to think about buying a cheap hack and trying some inexpensive racing. Little did I know that inexpensive racing doesn't exist and that the only way to make a small fortune out of racing is to start with a large one.
I picked up a FZR 400 from ebay for £750 and 2 days later jumped on a train to Teeside on a Sunday afternoon. 7 hours and 9 tins of lager later I arrived at my destination and checked in to a B and B. The bike had 24,000 miles on the clock and was in a reasonable condition. The following day I rode it to Worcester from Teeside and parked it safely next to my R1 after 4 hours of brass monkey January weather.
Next was a couple of tyres, Bridgestone 090's and an MOT which the bike passed first time, things were looking up until I dropped the bike leaving the garage with the words of the fitter ringing in my ears "take it steady on those new tyres". Worse was to come as the long haired colonel was watching this drama unfold and didn't appear to take it too well. Can you say "hysterical" ?
It's now January the 30th and tomorrow the bike is being serviced and set up by those nice people at http://www.superbikesurgery.co.uk/ Once this has been done and I get the fairing back painted in team LITT Racing colours (which I haven't chosen yet) I will update this page.
Yeah right, February7th, The bike needed a new rear brake caliper, new air filter, new brake hoses, the exup valve had seized and the fairing was buggered. So back on to ebay and £560 gets me 2 FZR400's, a race fairing and seat unit and lots of spares, except of course the spares I needed. Now I have 3 FZR's in my garage as well as my road R1.
This weekend (having somewhat recovered from the cracked rib) I am due to start in earnest in building a race bike, of course it will all go pear shaped and eventually more money will be needed. Will update some time next week.
February 14th, The race fairing turned out to be a race fairing from a different bike so £150 later I have a new fairing on it's way to me due to arrive any day now. The exup valve was seized and the neither of the two spare bikes I purchased have a working exup. £138 for the new parts which arrive tomorrow.
Found that the rear shock was buggered and ordered a new one at £300, so in a week I have gotten as far as spending around £600, at this rate I will be skint in a month.
I have now booked 2 days off work this week so as I can start to put the bike together. I am pretty sure that I won't have to spend any more money this month and that I have all I need.to start racing.
Friday the 16th February.
Well after two days off work this is where I am. The good news, the new race fairing fitted perfectly, I managed to lock wire the oil filter in place, the new can fitted and so did the screen.
Bad news, the exup valve itself was seized on to the face plate, trying to part them caused the valve to break. So, I have ordered 2 new parts at £147.00. I am getting quite friendly with the receptionist at Fowlers.
I have stripped the carbs, cleaned them and put them back together without breaking anything or needing to spend any money on them. Now that's what I call a result !
Remaining to do ; Paint the fairing and seat unit, bleed the front brakes, tidy up some wiring, fit a chain guard, remove the side stand and give the whole bike a bloody good clean.
Should be done by next weekend and ready for the test weekend. Thank feck
Monday the 19th
Fairing and seat painted, wiring tidied up, chain guard fitted, brakes bled and stand ready to come off. I could take it off now but the bike would fall over.
I have the fairing stored in the study at home, didn't please the long haired Colonel but she went along with it.
The final expense, a van.
I needed a cheap van to transport the bike to the circuit, to sleep in on weekend meets and to carry my spares, extra wheels and tools etc. So I bid on a 1985 Renault Trafic 2.1 Diesel on ebay with tax and test for 7 months and lo and behold I won at £396.00. So tomorrow I catch the train to Brixton, London to pick it up. Brixton is quite notorious for it's crime problems so I won't be surprised if the person I bought the van from has to go out tonight and steal it. Heck it may be a different model and colour. Insurance was £200 for the year which considering what I have spent so far is a feckin bargain. Of course I now need a stand to keep the bike secure in the back. Another £45 later and I am the proud if not skint owner of a wheel stand to bolt to the floor of the van.
Tuesday 20th Feb 2007, Well that was painless, blagged my way in to First Class on the train and didn't get challenged ! The guy selling the van picked me up at Brixton tube, a quick wizz to his house, handed the cash over, started the van up and headed to the south ring road. Despite a lack of power steering the van is just fine, everything works, no smoke from the exhaust and the electrics are spot on. Not sure how fast it goes as the speedo doesn't work but it must have been about 70 mph ish. Pulled up outside the house with the long haired Colonel staring at me and the van with equal disdain. Not in a million years I guessed she was thinking, not in a million years is that staying outside my house she said. Just for a few days I muttered and then I will leave it at work. I just need to change the oil and filters, check the water and then it's gone.
Wed 21st Feb 2007
Had a few more deliveries, fairing bolts, screen bolts, some carbon fibre sheeting, spare front brake master cylinder and the bike stand. I am starting to think I have an ebay problem !
Still waiting on the exup valve from Fowlers, Bristol. This is the only part that is stopping me from finishing the bike. I don't really want to stick the fairing and screen on until I have finished all of the mechanical jobs, just in case I scratch the paint work. Silly I know as I am bound to at some stage fall off on the track and feck it all up. Will post next monday the 26th by when I hope to have the bike completed and ready to race.
Friday 23rd 2007
Was rooting around in the garage and found an exup valve in a plastic shopping bag along with all of the fittings. Seems the guy I bought the spare bikes from had dismantled the exup with the intention of refitting it later. He had just bagged the items and handed the bag over with other spares when I collected the bikes. Could have saved me £200 had I checked what I had bought. Dropped the front forks off this morning at Whitecross Motorcycles in Bristol to be rebuilt, so that's going to be another few quid.
Tonight I am out on the piss in Hereford with a pal and will forget about the bike until Sunday.....
Spent yesterday recovering from the mother of all hangovers. Ended up down town in Hereford with a few bottles of cider (ok around 8) If you drink cider you will understand that eventually you will get a squeaky time at the bottom end. Anyway I digress.
Awoke Sunday morning to start again on the Bike. Found that leaving your freshly painted fairing in the study that your dog uses also isn't a good idea. First off the dog is hairy, loses a lot of hair and the hair is thick and black. So .... when I picked them up to fit on the bike today I found loads of dog hairs stuck to the paint work. 2 Hours later I had removed the hairs, sanded down the panels and sprayed with primer (again) and later on sprayed the Long In The Tooth team colours on to the panels (again).
The exup parts arrived Saturday, but wouldn't fit or fecking work properly, so I ditched them (thanks Jon
Masked up and sprayed the sub frame, nothing to report as it turned out as I wanted it to, which was a surprise and very welcome.
To complete .... Tomorrow Monday I take my ACU test and hope to pass (if I don't then everything I have done so far is wasted). Fit fairing. Fit forks (they aren't here yet) That's it .... and then next weekend myself and my pal Andrew (who was in the Royal Navy and isn't gay, another first) will be Pembrey bound on the Saturday evening ready for the test weekend.
Nearly forgot, watched the Chelsea v Arsenal game today too, glad Chelsea won ...
Monday 26th, Back from the ACU test and passed. Mind you, you are allowed to have the ACU handbook on the desk and I would imagine everyone passed with 100 %
28th of February 2007
Part of preparing a bike from scratch are the highs and lows you experience when things go wrong or occasionally go right. Well yesterday was one of those days when everything went right which put me on a high. The bike had been suffering from a low revs stutter, up to 6,000 rpm the bike ran crap. I had taken the carbs off, cleaned them, checked jets and needles and re-installed them. Checked the spark and fuel, coils etc and all was fine. Yesterday, I took the carbs off one of the spare bikes and simply (without cleaning or any other work) put them on the race bike and fired her up, the stutter had vanished. This was a high (how simply we are pleased). Then today Bill Whitecross has finished the forks and bugger me he is driving past my house today so will drop them off later. So tonight I can fit the forks and finish re-installing the airbox, filter, tank and tank cover.
Things are looking up at last. Should have the bike finished completely by tomorrow afternoon and can take some pictures to post here.
1st March 2007 (The sharp eyed amongst you may have noticed that I had originally dated the entry as the 29th of Feb, 2.5 k on a watch and you have to manually wind the date on)
Bunked off work yesterday afternoon, Fitted the forks ! The airbox was a bit more of a problem as the box itself even when fitted properly is pretty shaky. A couple of brackets from homebase and some self tappers made it pretty secure. All that's needed to finish the project is to fit the bodywork which I shall do this evening.
Todays Low point.
My ACU licence application was returned to me as I hadn't completed the tick box that asks about mental illness. I would have thought that it was pretty obvious that I was suffering from some sort of mental illness. I have now ticked the box and seeing as it is a nice day I am going to take my R1 out and drop the application off at the ACU in Rugby.
2nd March 2007
Spent most of last night finishing off the bike and woke bright eyed and bushy tailed to take some pictures this fine Sunny morning. I have now added a link to the picture page. Click the link to see more pictures including some of the 99.9 % finished bike. The weather for the test weekend at Pembrey is forecast to be heavy rain, a quirk of Geography places South Wales right at the end of the gulf stream which has collected moisture over the North Atlantic for days on end and then dumps it over the said South Wales. Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of people.
If it pisses down on Sunday then I won't be going to the test weekend. A 3 hour journey followed by 8 hours sat in a van
listening to the rain on the roof interrupted by brief forays on to a soaking, greasy and ultimately slippy track is not my cup of tea. I have a kitchen to fit for the long haired Colonel which demands some attention and ultimately a Kitchen which is fitted. This after telling me a month ago that we were moving and I am now led to understand that we aren't now moving and instead she wants to move the perfectly satisfactory kitchen from the kitchen to one of the lounges. You are probably thinking what I am thinking also, what the feck ?
Apparently it will be much nicer at the rear of the house with the kitchen looking on to the garden and we can have a breakfast bar and a centre island. Now correct me if I am wrong, but when was the last time you sat down to eat a breakfast at home with the rest of the family ? Our daughter of 18 is practically an appirition that pops up at times like the scarlet pimpernel and my 11 year old son only eats breakfast in bed (I kid you not). Besides which my wife is on first name terms with the chinese delivery guy and perfect pizza. A centre island in the kitchen is guaranteed to make her friends green with envy and is I gather the creme de la creme of kitchen design. As we all know it's just best to go along with ideas from the boss and nod wisely and agree with all suggestions. It's going to be a hell of a summer.
Wednesday 7th of March
I didn't attend the testing at Pembrey as it pissed down all day Sunday.
More tales of woe ...
It would appear that the head Gasket has blown, I have lavished more praise, attention, money and love on this feckin bike than my wife ever gets and this is the way it treats me. The overheating problems I wrongly attributed to the rad cap are in fact the result of the gasket giving up the ghost.
Looks like I need to call Fowlers of Bristol again and order up a head gasket. I am so pissed off !
Thursday 9th of March
Spent last night taking the head off the devils own spawn. It appears that number 3 hasn't seen much combustion and that the head gasket was well and truly fecked. It also seems that the head is warped a little so I am taking it to a specialist to be looked at. Also all of the valves appear to be on their last legs.
Not sure what to do now, I don't want to keep throwing good money away on a pig. 90 % of what I have spent so far can be used on another bike so I will probably look for a FZR 400 with very low miles and simply start again.
This has been a very expensive lesson so far. Although to be fair I now know a lot about FZR's and the way I see it I will shortly have 3 spare bikes.
Monday 12th of March
Things are looking up, Bought a FZR400 ready to race (although it's not street stock qualified) I have now entered the F400 and open 400 series. Collected the bike on Saturday from Derby in "the van" which seems to drive well enough. Although if you remember from earlier that the speedo doesn't work and I had estimated my speed at around 70 to 80 flat out, well I used my sat nav on Sat and the speed flat out was a rather more sedate 65 mph. Which just goes to prove how shite I am at judging speed and is another reason everyone racing with me should be worried.
This Friday I take to the track for the first time at Llandow on a novice test day, should be fun.
Anyway, back to my Original FZR 400, it will be put back together this week and then sold on ebay minus the tyres, rear suspension and front forks which I will swop with replacements from the other 2 spare bikes I have (keep up at the back).
I have also started selling the original fairing that I have to try and recoup some of the money I have spent so far.
Monday 19th of March
Spent last Friday on the track at Llandow (Wales). Llandow is about 100 miles south west of Worcester. I set off at around 6.00 am with the bike in the back of the van which was also loaded with fuel, tools and spares. Set my portable sat nav system up and hit the motorway at a blistering speed of 55 mph on the flat and slowing to a crawl of 40 mph up the hills. I attempted to overtake a lorry and was side by side with him for about 2 miles until we hit a hill whereby he pulled away from me. The cars behind me looked pretty pissed off, I must be a real van driver now.
Went out on track at around 10 am and followed the instructors for the first three laps (I was in the novice group), after 3 laps we were allowed to do pretty much anything which I proceeded to do after missing a braking point and carried on straight over the hairpin and overtook two other bikes. This racing lark is easy, why bother with the hairpin and slowing down when you can go straight over.
I had a few moments, mostly on the same hairpin when I was keeping such a tight line that my boot was hitting the ground which was a bit worrying seeing as the zips had broken and all that was keeping them on was a bit of velcro and me keeping my toes scrunched together. Apart from the hairpin moment everything else went quite smoothly and the bike didn't miss a beat engine wise. I had to change the battery for the third session as for some reason it went flat. When I bought this bike I had noticed from a picture that it was being re-charged, I asked the guy selling it if it needed to be re-charged between races and did it run a total loss system. He answered no to both questions and lied twice in the space of 2 seconds. It was lucky that I had taken a spare battery.
Over the weekend I gave the bike some love in the form of an oil and filter change and a freshly charged battery. This Thursday I have another test day at Silverstone ready for my first race meeting on the Sunday at Silverstone. Apparently I have quite a few friends and relatives coming along to watch on Sunday who are really interested in my novice biking career. My brother even went as far as asking that should anything happen to me did I think that my widow would let him have my car to look after. What a nice chap.
Will write up again after this Thursday
Friday 23rd March
Yesterday at Silverstone
Arrived at the track around 9.00 am, a little sleet was falling and the clouds were the shade of grey that signals more was to come. I didn't care, from the moment I first saw the Sign to Silverstone I was smiling and nothing was going to dampen this day. To ride on the same track as my motorsport heroes was a dream come true. I was directed to the pit garages to unload and setup my bike. The garages opened up on to the pit lane a vision I had seen many times as a TV spectator. These same garages had seen Barry Sheene, Damon Hill, James Hunt and Nigel Mansell prepare for a race and then leave to do battle against their competitors and their own fears.
My group was first out at 10.00 am and I had changed my dry tyres for very sticky non road legal wets by Bridgestone. I had never used wets before so was pretty nervous as I pulled out of the garage, entered the pit lane and accelerated on to the track joing the just after Copse. Within seconds I was overtaken by a mob of teenage hooligans riding 250 two strokes and getting their knees down on the first hairpin. The only thing I can remember from the first few laps was the smell of the burnt two stroke oil. I gradually got my speed up and within a few laps I was wearing a huge grin, these wet tyres are simply superb, you wouldn't know you were riding in the rain if your visor didn't keep needing the occasional wipe to clear it.
By the end of the day I was keeping up with and also passing some of the two strokes, my lines were good, the gear changes were smooth and I was flying. I managed to ruin the rear wet tyres as the track dried out quickly in the afternoon and I also saw a couple of small accidents too.
That's it for now, will post on Monday after my first race meeting on Sunday. I have 4 races, 2 x F400 and 2 x 400 Open.
Four races, three finishes and a crash.
A day of mixed fortunes, endless waiting and brief moments of immense excitement.
Arrived at Silverstone at around 7.00 am, the weather forecast (from the BBC) was sunny and 14 c. There are obviously 2 Silverstones in the UK as the one I was at was 6 c and pissing down. As soon as the bike was unloaded I switched tyres to full wets having the previous day put dry tyres on due to the BBC. Went out for practice at 9.00 am on the wets and was quite happy. My first race was scheduled for 12.30 pm. At midday the sun had come out, the wind was up and the track was drying, so back went on the dry tyres.
My grid place was No 39, being a novice they had placed me at the back of the pack so as I couldn't do any harm.
Red lights on .......... Lights off and away we went, I had decided to stay well clear and even if an opportunity arose to overtake to not take it until I had at least completed a lap. The race lasted 6 laps and I managed to overtake 3 other riders and finish unscathed about 5th from last.
The second race I started in 36 place on the grid and was having a private race with another back marker when on the last lap I attempted to overtake him in the chicane, went in too quick and took us both out at around 20 mph. We both walked away and the only damage to the bike was a bent brake lever. Although this morning my thigh muscle is a nice purple colour and I am as stiff as heck all over.
Races 3 and 4 were pretty uneventful and again I finished well down the pack and off the pace.
Summary,
The bike was way down on power, only on one occasion was I able to catch and overtake any other bikes on the straight. I made too many mistakes, selecting the wrong gear at the chicane happened on more than one occasion. On the corners my boot and the pegs were always scraping. I am obviously doing something wrong as I am getting as low as I can but still couldn't get the times down.
The clip ons are way too low for me, many times I was struggling to turn the bike.
I have learnt many lessons from the first meeting and will be able to make things easier for myself at the next meeting.
I have booked a days race training with Mick Boddice for the 30th of this month and am hoping that he can help me with lines etc. Of most pressing though is that I need at least another 5 horsepower before the next meeting and an infusion of talent.
I attended the Mick Boddice track day, some very clever and talented guys run the training while Mick sits in the cafe eating burgers and donuts.
The training is really for riders who are new to bikes or are training for their ACU licence. Still it was nice to get on a CBR600RR and try it out, might buy one even.
The Race bike, found that the chain had really stiff links in it and that it was tightening up in sections. Ordered another one which arrived today and will be fitted this evening. Found that the reason the clipons are so low is that the front Brake hose won't stretch any further. So ordered a longer braided hose which has also arrived and will be fitted tomorrow as I am skiving a day off work.
I have booked a track day at Pembrey for next Monday (Bank Holiday), apparently Pembrey is a technical circuit where outright Horsepower doesn't play such a large part as it did at Silverstone. The day at Pembrey will give me a chance to compare my lap times with previous F400 races run there. The changes made to the bike from Silverstone to Pembrey are as follows ;
One less tooth at the front, Higher clipons and new chain. Pembrey will be a defining moment for me as by comparing my lap times to others on a technical circuit I will finally find out if I am crap at riding a bike fast on the track or that the bike is really uncompetitive. I am hoping that it is the latter of course.
You may remember my previous bike that I had spent about £1500 on and was going to race in the street stocks until the head gasket blew. Well the head and carbs have been collected by a local bike tuner for porting work, new valves etc and to have the carbs cleaned and re-jetted. I hope to have the head back in a week or so and if I can get it finished in time I will probably enter the street stock races at Pembrey at the end of this month. However, if I find from next weeks track day at Pembrey that it's me that's shite and not the bike then I will have to re-evaluate everything.
New Van
I couldn't handle travelling everywhere at 50 mph and 40 mph up hills, so sold the van on ebay for what I paid for it and bought a Transit 2.5 Turbo Diesel off of one of the Guys from NG. It does 90 mph on the motorway, drives smooth and sweet and has lots of room.
Tonight is Man Utd versus Roma which will give the Italian police a chance to crack a few heads without fear of being attacked them selves.
Tuesday 10th April
Well at least I was right about the Italian Police as they were obviously out for revenge for their disastrous WWII campaign whcih saw them change sides and still end up losers.
Pembrey track day yesterday,
Had a good day at Pembrey yesterday. Although it was flippin busy, I was out on track with around 20 others. I probably managed only 6 clear laps out of around 60. My FZR was much quicker on the corners than quite a few of the other bikes. I was pressing them on the bends and then they were zooming away on the straights and again I was being held up on the next corner. I tried to hold back for a few laps and give myself a clear run.
My first timed clear lap was 1.22 and then I managed to put in 3 consecutive clear laps of 1.16 towards the end of the day. Although, I am of the mind that with my limited skill and the limited power available I should manage a 1.15
In the third session I was passed by some Gorilla on a ZX10 who outbraked me , then outbraked himself and ended up riding the last session at a pedestrian pace as he had obviously shit himself when he nearly came off on the hairpin trying to stay with my little FZR.
In conclusion, I would say that my poor times are a mix of the bike being slow ish and my ability to race fast. Although I am getting quicker and in the last session was riding smooth and confident.
I had one rush of blood whilst coming out of the Brooklands hairpin too quickly and the bike ran wide on to the corrugated concrete and then on to the dried mud, I steered back on to the track whilst still at a quick pace and saw that to rejoin the track I was going to have to ride over a large bump, I stood up on the pegs like some motocross rider and the bike took off and rejoined the track with a huge tank slapper shaking me all over, as I looked ahead I could see a marshall grab his yellow flag as he was certain that I was going to bin the bike. The slapper dissapeared as quickly as it came and I sat down and accelerated away leaving the marshall shaking his head in disbelief and me grinning like a cheshire cat.
Off to Holland this week for a few days touring on my R1 and will post again next Monday.
Monday the 16th April
As promised here is an update, managed about 1000 miles on my R1, from Worcester to Folkestone, to Calais, to Ypres for a tour of the first world war battlefields, watched the Menin gate ceremony and then got wasted on Belgium beer. Friday rode to Ghent, Antwerp and then on to Holland for a few days with some European pals.
As is usual on these occasions the Germans wanted to organise and take over the Eurocon and once again the rest of us just took the piss out of them and continually mentioned the war. At dinner on the Friday night the Germans were sent to the back of the line and reminded once again that they had indeed lost the war and it was pretty obvious that 60 years hadn't dulled the memory of those present.
We were guests of the Dutch Air Force at Gilze on the Saturday. Gilze was a Dutch Air Force base until 1940 and then the Germans built a huge airfield there when with their customary sense of poor timing and despite not being invited they again invaded.
Rode back yesterday (Sunday) and am now back at work. I have a race meeting at Pembrey this weekend and will post shortly and let you know how the racing went.
