yeah, think thiz more chance o' Billy gettin int points........But someone's got to stop their winning run...........
Cheers chaps, only got 3 sessions in today as bike has been sick all day. Was running on 2, then 3 in first session, very wet, changed plugs, sprayed WD40 on everything electrical, still ran sick, drained carb bowls & out in new fuel filter & we had it on 4 again, 3 laps into the last very wet session went back down on 3 Have managed about 6 laps all day with bike actually running on 4, now running on 4, but who knows what I’ll have tomorrow.
Didn’t have time to write a report on yesterday Billy and didn’t get in until 12.15 this morning. So the Bandit ended up up dropping 1 cylinder in the last session. Hopefully today will be a better day. See you later.
Glad you had a good evening Dave! Bike still sick, was running on 4 cylinders prior to going out for qualifying but won’t pull under load & drops down onto 3 sometimes 2, frustrating as hell! Haven’t got time to take carbs off to check main jets before the first race, so just going to nurse it round & see how we go.
We're all waiting with baited breath to know how the race went Bill, did the Bandit behave, hopefully the carbs cleared themselves and you were able to rag the arse off it
Sorry to read the Bandit is feeling sickly, Billy. He might have overheard you talking about getting a different bike recently. Hope he forgave you and ran better for you today.
It was good to see both of Billy and Chris again and to meet Craig over the last couple of days and thanks for the hospitality. Sorry the weather couldn’t have be kinder for your first event at Oulton Park especially with the machine woes that you were experiencing The racing was fantastic and challenging with the varying weather conditions as it usually is at Oulton with a few championships being decided with it being the Suzuki Bandit Challenge and the host North Gloucester Clubs final rounds. Hopefully you’ve not got to bad of a hangover after partying the night away at the Cottons Have a safe journey home and hopefully we can meet up again at a race meeting
I was thinking the same Sandi, will have to make sure she don’t hear my plans!!! Which at one point on Friday included a angle grinder!!
Thanks for coming Dave, actually enjoyed the last race on all four cylinders & on correct tyre choice which was full wets!
Cheers Ron my number one transatlantic fan! Really enjoyed that last race, was nice to end on a bit of a race long battle with 4 other riders, just for a change got them all back after initially getting passed by them.
Thanks Dave & thanks again for the support throughout the season from you & the rest of the guys on the Forum.
I'm sure it doesn't need to be said Bill but if you do decide to race again next season, myself and without doubt the rest of your loyal supporters will be cheering you on again and coming to any meetings we can
Just to bring this to a close, the problems were carb based, after a lot of fecking about with electrics, testing and changing stuff, it seemed to be carbs as would rev out whilst on the paddock stands but not with me on the bike under load, general consensus was pointing toward main jet blockage. Didn't have time between qualifying and race 1 to take carbs off, so put some Redex in the fuel & ran up the motor whilst spraying carb cleaner into the air box, not sure which did the trick but it ran better in first race, repeated the treatment & used the rest of the carb cleaner & it ran very much better in race 2. As for the weekend, the track is awesome, the weather was crap, the bike problems drove me absolutely crazy! So I qualified 30th (christ knows hope there were 3 slower than me!), race 1 finished 28th, I went out on wets on drying track because I didn't have time to change wheels after other problems & had to keep is sensible or melt my wets. Race 2 started from 28th on grid, bike was running very much better, went out on wets as track was very damp, had a good start & was right in a battle with quicker riders than me, lots of very close moments in the first lap or so, ended up losing several places after mistakes and getting baulked in others mistakes! Came back at the riders that had passed me, took 4 or 5 places back over the closing laps & had some good battles while doing it. Will have to consider what happens for next year over the coming weeks, need to refresh the bike whatever happens, will probably now take the time to build up the original Mk2 engine, send the carbs away to be serviced & ultrasonically cleaned, I have already bought a Hayabusa shock which should be a little stiffer than the GSXR one I have in, see how that all goes & then make the decision. Many thanks again to all those members that have encouraged and supported me even though I am not racing a Triumph, it's been a blast!
Here are a few pictures taken by my Son Carl from the Weekend, he hasn't got the massive zoom lenses that the professional guys do but still managed some good shots. Taking a place back down over start/finish straight. I was after number 34 having lost a place to him earlier, overtook him twice before making it stick on 2nd to last lap. All 3 of the riders behind me had previously been in front after I made a few errors to let them past in the early laps. Finally past him at turn 1 just after this photo was taken on second to last lap!
And the other side of last weekend, very wet track, very poorly bike, running on anything from 2 to 4 cylinders, down on 2 into a corner, coming back on 4 mid corner scary! On Friday test day spent half the day in the pits trying various things electrical convinced that it was water getting in somewhere, could quite easily just thrown the bloody thing in the trailer & come home at one point!
You could see that you up’d the pace as the second race progressed Billy. Besides the bike running better you were also getting to grips with the circuit, it’s a difficult one to learn as you know.
