Team UKRM at the Snett 8 hour

I've not got much enthusiasm for writing this, so it won't be as long
as usual.

After the debacle of the 24 hour event being cancelled, KRC turned it
into an 8 hour, with practise on the Saturday, and race on the Sunday.
This gave us much more time than usual, so we turned the garage into a
spray booth on Saturday morning and sprayed up some of the old tatty
body work.

First session out, and despite having ridden the bike up and down my
back road to check for general soundness, there was an immediate
problem - oil leaking from the clutch cover. Turned out that I'd
pinched the gasket with one of the bolts when putting it on. Fixed
without too much drama. The rest of the sessions went ok. As usual,
we didn't try very hard in practise, and qualified near the back of
the field.

Race morning we changed the gearing, and tried it out in warm up - the
bike felt much perkier. However, it had been showing a reluctance to
start when hot...

....which made itself apparent when I dashed across the track with the
other 30-odd riders, and pushed the button. The field roared away,
and Alex bump started me. I set off in pursuit, now the length of the
straight down, and knew it was going to be a long day from here in.

To cut a long story short, near the end of the third hour Daz brought
the bike in a bit early, as it was smoking. The oil level was very
low, and the engine was roasting hot. The rad also seemed empty. We
slowly got some water in it, and cooled it down a bit. It started,
but only on 2 or 3 cylinders. We pulled the plugs out and span it over
- water drops came out of number 2. So, that's a blown head gasket,
then.

All very pissed off, especially after the DNF at Brands Hatch. Not
sure where we go from here.

 

Gutted for you all. I was really impressed by how professional
both the whole KRC setup is and also by Team UKRM itself.

Thanks to you all for the support on saturday, it does make a
difference to see you all hanging over the wall urging me to
go faster. :-D

 

Quite. There does come a point where one has to weigh the balance of
hours in the garage and pounds out of the bank account vs fun on the
track, tho.

 

Don't you fucking dare, Champion.

 

The pixie from De Garage, he say 'NAAAOOOOOH'.

--
_______
..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
\`\ | /`/ GSX-R1000K3
`\\ | //' BOTAFOT#3, SbS#2, UKRMMA#13, DFV#8, SKA#2
`\|/`
`

 

Indeed, it's time you turned your tatty gixxer into the track bike and
sold the ZX7 on..

YKIMS.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Pip

<Looms menacingly in the shadows behind Pip>

--
Wicked Uncle Nigel - Manufacturer of the "Champion-105" range of rearsets
and Ducati Race Engineer.

WS* GHPOTHUF#24 APOSTLE#14 DLC#1 COFF#20 BOTAFOT#150 HYPO#0(KoTL) IbW#41
Enfield 500 Curry House Racer "The Basmati Rice Burner",
Honda GL1000K2 (On its hols) Kawasaki ZN1300 Voyager "Oh, Oh, It's so big"

 

Hard luck. I was hoping it would all be going well. It would be more
than a shame to see it packed in - the few races I've seen the team at
are inspiring. All the macho bollocks aside, reading how you lot cope
with problems in a high-pressure environment gives a new aspect on
racing. You can watch it on the telly but you never get a feel for the
other side.

The fact that you got out there gets a well done for me. And on the
upside, at least you lasted longer than 9 out of 10 F1 teams.

 

Hard luck. It was too fucking hot for racing anyway.

You fix it ... and then you race it.

 

Champ wrote:
[snip]

"if at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you ever
tried".

 

I'm *kinda* in agreement. I would need to see the breakdown stats of
teams running gixxer 6's and the likes though!

'Hog

 

Champ wrote

Shit happens.

Pembury at end of July.

 

Personally I feel tired and very disappointed but I'm not paying for it
so can see why Champ and, I guess, Alex and Daz are so hacked off.

When we had bigger problems (the oil leak for one) they were dealt with
quickly, smoothly and without fuss - as it should - and it was quite
something seeing the team do the business.

The fuel stops were nicely slick; even with the starting problems,
although unacceptable, we were still quicker most of the other teams,
certainly our immediate rivals.

Thinking about practice and race day from a personal perspective I made
silly mistakes, overlooked jobs that should have been routine and one
potentially big one. Which takes the shine off things.

The more I think about it the more convinced I am it was another airlock.
We know that bike is susceptible to airlocks, having experienced them at
the Mallory test day, and what annoys me is I thought of it on Saturday
but didn't do anything.

It was a great weekend from a social point of view but that, IMO, misses
the point.

 

Arse. Just when things looked less shit, too.

Still, it's only a gasket (unless it's a warped head and buggered
barrels, of course) said he , cheerily.

 

You could be sailing. Racing's cheaper.

Actually, for what it's costing, you could be flying.

 

I say, Pip, that's jolly committed of you.

 

I believe I have been committed, actually.

 

<snip report>

I'm really sorry, your luck must change sooner or later.

You are doing what you were born for, keep going.

 

Having been to a couple of races before, and suffered the heartache of
a DNF, and then having the loooong drive/ride home from somewhere like
Paul Ricard, after only a few hours, I know how hard it is. Come to
that I went to Daytona 200 in '95 in the USA and the rider 2 laps and
he chucked it! Race over, and *nip* home :0(

My penny's worth would be that, no team I have ever worked with has
done every single thing right every single time. There is always
something you think of, after the event. OK so forgetting to pump the
front brake gives the rider a bit of a scare at the first corner, but
everyone came home.

To be honest so long as everybody tries their hardest to do their
best, no one can ask more. Racing has to be fun, and I guess that was
one reason why I packed in Phase1. It had got to the point where the
Championship meant more than the safety of the riders. There has to
be a judgment about when it's safe to ride and when not.

The same has to be said about the 'fun' of it too. If it's no fun,
then the riders will not be at their best, and to be honest that's
when silly accidents happen with serious consequences; and that's not
acceptable.

Anyway, blah blah blah...I'll stop now.

Simon, for what its worth, nothing I saw this weekend, gave me cause
for concern. Despite any silly mistakes you may have made, the main
thing is that you and everyone else, tried their best. And we all
live to fight another day[1].

If Champ et al. want to continue, then I'm sure we'll fully support
them, however we can.

The only thing I would ask, is next time TURN THE FUCKING COMPRESSOR
OFF!


[1] Seriously

 

http://www.europark.com/ny-reslt/ny-r1997/ed9704fr2.htm

Take a peek at P1