Hampton Downs 12 Hour Endurance 2013

A while back my dad and I went to watch the sunset portion of the 12 hours endurance race held at Hampton Downs. The field was small but the racing still very intense as teams raced into the night. Meeting with some friends in the pits, it was evident that after racing all day they were trashed, walking zombie racers. Their Subaru had been in the pits a few times over the day for repairs to the rear axle, but finished the race. Success.

NZCMRR Classic TT

Where the magic happens // Benelli at Hampton Downs 2013 // Medium format film

ADAMS 180SX

 

Remembering the old days

NEW TOOLS

I’ve finally stepped into 2013.

The laptop I’ve been processing on for approx 9 years has finally driven me over the edge. With its 1.6 GHz intel core 1 CPU, 2GB of DDR2 ram and a 60GB hard drive it wasn’t exactly doing me any favours. The screen is broken on two corners, has light patches all over it from being stuffed in a bag whilst around the world, no space bar key and only barely has USB 2.0. I have used it for 99% of all my photographic life (approx 10 years now) and although it has seriously hindered me at times, has been an absolute trooper. I wanted to point that out because it shows that you don’t NEED the best of equipment to learn and produce good work. It certainly helps but in no way is it an excuse for not trying!

Having said that, I am over the moon with the new addition to the electronic family/zoo: a 27″ Apple iMac. Now I’m not a total Apple fan boy but I sure do feel like one in front of this incredible screen, frothing at the mouth.

I’m transferring most of my content over to the new HDD and along the way I thought I’d take a trip down memory lane. The above screen capture is from LR4, from the BBQ meet we had at the C’s Garage pad in April 2011. I might post a few more photos from this as I didn’t really put much up from it.

Enjoy

RSGP125 BUILD3

Suzuki GP125 engine strip down

Here are some more internal photos of the GP engine as I pull it down. I ended up drilling most of the phillips head bolts which hold the casings together as they were corroded down the thread. What a stupid idea it is to use a phillips head, honestly.

This last photo is of the tiny GP gearbox assembly. I wanted to show it to give you an idea on how a motorcycle gearbox works (although similar to a car) in translating the up and down movement of the gear changer to a change in gear. When you push up or down on the changer, a mechanism spins the grooved barrel in the top of the photos. In those grooves are the gear selectors which move left and right depending on the groove. The selectors move the gears on the input and output shafts which engage with each other to drive different combinations of gears and therefore ratios.

Photography tumblr

Just FYI, if you’re into my photography and would like to see more of my work, visit my new photography tumblr.
I’ve just drafted 61 posts of my favourite content and I’m excited to see it all together.

Enjoy

RSGP125 BUILD1

I spent some time at Tim’s (a fellow F4 racer) place on Anzac day talking crap about bikes and figuring out how we can get some economies of scale going on with our GP125 builds. Being the good bastard he is, he gave me some… ummmm… used GP125 cases and a test bed GP100 cylinder for some time on the grinder before jumping into mine. THANKS TIM!
I started undressing her the other night and took some photos along the way:

Factory Suzuki GP125 crank case as provided by Tim

Tim’s degree wheel for port timing

Port side

Factory timing marks

Starboard side

TOKORA GP 2013 – PITLANE & PRACTICE

On the weekend the 2013 F4 GP was held at Tokoroa Kart track. This is a simple walk through the camp ground/pit-lane on Saturday followed by some practice laps by the F4 GP class. There will be some more video of the fierce race to come. There were TEN, yes, 10 Honda RS chassis’ at the GP this year. This included one RS250 and one NX4. That is more RS’ than the National 125 rounds!

ROYS HILL ROUND 6

I haven’t posted in some time so here’s a quick catch up. The final round of the North Island Series was held at Roy’s Hill Kart Track in Hastings at the end of March. Another spectacular track and some amazing roads to get there through the gorge hills. I did pretty average, sitting at the back of A grade with a bike performing very badly and some slow lines as it was my first time there. Never the less it was a super fun weekend. The final race came down to Rick Ford and Reagan Griffith with Reagan taking the series win, congrats!

Yes the race track is located in vineyard country and is in fact built between two vineyards and a road. You really couldn’t ask for a much more beautiful area. I’m thoroughly looking forward to the next race there, and the start to the new season. Hopefully I can inspire one or two readers to join in on the incredible fun.

NZCMRR TRIUMPH FESTIVAL 2013 #1

Ducati Saxon, Aermacchi, Ducati Monza, Triumph 3TA

TZ350

This weekend, Hampton Downs is the host for the NZCMRR Triumph Festival. I received 24 medium format films in the mail recently so I jumped at the chance to run a few through the Rolleiflex and indulge in the lines of some classic motorcycles. The pit area was humming as it was filled with vans, camper-vans, barbecues, tents and NZs crop of European bikes ready for 3 days of racing. My dad ran rampant with the 7D as I stalked out the local wildlife with my Rollei. We swapped a few times and I shot the above photos, the last being the only Japanese bike present. A TZ350 twin which was for sale and wasn’t raced today. Naturally, I lusted over it for a while and the only thing stopping me from shoe horning it into my garage was the $12k price tag.

I will post a few as I develop and scan the film but for now, some digital will have to do.