JANUARY 2013 MT WELLINGTON

Tim on a borrowed RS125 frame with GP125 engine

I spent my Saturday and Sunday at Mt Wellington for a practice round and a non points race day. Having not raced since November, I was eager to get as much track time as I could handle which consequently ended in my body now being wrecked!

It was a really good weekend of bikes with clear skies and a breeze to keep us slightly cooled. I let a few of my mates have a go on my FXR which should hopefully kick them into gear and mean they’ll soon be out there. During the Saturday practice I made the most of my opportunities to follow Brian and others where I could in the hopes their riding ability may rub off on myself. Brian gave me a few pointers on braking which helped hugely and lead to setting a new PB of 32.61s anticlockwise. On Sunday I improved on this with a 32.20s anticlockwise and I’m eager to keep the ball rolling into the 31s bracket! Thanks guys, I appreciate the hell out of any guidance I can get.

Races run:
5 lap sprint anticlockwise with no grid order (first on the grid gets pole) then straight after returning to the pits, back out for a 5 lap clockwise sprint
10 lap race around ‘the ring’ (midfield coned off) anticlockwise then straight after, clockwise 10 laps. Again no grid placing.
Borrowed bike race – anyone can enter as long as it’s not your bike – 10 laps clockwise then 10 laps anticlockwise around the ring.

I swapped bikes with Rick’s son Will who rides a CBR150 with cams, exhaust, carb, which was really fun! It had much better throttle response and seemed as fast as my FXR (which has more work done to it) although I need to work on the jetting of my bike still. The CBR150 hasn’t been on the dyno before but I’d love to over lap the curves between bikes for a comparison.

Thanks to all that helped out and organised the day, great fun!

Tim on his own Aprilia RS50

Cully’s FZR250 frame with GP125 engine

Will on the CBR150

and again hustling with John in the midfield

Andrew slipping out of first position during an anticlockwise ring race

More to come

SPANIARD DYNO

Note: old man in green is my old man. The guy sitting on the bike with a broken arm and doing the honours is Kelly (racing related injury) who I bought the bike from and who built up the engine.

I got the bike on the dyno on Saturday and ran her up to tune the new carb and exhaust in. The last time it was on the dyno it had a hideously loud but well functioning megaphone exhaust which has been swaped off for something a bit quieter to keep the peace. Whilst it was making almost as much power as it was with the megaphone (19.6 vs 20.4hp), the curve was on the piss. A few changes in pilot and main jets and resetting of the fuel floats filled in a large hole in the curve.

Unfortunately I didn’t have a new plug with me because it seemed that the current one was a bit poked. A tighten up of the gap found a bit more in the curve but we left a little disappointed in the result. Although it went off the dyno a huge amount better than it did when it rolled on, the illusive megaphone curve taunted me whilst trying to get to bed that night. I’ll get a new plug and consider having a go at moving the needle around but I’m really dreaming of how to quieten down the megaphone to an acceptable race level.

I painted the seat frame on Sunday which improved it’s looks drastically but with summer holidays coming closer and my wallet tightening further I don’t think I’ll paint it until next year… maybe. Racing is on this weekend and hopefully the rain stays away because I am beyond addicted and I need a hit of racing.