Mt Wellington May 2013

Mt Wellington May 2013

I forgot to post about the last track day I attended back in May, here it is:

Another great weekend at Mt Wellington, I was really enjoying myself and got some great starts which I was pretty stoked on. In the second points race I was following Henk around as he tried and succeeded to past Dave Diprose in the mid field. Feeling very confident in myself I started to line him up too but I ran out of talent and ate shit into turn one when I grabbed too much brake. Thankfully my dad was shooting on that corner and managed a few frames of me skipping along the concrete. I got away with a solid bit of rash on my hip which swelled up pretty impressively and a sprained thumb but otherwise pretty good… bike still goes.

Time to update the 13 and 7 year old tires, get a smaller rear sprocket and some more practice I think. Never the less I still managed a 31.03s PB lap in that last race which is my best time to date on Mt Wellington. SO close to that 30s bracket!

Tokoroa GP 2013

Wow, what an awesome weekend that was! That was my first time visiting Tokoroa and it’s such a fun circuit, although hard on the body into those down hill sections. Huge thanks to the organisers, time keepers, flaggies, and everyone who drank beers with us on Saturday night. Congrats to everyone who raced and those who triumphed. The GP looked fierce, I was nervous before qualifying and I wasn’t even in the race!

I just wanted to point out that there were TEN, yes TEN Honda RS chassis’ at the GP (including a RS250) and not including the GPR diesel which is pretty much a RS. That’s more than a nationals round I believe…

Cheers to Glen for showing me a few improving lines during the track walk and to Cully for letting me pervertedly handle his RSGP125. On that note:

TOKORA GP 2013 – Sunday race video

Here’s some footage from the GP race on the Sunday of the race meeting. I ran out of card space about 3/4 through and I was shooting photographs at the same time so enjoy the glimpses! Man that was an awesome race to watch

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!

North Island Round 5 – Te Puke

My dad and I went down to Te Puke – pronounced tee pokee not puke ie vomit – for the fifth round in the north island F4 series the other weekend. To say it was a great event is an understatement! I spent Friday night after work and Saturday morning building a new/quieter exhaust so I didn’t get black flagged. We arrived at Te Puke around mid day and jumped straight into practice then qualifying. I set a horrible qualifying time due to never having seen the track before, loosing out on the first practice session and a tune that wasn’t playing fun with the new exhaust set up.

Super solid weekend, cheers again to everyone who helped out, organised and drank beers with us.

Reagan put in a ridiculous 42.955s lap, brian broke two bikes after qualifying third and pushed the FXR over the line, I got smoked by B grade half due to a ill tuned bike (other half cos I suck), Warrick fended his son Josh off until he conceded (that would have been an amusing drive home), I believe Mel got her knee down, Will stepped up the pace in B grade, the track was bone dry and fun as hell…

… aaannnddd my old man took some photos of us. Cheers dad. A successful first away meeting for myself and I can’t wait for the next one.

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

GP BARS

I made some clip on bars this week after work for the GP125. I’ve very stoked to have them at a more suitable height! Now I just have to cut off the front and rear foot pegs and make some new ones to correct the seating position.

The bars are currently at quite a shallow angle due to the bulk of the factory tank. I’m not about to chop and weld it but man I wish I could! I’m toying with the idea of making one from scratch in the search for less mass and better fit. I suppose I’ll see how I get on.

The above are two reference images including the bars. Note the frame shape, I’m hoping to change that…

MT WELLINGTON – NOV 24 2012 – II

I just realised I never got around to posting any photos from the Sunday racing in November! That… was a very good weekend.
The Saturday was the North Island series round which I managed pole position in B grade but wasn’t able to convert it into a win up against Dean Miller on a 70cc water cooled 2 stroke Derbi (who’s also a very smooth rider!). I got 3rd, 2nd and 7th (if I recall correctly) when I stalled on the grid, I was definitely too eager to get ahead of Dean.

The Sunday was a 40 lap race for anyone who didn’t have a partner or didn’t desire to compete in the 2 hour endurance race. Since I didn’t have a partner and I knew how large the field was (stuffed full of incredibly fast riders) I decided to give the 40 lap race a go. My riding fitness isn’t quite what it should be and my arms were stuffed after riding hard for approximately a half hour. The race wasn’t what it should have been with many quick riders who usually race in the grade going for the 2 hour. I took out first place however, and at the same time, my first motorcycle win, stoked.

So now I’ve moved out of the frying pan and into the fire as they say as I put myself into A grade. There is a meeting this weekend at Mt Wellington and with my bike running better than it did I’m eager to get my knee down on the floor where it belongs.

CLICK HERE FOR A VIDEO FROM THE 2 HOUR ENDURANCE RACE

Dean Miller and myself onto the grid straight