Yep, it was a magnificent weekend for Team Norbar at Brands this weekend, with a pair of winners trophies and a couple of other strong finishes for team leader Fish – just to show that his 2nd place in the championship was well deseerved – a best ever haul of points for me with three top ten results, and the first ever champioship points for Kev in the final race of the season.

On top of that there was a massive party in the Kentagon bar, with an opening set of acoustic covers from Yan & Dave, before two storming sets of classic rock from Smoke & Mirrors.

It was an interesting night for peeple watching too, as most of the YPM’s and several others lived out their 70′s/80′s/Cross Dressing fantasies with some awesome fancy dress – there were more wigs and dodgy headbands than you could shake a stick at!! And as for what Button was wearing……..

Anyway, once the scores were on the doors, here’s how we ended up in the overall championship:
Fish – 2nd with 477 points; Moose – 22nd with 50 points; Kev – 37th with 2 points.

And the Clubman Cup finshed up as follows:
Moose – 7th with 176 points;  Kev – 10th with 126 points.

Plans for 2011 have already kicked off, with input provided into Bemsee’s master plan for how the race meeting schedule will shake out, plus agreement with Bridgestone to provide supplies of the awesome 090 front hoops that we use for a good price. Hopefully similar deals with Dunlop for the rear rubber, and Fuchs Silkolene for the oils and cleaners we need will follow shortly.

The final race reports and pics will be published on www.norbar-racing.co.uk shortly, and there’ll be some end of season summary type updates to follow too so keep your eyes peeled.

After that it’s back to the garage to start the preparation for 2011…………..

As the 2010 season comes to a conclusion at Brands in a couple of weeks, I thought it was about time I checked out how I was doing in the championship standings.

I was aware that Fish had secured a magnificent 2nd place in the overall YPM standings at Snetterton, with what must be a massive collection of second place trophies with 2010 dates on ‘em on the shelf in his garage – if it’s not fallen down again??

I had no idea where I was though, ’cause the points tables are hosted on some sort of internet service that I can’t get to from my work PC………..

Thankfully Fish sent me an update, and I was surprised to find I’m in a best ever 22nd place in the main YPM championship with the 28 points I’ve secured to date, so a top-20 (pop-pickers…..) has to be do-able with a handful of decent results at Brands. I need 11 points to jump ahead of Sqwelch, and that would be worth beer bragging rights if nothin’ else!!

Also, I seem to have managed to get up to 7th place in the Clubman Cup, and while it’s similar to Rooney claiming “if it had gone in the net it would have been a goal”, I’m sat here thinking that with a bit better luck at Oulton and Pembrey I could have made it into the top 5 (with a bullet…..). Maybe next year, if I’m still eligable that is……..

And 3rd?? Somehow we managed to score enough points to not end up too far behind the front runners in the Team Champioship too – smart rider selection by Fish probably did the trick, plus him being as consistant as you like for the whole year, making what me or Kev did almost irrelevant!! 

Anyway, the meeting at Brands is looking like being a good one. We have a four-man team for Saturday, with new-boy Martin Pearson out for a first run on the ex-Rab TZR in addition to me/Kev/Fish, before dropping to a three man team for Sunday as Fish is aiming to get hammered on Saturday night to celebrate his superb season, and then sit out the Sunday races with a hangover.

Then there’s Smoke & Mirrors. Yep, we’re playing in the Kentagon on Saturday night as part of the end of season piss-up party thing, so it’ll be a weekend of racin’ and rockin’ for me.

I’ll let ya know how it goes – if you’re comin’ bring spandex and blow-up guitars, you’ll fit right in then…….

Yep, looks like thew 400 bike is ready for a competative debut at Snetterton on the 14th, after a weekend in the garage sorting a couple of the major post-Rockingham issues.

The clutch problem was a failed plate, which had broken in half and then one half had broken into about twenty smaller bits which escaped from the basket, destroying the oil filter and the plastic gear that drives the water pump. Anyway, after making sure I’d recovered all of the debris, it went back together easy enough with some parts from my spares. There are a couple of other minor jobs to nail prior to heading for Snett, but nothing that’ll take more than an hour of two in the garge after work next week.

While I was playing with oil I took the opportunity to change the gearbox lubricant in my YPM bike, and also fix the neutral light switch while I was at it. So, I now have a working dashboard LED thing, and some fresh clean Fuchs Silkolene in the observation window.

In other news, I now have some extra bling on the Trafic!!  There’s some red viper stripes replicating the general look of our Scott leathers, some new side bars, an A-bar on the front and some 18″ alloys with 245/50 rubber. There’s decent Alipne sounds too, with iPod integration and permenant power for the Sat Nav as well. It looks quite smart, actually – just need to get the dents I managed to pick up in the paddock at Cadders sorted and it’ll be as good as it’s ever gonna be…………….

Well, it took a while, but I managed to actually get out on track on the 400 bike yesterday at Rockingham!! It wasn’t a trouble free day though………..

Hottrax do a “three sighting laps behind an instructor” thing for the first session, and I’d already thought that the gear lever was a bit too high as I was pootling round playing follow my leader with the rest of the guys in the fast group, but as soon as the instructor pulled off and the pace picked up I realised something wasn’t quite right. Back in the garage I discovered that the gear linkage was turning on the spline on the gear change rod. Anyway, it was a quick fix with a wrap of gaffa and a slightly longer bolt that could be tightened up a bit more – will need a more permanent/professional fix at some point though…….

Next time out was good, with a trouble free 20-mins used to get familiar with everything that’s different to my YPM bike. That’ll be brakes, wheels, rubber and suspension front and rear – not too much then!!! Oh yeah, I discovered that my Venhill throttle was on the super-quick 60 degree setting too, rather than the 90 degree setting that we normally use – Marcus was right, there must be a way to select two different options……….

Immediate feedback?? It turns quick, holds a line well, has more than normal ground clearance and stops like you wouldn’t believe – on one occasion I out braked six riders into the tight right hairpin that follows the left/left/left complex, and this was the fast group remember!! Yeah, the big 1000’s killed me on the three fast parts of the circuit, but as soon as I was on a part of the track where power didn’t count so much it was great fun. The suspension felt like it was working well, even if it did seem a bit hard when bouncing up and down on it in the garage – will get Steve Jordan to cast his eye over things when I finally manage to get the bike to a Bemsee paddock.

The next two sessions were spoilt by a fuelling issue. It felt like blocked pilot jets to start with as tick over was poor and it was a bit “fluffy” on small throttle openings, but there was also crap in both fuel filters – not a good sign. I cleaned the filters, jets and float bowls etc, but next time out the bike went onto one cylinder about half way round the first lap. Suspecting crap in the fuel lines too, I swapped to the tank from my YPM bike, and ran ok for the rest of the day. I’m guessing there’s crap in the dry-break couplings too, and it looks like the tank needs attention. A couple of bubbles in the new paint along the lower edge on the right hand side suggests it might be terminal………….

The first couple of sessions after lunch were excellent, and I even managed to get into a bit of a dice with Tony on his hi-spec GSXR750 and Graeme on his lovely looking 2004 R6. Think there’s a bit of video footage from Graeme covering this, although I was mostly on the back of the group trying to hold onto their big bike power for the majority of the session, or closing in like crazy on the anchors, especially if they got held up behind a slower rider.

I stayed for the last session of the day to get the maximum value from my £79 track day fee (oh yeah, thanks to the guys at Hottrax for fitting me at short notice on what was a busy day, it was well organised too, you can see why they’re still going after all these years……….) but all I got for my trouble was a slipping clutch and a late departure for home. Looks like Marcus was right again – he though the clutch felt odd through the lever when the bike was on stands at Brands a few weeks back. I’m guessing there’s at least a broken plate as the lever went from loose and sloppy to over firm in the blink of an eye, and there was an odd noise when trying to select gears as if the clutch wasn’t disengaging fully. Oh well, something else to look at in the garage………….

So that was it, there’s definitely a good bike in there somewhere, and hopefully I’ll be out on it in anger at Snetterton in September for its first race, will keep ya posted!!!

Yep, the first outing on the 400 didn’t last long, and rather than the expected tweak of the suspension with a screwdriver to find a decent set-up, I ended up looking a bit of a plonker……..

Having set off for a quick noise check prior to heading out on the circuit for a couple of shake-down sessions, it only took the first left turn in the paddock to realise that something wasn’t quite right. Basically the steering was all over the place, with none of the normal self aligning semi-gyroscopic feeling that you get when you lean the bike over to steer it.

Unfortunately the bottom of the headstock was fouling the top of the bottom yoke, and the whole thing was pivoting around a metal-on-metal contact, rather than the nice taper roller bearings I’d fitted. I’m sure it wasn’t like this in the garage, but I’m taking it on the chin……..

Anyway, it needs a 2.5mm spacer between the bottom yoke and the bottom taper bearing to end up with a 0.5mm clearance, and I’ve been fortunate to find that sailing boats seem to need 30mm diameter stainless washers in what they call “Form B” for something or other. And guess what?? They’re 2.5mm thick!! Result or what??

So as soon as they arrive I’m hoping that everything else will go back together ok – I may need to get a small amount of material milled from the top yoke to allow the stem nut to have a bit more thread to tighten on, but I’ll see if I can get away with it first.

Will keep ya posted……………

A quick reminder that we’re at Brands Hatch this weekend for the first of our two outings on the short and sharp Indy circuit.

It’s just me and Fish from the regular 2010 crew actually racing this time out, but Kev and Gaz will be there twirling spanners and making sure everything runs as sweet as possible. Even Bally will be making an appearance in the paddock to check out what the two-wheeled part of Team Norbar Racing has been up to, so to make sure that the help doesn’t outnumber the riders we’ve drafted in Jack Blake to give Gaz’s bike a much needed outing.

It’ll be interesting to see how the ex-BSB/Superstock 600 rider gets on with a bike that’s actually older than he is!! He’s been in the top three in his one off rides with us previously, so he’ll probably be someone that Fish’ll have to keep in his place to keep his run of podium finishes going, and maybe he’ll be a bit of a rabbit for me to chase as I try to pick up my first points on the short circuit at Brands. Yeah I know, how crap is that??? No points. Ever………..

I’ll also be running my F400 spec TZR for the first time after an extensive (and significantly delayed…..) preparation programme in the Team Norbar Racing (West) garage, but if it goes half as good as it looks it’ll be worth the effort. From a distance it looks just like a regular YPM-spec TZR, but when you get close up there are differences: the forks, brakes, wheels and shock, plus a few other tweaks here and there. Once the chassis is set up and performing well I’ll be throwing on some trick electronics and modified/different carbs, and maybe looking for some more cc’s too. Yep, it’s a it of a “work in progress”, but it’s been fun as an engineering project so far, so lets hope the riding experience is positive too……..

Finally, you should spot some additional Fuchs Silkolene branding in the paddock if you manage to make it along to watch/have a beer – we’ve blagged some huge black banners as used at the BSB meetings/on TV etc, so hopefully we should have a fully branded paddock set-up for the rest of the season. We’ll be in the lower paddock as per normal, hopefully alongside the trees over on the left – cold beer will be available, as ever………………..

Hold on to your hats Nor-bloggers, the TZR I’m building to run in the EDIAsia F400 class is finally starting to come together!!!

Yep, after at least three false starts ’cause people selling RS250 bits on eBay etc don’t seem to know their ass from the elbow, I now have a completed front end fitted to the bike, and how bloody cool does it look?? If it works half as well as it looks it’ll be excellent……..

So, what’s what then??

It’s the forks, callipers and bottom yoke from a late model RS250, wheel, discs and spindle from an early model RS250, and a top yoke and carbon mudguard from Tyga. There’s a standard TZR steering head stem in there somewhere, plus some custom spacers to make the wheel/spindle fit the forks. Towards the top you’ll find Harris bars and trick clutch/brake controls from Brembo.

Cool eh?? Click on the picture to get a better view…….

I was gonna get the front mudguard sprayed white to fit in with the standard Team Norbar Racing livery, but I think it looks too good in the raw carbon fibre to do that – what do you think??

Anyway, over the next couple of days I should manage to get an get an engine fitted, and you never know, but it could be ready to rock and roll in time for an outing at Brands………….

I know Fish is chomping at the bit to have a go, and a certain short one from Ramit Racing is already hatching a plan to run it at the Manx GP next year…………

Further updates on progress etc as things, err, progress………..

Hello Nor-bloggers!!! yep, it’s been a while………..

I made it too/from cadders in the new van + cazza rig without stacking it, and as it turned out the only issue was a missing water pump that got overlooked when the new Coachman 460/2 was collected – I know, I can’t believe I just made a big deal about the make/model of a bloody caravan!!

The van was good too (note quick change of subject…..) coping with a very full load for most of the way to Linconshire’s finest race track with no real drama, other than maybe needing 3rd gear to slog up the steep hill that’s just outside the circuit……..

I won’t waffle much about the actual racing etc as you’ll be able to find the normal detailed reports etc on www.norbar-racing.co.uk as soon as Fish gets his act together, but lets just say that progress is being made by two of the three riders competing so far in 2010, and Fish seems to have made 2nd place all his own…………

Post-cadders has been really busy too, in the garage, on the drive and on eBay. I’ve been fitting out the new lwb Trafic with some rubber floor and decent storage for all the normal race supplies, and the forks from my race bike have been shipped back to Maxton for some mid-season tlc – one seal has been weeping slightly, and the fork tops need attention too after I managed to damage one of the adjusters. Don’t ask me how, I have no idea……….

I also spent an interesting hour chatting to a certain Mr File when I picked up my repaired engine – remember the sieze I discovered at Pembrey that probably happened at Oulton?? No, don’t worry I have simiular prolems sometimes, it’s an age thing……

Anyway, we were basically trying to work out what the hell happened, and between us we decided it was probably a combinatioon of factors. I’d moved the needles the wrong way, so it was running a bit lean, despite the 330 main jets I’d fitted as a precaution. It was medium-chilly, so another notch lean maybe, and it was also very high pressure also causing slightly lean running. Would have probably got away with two out of three………..

Another idea is a cold sieze, as I may not have fully warmed the bike before setting out for the session. You may remember I’m that I’m running a fat rad with a thermostat, so it could be that the bike wasn’t warm enough to actually circulate the water 100%, and when the thermostat opened it just dumped a fat rads worth of cold water into the engine. Certainly sounds possible………

Anyway, I now have the repaired engine to run in at Brands in a couple of weeks, and I hope for the sake of my wallet that it hangs together for the rest of the seson.

Anyway, that’s it from me for now……….

Bloody hell – feels like I’ve turned into a bit of a wheeler-dealer wide-boy motor-trader over the last couple of weeks. Just need the sheepskin coat to complete a professional transformation…….

As some of you know, the Team Norbar Racing (West) motorhome officially went on sale at Brands, and a bit of interest was generated in the paddock just by sticking a For Sale sign in the window, even though the sign was actually made from gaffa tape!!! Well I do race in YPM’s……

A slightly slicker sales process kicked of a week later, and blow me, the first bloke that came to see it bought it – result!!!

Wish my dad would have invested throusands in bikes and motorhomes etc to go and do motocross when I was a lad – I was lucky to have an old playing card and a clothes peg to stick in the spokes of my Raleigh Chopper……..

Anyway, with the deal done super quick, focus switched to finding a new van and a caravan, and while I was happy enough searching out a good deal for the former, the latter was a bit of an ooo-eck moment.

Fortunately Fish has been doing the van + cazza thing for quite a while now, and his advice and guidence was most appreciated, as was Shazza’s. Did’t quite expect to find something so good so quick, but hey-ho lets go, as they say in New York. If you’re a old punk…….

Less than another week later and a deal is done for a van too, so all I have to do now is move the funds around to be able to pay for everything and then go do a pick-up. Seems like the cazza will be collected actually on the way to Cadwell, so fingers crossed everything works and I don’t end up slapping the whole rig into a hedge at the first roundabout. How fast am I allowed to go on the M25 again???

Now, if I could just sell my Mini Cooper S JCW I have nice SLK350 Merc lined up, at which point me and Fish will just about have a matching set of everything – bikes, leathers (maybe…), cars, vans, cazza’s etc. Shame there’s not a bit more parity on the waistline front or racing results really…….

Laters!!!!

It feels kinda odd not trying to race every other weekend like we did at the beginning of the season, but at least there’s time for a couple of non-bike related activities.

Looking forwards, we’re off to Download on the 11th of this month for three days of Rock & Roll – yeah baby!!

There’s headline performances by AC/DC, Rage Against The Machine and Aerosmith, plus plenty of other Moose-approved classic rock from the likes of Skin, Y&T, Ratt, Tyketto and Cinderella – kinda like going back in time there!!! More recent stuff gets a look in too, with Slash and his post-Velvet Revolver solo band, and Them Crooked Vultures as well - that’s 1/4 of Led Zep, 1/4 of Foo Fighters and 1/4 of Queens Of The Stone Age, shaken not stirred and served with an olive. Will let you know how things pan out…………

Looking backwards it’s mostly weddings – with Ramit Craig and Becs doing the deed in fine style in Norwich, plus Ian and Jennifer doing the same up near Gloucester a couple of weeks later.

Team Norbar Racing (West and Thames Valley) took the opportunity to see how well we scrub up when not covered in oil or wearing leather. What do you think??

Slightly closer to bike-home, Fish has been trying to get his leathers sorted (how hard can that be…….) while I’ve just managed to sell the motorhome, so I’m now in the market for a new van and a cazza. I still can’t believe that the Moose-mobile only lost £1k in depreciation in nearly two years – result!!

Hopefully I should be able to get over to Graham File and pick up my repaired engine at some point next week too – sounded like it just needed new pistons and a bit of a hone job, fingers crossed anyway.

Now if I could just sell my car………………..