Whale Oil Beef Hooked!!!!

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!!!