After my gearbox went pop at Snett, I managed to get a replacement one, I then dropped the engine and Simon set about swapping the gearboxes. He is a bit of a master of this, having done this before a few times. Luckily he manged to finish the rebuild before Donny, so he took the repaired engine/gearbox to Donny,

I was on hols the week before, arriving home on Friday, so I took my bike bits up on Sat, and set about putting the engine back in. It took all day, but after fixing a connection issue, fired straight up. I took it to the dyno and Mark run it up and down the gears, all seemed fine so I got scruted and signed on for Sunday races.

The test session went well, so was looking forward to the races. I had to start from the back, and was slow, stiff and lapped. I came dead last, but I loved it and the bike was great.

With the bike all “fixed”, I was looking forward to this round, weather was great driving up to the circuit, I managed to get setup and ready for the test afternoon.

After some great instructing from Cecil on the test day, I got scrut’d and waiting for qualifying.

Race 1 – Managed 4 laps, then lost all drive, got back to garage to find that my front sproket had come off, got it back on and lockwired, ready for race 2.

Race 2 – A big start line accident caused the race to be postponed, then due to over running races this was carried over to Sunday.

Race 3 – Just as we started the warm up lap it started raining down the back straight, once we got to Corums, the heavens opened, we all went back in the garages and the race was put back to allow for tyre changes. I couldn’t be bothered to change tyres so sat it out.

Race 4 – After my gearbox issues in the previous race, Si took my bike out in the supertwins, his diagnosis was a knackered gearbox, so that was the end of my weekend.

I missed Round 1 due to a leaky water pump pipe, so was looking forward to round 2, and it was at Oulton Park which is my favourite track in the UK.
Dropped the kids off to school, hitched the trailer and off I went.
Journey was good, and got there in good time, setup and got some new hoops fitted ready for the afternoon test sessions.
1st session was OK, but gear changes were a pain, and blipper kept activating, this was due to my gear leaver being too high and my foot resting on it, so altered height and ready for session 2.
2nd session…..can’t remember
3rd session, bike kept cutting out, so came in early.
Thought it might have been the quickshifer, so spent the evening disconnecting it ready for qualifying.
Up early on race day, bike scrutineered and ready to go, but on my way to qualifying the bike kept cutting out again.
I took it to the dyno and they diagnosed a faulty crank position sensor, so spent the day looking for one of those, luckily Luke came to my rescue so I spent the evening fixing the bike again.
Sunday, went out in the test session and things were looking up, so I went out for the 1st race and completed it, last!
As it was my first race of the season I was sooo stiff, and the bike issues made me nervous.
2nd race my bike blipped a couple of times whilst braking which unnerved me, so I pulled in, then in the last powerbike race my gear leaver came loose.
Not a great start to the season!

Well after my disastrous 2024, time to look to 2025. I have sourced a replacement engine and have started to swap it with the old one, still a few bits and bobs to do, then fire her up to test.

Well my 2024 racing season is over!

I should have listened to my little voices, they were telling me the bike wasn’t right, but I did not listen.

When going to nosie testing on Friday, the bike cut out a couple of times and just wasn’t running right, but I didn’t listen to myself.I managed 2 laps on Friday test day due to bad weather, then I went out for qualifying on Sat and managed 1 flying lap before the bike lost power and started smoking from the exhausts. Luckily I wasn’t leaking any fluids so nursed it back around to the pits.

She is off to get a diagnosis, it could be a new engine time, either way I do not have the funds for that yet, so 2024 is over.

Regroup for 2025!

Well it’s the 3rd round of the BEMSEE season, but my 1st race weekend @ Snetterton, a track I don’t mind, bit flat, but got some good corners. Nervous, but really looking forward to it, weather is looking changeable, so I will take my wets.

Bike is as prepped as I can, will be doing the PM of the test day to make sure all is well, I was hoping to do a track day before hand to test but never had the chance. Painting is all done, as I am on a budget it was rattle cans from McGanns in Kingsthorpe, and it could have been better, but I was a bit rushed, and its all a learning curve.

…well not quite. My exhausts were looking a bit sorry forthemselfs so I sent them to A16RoadnRace to see if they could fix them.

It turns out they could, and they look great! Paul extended them slightly, and included some baffles to pass UK track day noise limits.

Can not wait to hear them on track.

So in the PM of the last day of Portimao my bike stalled and would not start, it was also making a very queer noise. I called it a day and packed up, wondering what the issue was.

Once home I headed for the stator with fingers crossed, as this is a common issue on the 4c8. Luckilly it turned out that the stator arm bearings had failed and the stator was wobbling about inside.

So I took the stator / magnets and remainder of the bearings out, fitted new bearings / stator and rotor, then dropped the sump and oil. There were some bits in the bottom but it didnt look too bad, so I flushed with some oil,fitted it all back together.

I filled with some new oil and ran her for a couple of minutes, then changed the oil and filter again, hopefully that is done. I then sent off the exhausts to A16 Race Supplies to get them fixed.

Whilst the exhausts were getting fixed, I started to fit my new fairings, which I also got from A16, I must say the finish is excellent, and fitting is going well so far.

Thanks to Redline Trackdays for a fantastic event. Great to be back and set some very average lap times.

Jerez

I’m not complaining, but Jesus it was HOT! Great to share a garage with my old Bemsee rookie chum Danny McFadden Racing and Kerrie McFadden and whitnessing the bonkers Bob Collins 99 wringing the necks out of his bikes @ Jerez.

Was great to spend a few days with the lads on bikes, riding a great track. Packed the bikes up on day 3 and straight to Portimao. Joined by wife and kids for 2 days, then 3 more on track with the lads whilst the family soaked up the sun.

Autódromo Internacional do Algarve .

Re learning the track on a different bike and Timing issues caused a bit of confusion early on. Issues sorted and cracking on, matched previous best time, until the front washed at turn 1 in 2nd to last session. Not too much damage, all bodged and ready for day2.

Day2 was struggling, I put it down to the crash, but just before 1st session on day3 I checked my front tyre and it was only 14psi!! Once I inflated the tyre to the correct pressure the bike instantly felt better and got back to my previous best time.

Thanks to Gary Walton for a bit of impromptu coaching as he came past me with his client in a few sessions, and being Gary not only was watching his client in front, but also watching me and giving me pointers as he rode.

How can we forget The Irish Rover, the lads favourite bar!

Test Day – PM

Due to a bit of rain, and some red flags only managed 1 session in the afternoon. Bike OK, rider a bit stiff.

A pretty unremarkable race weekend, coming 15th, 14th, 14th, and 12th in class, just not enough laps on the bike this year to get my head in.

A positive from the weekend is that my starts are getting much better, managed a couple of corkers taking 5 or so riders off the line in races 3 and 4.

That’s it for me this year, will re group over the winter and pull the pin for 2024!