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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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!
Friday Test day Weather was good, took a few sessions to get going and loosen up. Bike felt good, tweaked the suspension.
Sat As the powerbike and Ultra grids were so large, there were separate qualifing sessions. It was still a bit cold, and my qualifying mentality needs to change, as I just want to get around and get on the grid, need to push and get up the grid.
PowerBikes Race 1 Got a good start and managed to take a few places, Andy come past me at Mclanes and I managed to keep him in sight for 1/2 lap. Race was red flagged.
PowerBikes Race 1b Got a crap start, managed to stick it up the inside of 65 going into the chicaine, then got 274 in the same spot a lap later, by this time I was too far behind the rest to catch up.
Ultra Race 1 A full grid, started 33 of 36. A OK start, but a bit too cautious around redgate and into Hollywoods, saw me loose a few places. Had a great tussle with nos 21 and 75, eventually taking 75, but struggled to make the pass on 21 which saw 75 overtake us both at Coppice. Manged to take 21 around hollywoods, then chaised down 75, unfortuantly I ran out of laps, and 75 pipped me to the line, finished 22nd in class and 33 on grid.
Ultra Race 2 My fasted lap of race 1 had me starting 29 out of 36, Got a OK start, stuck with the pack for a lap, they then edged away. I managed to reel in the guy in front, but didn’t have the laps left to take him. Finished 15th in class and 20th on grid, which was a personal best.
Didn’t race on Sunday, but my race 2 pace would have seen me start 21 out of 36 riders, when I saw that result I was so fired up I was 100% certain that with the riders in front me towing me along, I would have got my 1:15 and would have definitely been working on my race craft right in the thick of it.
As always, watching the videos back I am never happy and can see loads of areas to improve, looking forward to the next round @ Cadwell.
I was unsure how this weekend was going to go, the weather apps forecasted weather changed on a daily basis. It was dry and sunny when I loaded up on Thursday evening, but I packed the wets and stuck in a spare pair too (just in case). Friday was warm and dry, so I headed off in a positive mood. I had high hopes for this weekend as I was running in my main class of Ultra where I would be competing with garage buddy Simon, as well as the Powerbikes class where our whole garage crew would be competing. I was hoping to tag onto the guys and get a good tow and take a few seconds off my lap times. The journey to Snett wasn’t promising, driving through a couple of big rain storms, when I got to the circuit the sun was out, but by the time I had set up and signed on, the rain had come. Testing was just wobbling around with wets on to make sure the bike was running OK.
Sat Woke up to blue skies but the clouds were coming, my qualifying session was about 10:15 ish I still had wets on, I actually hoped that it would rain so I didn’t have to change the wheels. Jezza came in from his qualifying and called it dry so the garage went crazy changing wheels. I kept on wets as there were still loads of standing water. Wobbled around just to set a time. My 1st race was Ultra just after lunch, and very wet, glad I kept the wets on. Felt very stiff and nervous as it was 1st race of the year, but managed to finish the race, quite a bit off the pace.
Powerbikes race 1 It was still spitting, and then whilst waiting in the holding area a downpour. On the warm up lap, I couldn’t see a thing so pulled in and sat out the race, turns out there were 10 fallers in the race. Due to the amount of crashes in the races, the timetable was behind so Ultra race 2 was carried over to Sunday.
Sun Ultra Race 2 The rain had stopped but the ground was still wet, so wets it was. Got a good start, but was overtaken during the race as I was too slow, came home 22nd.
Ultra Race 3 Finally dry and warm (ish)!! On with the dry wheels, and a new rear tyre. Got a good start taking a few places, but the lack of laps, plus all the mucking about with settings, the bike felt a bit wallowey. Came home 22nd
Saw Matt Wren about my suspension, and dialled in a new setting ready for the powerbikes in two races time.
Powerbikes Race 2 Got a OK start, took 2 places, and managed to stay on the back of my garage chum for the race, managed to take 6 secs off my weekend best time bike felt much better. Came 11th in class.
Ultra Race 4 Got a good start and took 5 places, but just wasn’t aggressive enough and lost all but 2 in the first few corners. Managed to take 5 seconds off my grid time and finished 19th in class.
Powerbikes Race 3 My best race of the weekend! Got a good start, but a collision in front meant I had to take avoiding action so I lost drive and places. Stayed with the next two riders for a few laps and took no 66, who then got back past me. Managed to take no 274, but got lapped by the leader on the last corner so was denied my last lap. Brought it home 12th in class. Looking forward to Donny to improve.
Shouts out to Andy receiving the rider of the day award for fantastic riding in the Powerbike race in atrocious conditions.
Thank you to Tracy Fagg, the garage gang, everyone Bemsee and all the supporters / sponsors.
