…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!

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.

Yay, I have booked my first race of 2023, it is for the BEMSEE Round 3 @ Snetterton on the 6/7 May.

Still waiting for my exhausts, but getting the bike prepped now.

I will be racing in Thunderbike Ultra for my main class, and the Powerbikes to get some extra track time.

Well after my little off @ Cartagena, I have sent my exhausts off to PipeWerx to compare my existing exhausts with theres, with a bit of luck they will match.

I have had PipeWerx exhausts before, and they are great. They look good, sound great, and the service is second to none.

I have also bought a new rear sub frame, so will be swapping that out, luckily apart from a few scuffs there was no more damage.

I should hopefully be racing in round 3 @ Snetterton in early May.

Well, that didn’t go as planned!! I had a slight incident in the car park on the first morning (before I had even got on track!) which resulted in a few scuffs, and also bent exhausts.

A very bodgy repair, saw them both go at the end of the day, another hasty repair lasted a bit longer, but a 3rd repair was needed to finally finish the event.

As such a lot of track time lost, and sporadic sessions meant I didnt get the quality time on track I needed, so a very average time and I didn’t really get comfy on the bike.

Oh well, next time.

I have spent the last few weeks getting the bike ready for the new season. It took a while as I have had to fit the work in-between work, home and family stuff.

I started at the front of the bike with the breaks, and slowly worked to the back. Brakes were cleaned, wheels cleaned and lubed, spark plugs, oil and filer changed, etc.

Fired her up and she ran sweet, a quick test down the cul de sac, and all seems well, ready for the season testing at Cartagena.