We arrived just before midnight on Thursday and after finding our
location in the pits we set up the trailer tent. It was very windy at this point and if it wasn't for the fact we were pitched right behind the pod shop and that it was protecting us from the oncoming wind then i'm not sure the tent would have survived the night.Our peculiar looking but luxurious accommodation.
On Friday morning everyone was busy signing on and getting vehicles scruitineered.
I took the bike down the fire up lane for it's turn around 9.30. It passed but i was asked to plug the ends on the footpegs with something as they are hollow and could potentially take a chunk out of a trapped leg. I used some rubber fuel hose to bung them up.None of the things i've been working to address recently, such as fuel cutoff or catch can were even checked.... or at least if they were then the scrutineers eyes were very fast!
Scruitineering ticket
The sun was shining at this point and we w
ere pretty much ready to go, however the wind was still quite strong (blowing straight across the track) and a message came round the pits stating that racing would be over the 1/8th mile only. That was fine by me as i need to do observed runs first. As the morning passed into the afternoon and the bikes still hadn't been called a start line official came round the pits telling us that the wind speed had increased and they'd decided it was too dangerous for the bikes to run. So that was the end of friday..... nice but very windy.
We did use the time to put up the awning on the trailer tent, effectively doubling it's size so we could easily get all 6 of us and the bike inside!
On to Saturday, and the weather was bad. The wind was still strong and it was raining too. It didn't improve through the day and the racing was called off by mid afternoon.
Many racers packed up at this point, particularly the bikes. the turnout wasn't as good as expected anyway but all the funny bikes left and there were only 5 bikes left in my class (comp bike).
We did however take the opportunity to watch the action in the live arena. There was a wall of death/globe riders motorcycle show, monster trucks, jet truck, jet VW, and jet quad. Plus stunt riders.
It's not drag racing but it helps pass the time when theres nothing else to do.
We had made the trailer as comfy as possible by this point, i had rigged up an extension lead so we had electricity. This meant we could have the fan heater on to keep warm as it was literally freezing outside and watch films on the laptop, charge mobiles and thanks to Sam's great idea of bringing the toaster, we had lots and lots of toast!
Onto Sunday then and we awoke to find a 2inch covering of snow!
It was at least noon before this melted so racing was again canceled.
So the day was taken up with making snowmen and taking unusual pictures of Santa pod in the snow.
Unfortunately the rest of the bopchop crew were living in tents in the family camping area so they had a rather chilly night, my nephew forgot to zip his tent up and his porch was filled with snow and Stuarts tent collapsed with the weight of ice stuck to the top!
Onto Monday......
There was still the odd snow shower early in the morning but by 10am the track was ready and some intermittent racing got underway.
Competition bike were called about 10am, and unbelievably i had trouble with my bike just as we needed to set off. It was only running on 2 cylinders, so whilst i did my wonderwoman impression and got my leathers on, Stuart changed 2 of the spark plugs. This did the trick and i was able to get the bike down the fireup road and into the pairing lanes in time.
When i came to this event the plan was to do my 3 licensing runs on day one (friday) and spend the next 2 days trying to qualify. But with the event effectively reduced to one day there was no way i was going to be able to license and qualify as there would be only 3 runs maximum in the day. So after speaking to the race director he agreed to let me tag on at the back of my classes runs and at least try and get my license before the event ended.
With only 5 bikes in my class the first 2 pairs did their runs and i came round to do my first licensing task which was to burnout and then launch to 330ft.
I tried a burnout in 2nd gear and it worked ok but i didn't hold it for long enough really, so i rolled out of it and staged. The bike left really well but was pulling to the left and heading for the wall. I held it to 330ft though before shutting off and coasting to the finish.
Reaction time was a great 0.1097sec
60ft time was also my best at 1.5699sec
330ft time was also my best at 4.4636 sec
I later spoke to long time pro stock racer Len Paget who had watched my run and gave me
some good advice about positioning on the startline as well as making adjustments to stop the bike pulling to the left. These seemed to work as on the next run it ran nice and straight.
I didn't get to run again until 3pm when Comp bike were called up again. I was placed as first alternate for the semi finals, so if someone didn't make it to the start i could have taken their place. But without my license it wouldn't have counted anyway. So instead i ran on my own after the first two pairs. This time i had to do a half pass (run to 1/8th track).
The burnout was a lot better this time, i just let it run for longer and with more revs. Something happened on the line though and i think i
was just not ready and tried to set off with either not enough revs or without getting the bite point of the clutch ready. The result was a great reaction again but rubbish 60ft as i set of, pulled the clutch and then set off again. Effectively i wasted half a second in the first 12inches of the startline!
The bike went dead straight though and felt better than it has before. I shut off at a bit beyond half track and ran my best numbers so far.
Reaction time of 0.0721
1/8th time of 7.0039 @109mph
And a 1/4 mile time of 11.1862 @99mph
Unfortunately those were the only 2 runs i got in the whole 4 days. I did try and get a final run at around 7pm but after waiting for over an hour in the pairing lanes in the freezing cold i was told they had to give other classes priority as they were still running finals.
So with that we packed up and headed home.
The results for the final in Competition bike were:
1st Conrad Skett 8.6971@135.17mph
2nd Phil Leamon 12.0373@89.94mph
The good news from this weekend was that the
bike does seem to run a lot better with 9psi in the back tyre and with the slightly softer front forks.
And i haven't had a repeat of the flooding carbs so haven't had to fit the regulator.
My 2nd run complete with commentary from Sam and Johann
The sun was shining at this point and we w
ere pretty much ready to go, however the wind was still quite strong (blowing straight across the track) and a message came round the pits stating that racing would be over the 1/8th mile only. That was fine by me as i need to do observed runs first. As the morning passed into the afternoon and the bikes still hadn't been called a start line official came round the pits telling us that the wind speed had increased and they'd decided it was too dangerous for the bikes to run. So that was the end of friday..... nice but very windy.We did use the time to put up the awning on the trailer tent, effectively doubling it's size so we could easily get all 6 of us and the bike inside!
On to Saturday, and the weather was bad. The wind was still strong and it was raining too. It didn't improve through the day and the racing was called off by mid afternoon.
Many racers packed up at this point, particularly the bikes. the turnout wasn't as good as expected anyway but all the funny bikes left and there were only 5 bikes left in my class (comp bike).
We did however take the opportunity to watch the action in the live arena. There was a wall of death/globe riders motorcycle show, monster trucks, jet truck, jet VW, and jet quad. Plus stunt riders.
It's not drag racing but it helps pass the time when theres nothing else to do.
We had made the trailer as comfy as possible by this point, i had rigged up an extension lead so we had electricity. This meant we could have the fan heater on to keep warm as it was literally freezing outside and watch films on the laptop, charge mobiles and thanks to Sam's great idea of bringing the toaster, we had lots and lots of toast!
Onto Sunday then and we awoke to find a 2inch covering of snow!
It was at least noon before this melted so racing was again canceled.
So the day was taken up with making snowmen and taking unusual pictures of Santa pod in the snow.
Unfortunately the rest of the bopchop crew were living in tents in the family camping area so they had a rather chilly night, my nephew forgot to zip his tent up and his porch was filled with snow and Stuarts tent collapsed with the weight of ice stuck to the top!
Onto Monday......
There was still the odd snow shower early in the morning but by 10am the track was ready and some intermittent racing got underway.
Competition bike were called about 10am, and unbelievably i had trouble with my bike just as we needed to set off. It was only running on 2 cylinders, so whilst i did my wonderwoman impression and got my leathers on, Stuart changed 2 of the spark plugs. This did the trick and i was able to get the bike down the fireup road and into the pairing lanes in time.
When i came to this event the plan was to do my 3 licensing runs on day one (friday) and spend the next 2 days trying to qualify. But with the event effectively reduced to one day there was no way i was going to be able to license and qualify as there would be only 3 runs maximum in the day. So after speaking to the race director he agreed to let me tag on at the back of my classes runs and at least try and get my license before the event ended.
With only 5 bikes in my class the first 2 pairs did their runs and i came round to do my first licensing task which was to burnout and then launch to 330ft.
I tried a burnout in 2nd gear and it worked ok but i didn't hold it for long enough really, so i rolled out of it and staged. The bike left really well but was pulling to the left and heading for the wall. I held it to 330ft though before shutting off and coasting to the finish.
Reaction time was a great 0.1097sec
60ft time was also my best at 1.5699sec
330ft time was also my best at 4.4636 sec
I later spoke to long time pro stock racer Len Paget who had watched my run and gave me
some good advice about positioning on the startline as well as making adjustments to stop the bike pulling to the left. These seemed to work as on the next run it ran nice and straight.I didn't get to run again until 3pm when Comp bike were called up again. I was placed as first alternate for the semi finals, so if someone didn't make it to the start i could have taken their place. But without my license it wouldn't have counted anyway. So instead i ran on my own after the first two pairs. This time i had to do a half pass (run to 1/8th track).
The burnout was a lot better this time, i just let it run for longer and with more revs. Something happened on the line though and i think i
was just not ready and tried to set off with either not enough revs or without getting the bite point of the clutch ready. The result was a great reaction again but rubbish 60ft as i set of, pulled the clutch and then set off again. Effectively i wasted half a second in the first 12inches of the startline!The bike went dead straight though and felt better than it has before. I shut off at a bit beyond half track and ran my best numbers so far.
Reaction time of 0.0721
1/8th time of 7.0039 @109mph
And a 1/4 mile time of 11.1862 @99mph
Unfortunately those were the only 2 runs i got in the whole 4 days. I did try and get a final run at around 7pm but after waiting for over an hour in the pairing lanes in the freezing cold i was told they had to give other classes priority as they were still running finals.
So with that we packed up and headed home.
The results for the final in Competition bike were:
1st Conrad Skett 8.6971@135.17mph
2nd Phil Leamon 12.0373@89.94mph
The good news from this weekend was that the
bike does seem to run a lot better with 9psi in the back tyre and with the slightly softer front forks.And i haven't had a repeat of the flooding carbs so haven't had to fit the regulator.
My 2nd run complete with commentary from Sam and Johann
Alternatively someone else was kind enough to film my second run as i found myself on youtube earlier. You can watch that clip HERE
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