Wots happenin

A fair bit has been happening really. Not much with the bopchop though, it's all set to go for the next round - the National Finals at Santa Pod, in just over a weeks time. Ideally i wanted to get a purge valve kit for the nitrous system, as it gave a real splutter just after the start line in the last race. I'm putting that down to having air in the nitrous line as I'd just reconnected the nitrous bottle before that run. The purge kit costs a fair bit so it's going to have to wait, and anyway, i have a method for working round the problem.

So back to whats really been happening....
Last weekend i went to the European Finals at Santa Pod. Not just as a spectator but as temporary crew for Bob Brooks and the yellow metal team, who were running in Top Fuel bike. Bob was short of crew for one day and offered me tickets for the event, so i made myself useful and did the 'chief starter' duties for him.
All went well and we got Bob down the track twice, running a 7.9 and later an 8.0. It was pretty cool being down on the line at such a big event and being able to watch all the other Fuel bikes from such close quarters. Plus i was able to quiz Bob about the workings of his bike and have come away with a whole heap more knowledge, especially regarding fuel injection.
It was a top weekend, with records being set in loads of classes. The 5.9 by Peter Svensson in Top fuel bike, and the 7.0 by Dave beck in Pro Stock bike being particular highlights.
So thanks for the tickets and the chance to come and crew Bob!!

There's been some progress with the GSX frame i aquired. A Jig is currently under construction to hold the frame nice and straight whilst the modifications take place, it's constructed from 60mm x 40mm x 3mm wall Rectangular section steel. All thats left to do is make the brackets to bolt the frame to it, and to construct a bar or something that will run through the headstock and down to the jig rails. I did think about chopping the headstock tube out completely but after making some neat cuts around it there is not a lot left holding it in. so it should be quite easy to take a wedge shape out and pull the head back a bit. The top tube has also been removed completely and the intention is to weld in a beefier item that will double as a fuel cell.

The red area in the pic shows the bits that have been removed.