Going Racing

[SteveA]

Hi Steve, I am guessing that you are talking about Phil Biggadyke. Yes there was a memorial lap and there were a lot of people having a drink in the big tent with Phil in their minds. He was obviously well liked by the Dutch too. 61 is just too young.

Phil was my eldests son's godfather. Were were close with him and his family whilst I was in the RAF living in Lincolnshire. He just helped people out, a lot.

We weren't in touch for the best part of 30 years, then we met one year when we were passing through Gedinne on our way to Italy!

 

[SteveA]

As for Richard Ford, I don't think anyone saw much of him, DNF in the first race and credited with 18th, one place in front of me in the second race. Although there are no times for the second race because of the red flags, I don't think the finnishing order given means anything. His practice laps are 13 seconds faster than my best race lap.

Yep, Richard was 12 seconds faster than me each session last year in the 750s......

I don't normally like straights, but I enjoy the run up between the trees and the cornfield! The maize wasn't there by race day last year so you could see down to the hairpin.

And I enjoy the run from Patingues past the start to the chicane. Get really wide down there and keep it open and you can run past a few of them. But it is a bit heart in mouth as the chicane approaches, just can't imagine what it was like without it!

That is a good place to be with your elbows out on the first lap, and similar up the inside for the first run through the right before you go up the hill.....

A guy on a Seeley went onto the dirt up the hill so I passed him and stayed ahead all the way until I ran into the straw bales at Patingues....It is a great place....lets hope we are both back next year.

 

[SteveA]

Ralph, as you will have noticed, particularly from the rear of #10, quite a few of the bikes in France and Belgium have a kickstart on! And you now know why!

Long periods running in the collecting area are also common.....good idea for two riders to park up together.....use one starter in the paddock and have the other waiting up at the collecting area!

I have stopped my bike up there a couple of times only to have nightmare trying to bump start it!

Plan for 2020?

My worry is not that it seizes, but that by the time the race has started the oil has broken down!

 

[Steves]

Good that you have got it on track. Cadwell end of September ??

So latest is the ignition has packed up. Sent to RTD for diagnosis. It is one of their older units. So trackday Monday cancelled . I plan on doing Snetterton CRMC as I have a mate who races with them. Next year maybe at BHR

 

[Chris]

Hi Steve's

Thinking of going the opposite way!
My preference is definitely Cadwell.
Snet is just not the same as it was to ride & I can't shake it. 300 would be a different matter.
Waiting for a call back from RTD ie a new ignition.

 

[acotrel]

That is true, and shutting off is just what I did, glad i did though, the starts are a nightmare when you are at the back, which is where you get put when it is your first time at a road race. Not bothered though it was good fun while it lasted.

This is the reason, it is so important to get your bike to tighten it's line if you gas it when cranked over. With my bike, it does not matter how fast you approach a corner as long as you can go around it with the motor pulling strongly. On a long straight, you have to back-off slightly before the next corner, so you need power to continue - otherwise you will not get around. At the starts of races, most guys tend to back-off and go wide. There is usually room underneath them, but most guys cannot go there. The problem comes if somebody comes down on you off the ripple strip. They don't expect you to be where you end up as you come out of corners.
You only get better at racing by doing it. If you don't crash in your first race, you will only get better. I had a very bad childhood - I crashed all over the landscape. So these days I go nowhere near it - what can happen has already happened.

 

[Moto55UK]

Bravo Ralph! more video please, you've got to love racing on roads.

 

[Steves]

Hi Steve's

Thinking of going the opposite way!
My preference is definitely Cadwell.
Snet is just not the same as it was to ride & I can't shake it. 300 would be a different matter.
Waiting for a call back from RTD ie a new ignition.

I have spectated at Cadwell it looks a nice track, Snetterton is closer for me and my mate is lending a (logistic) hand as I am a car and trailer racer. Any view on Steve Maney's ignition system? The RTD worked well, the only thing I was unhappy with was proximity of exhaust to pickup lead.

 

[Chris]

Hi Steve's
If you have a helper hang on to him lol makes life so much easier plus company.
Steve's system works really well. I don't run fairings & my only concern was damaging the crank cases as well as destroying the ignition set up as it's vulnerable out there in the breeze.
Brooking beefed up his primary cover but I ground through mine on my triple at a wet Cadwell.
Chris

 

[acotrel]

When I was 18, I met a guy who was 3 years older and who had raced when he was 16. He taught me how to build a Triumph race motor. He was a pretty rough character and we had fights over the years. But I always stayed in touch with him. When I first decided to race the Seeley in about 2001, he still had a race licence, so he got first ride and found the faults. The next year I rode it and he helped. The time after that he was there helping. I never had to ask him to do anything because he was always ahead of me. About 6 years ago was the last time I raced and he was there. What I did not know was that he had an enlarged heart. He went shopping with his girl at a nearby country town and died at the wheel of his car on the way home. The car hit the oncoming and his girl was slightly injured. I now live with a grief thing which turns me off racing. I have other people who would willingly help, but it is not the same. It is a thing which comes with getting older, but I still find it difficult.

 

[SteveA]

I have spectated at Cadwell it looks a nice track, Snetterton is closer for me and my mate is lending a (logistic) hand as I am a car and trailer racer. Any view on Steve Maney's ignition system? The RTD worked well, the only thing I was unhappy with was proximity of exhaust to pickup lead.

Mechanically, mine lasted a test day and two sessions at the next! Electrically, it still works now! After all it is just a Boyer with adifferent advance curve. The pick up plate is a bloody great big lump hung out there! That is why I favour Ralphs ignitech set up for the future.

Today, a Pazon Surefire will do most of what you need reliably and cheap! Cheap enough to carry a spare box you probably won't need.

 

[SteveA]

Hi Steve's
If you have a helper hang on to him lol makes life so much easier plus company.
Steve's system works really well. I don't run fairings & my only concern was damaging the crank cases as well as destroying the ignition set up as it's vulnerable out there in the breeze.
Brooking beefed up his primary cover but I ground through mine on my triple at a wet Cadwell.
Chris

My fairing with catch tray would not fit on with Steve's pick up!

 

[storm42]

Phil was my eldests son's godfather. Were were close with him and his family whilst I was in the RAF living in Lincolnshire. He just helped people out, a lot.

We weren't in touch for the best part of 30 years, then we met one year when we were passing through Gedinne on our way to Italy!

Six Degrees of Separation makes the world a small place.

 

[storm42]

Yep, Richard was 12 seconds faster than me each session last year in the 750s......

I don't normally like straights, but I enjoy the run up between the trees and the cornfield! The maize wasn't there by race day last year so you could see down to the hairpin.

And I enjoy the run from Patingues past the start to the chicane. Get really wide down there and keep it open and you can run past a few of them. But it is a bit heart in mouth as the chicane approaches, just can't imagine what it was like without it!

That is a good place to be with your elbows out on the first lap, and similar up the inside for the first run through the right before you go up the hill.....

A guy on a Seeley went onto the dirt up the hill so I passed him and stayed ahead all the way until I ran into the straw bales at Patingues....It is a great place....lets hope we are both back next year.

I could not get my head round going down the hill past the pits and into the chicane, I liked the first bit but but the chicane enterance was hard to judge. This vid shows what happened when I tried to grab a few yards. It also shows why the second start was red flaged, hot and tired i guess. This is the second lap of the re-start.

 

[storm42]

Ralph, as you will have noticed, particularly from the rear of #10, quite a few of the bikes in France and Belgium have a kickstart on! And you now know why!

Long periods running in the collecting area are also common.....good idea for two riders to park up together.....use one starter in the paddock and have the other waiting up at the collecting area!

I have stopped my bike up there a couple of times only to have nightmare trying to bump start it!

Plan for 2020?

My worry is not that it seizes, but that by the time the race has started the oil has broken down!

The two starter idea is good. Whilst I was sat at the side of the track waiting for the restart, I heard some shouting, It turned out to be Paul Mettcalf, he was having a go at someone that had put his kickstart back on after scruteneering, he sent him off the grid to get it removed, I don't know if he made it back for the restart, not that it would have mattered too much if he didn't.

 

[SteveA]

I could not get my head round going down the hill past the pits and into the chicane, I liked the first bit but but the chicane enterance was hard to judge. This vid shows what happened when I tried to grab a few yards. It also shows why the second start was red flaged, hot and tired i guess. This is the second lap of the re-start.

To go faster down the hill you have to keep right out to the right and not think about an apex on the left before the chicane! And don't brake until you are past the Friterie! and route out of the pitlane.

Yeah! I know, bigger balls required!

 

[Steves]

Mechanically, mine lasted a test day and two sessions at the next! Electrically, it still works now! After all it is just a Boyer with adifferent advance curve. The pick up plate is a bloody great big lump hung out there! That is why I favour Ralphs ignitech set up for the future.

Today, a Pazon Surefire will do most of what you need reliably and cheap! Cheap enough to carry a spare box you probably won't need.

I run a Pazon on my road bike and it is reliable for sure. I just like the idea of running the ignition trigger off the crank, ala RTD and I guess Steve Many's system.

 

[storm42]

To go faster down the hill you have to keep right out to the right and not think about an apex on the left before the chicane! And don't brake until you are past the Friterie! and route out of the pitlane.

Yeah! I know, bigger balls required!

I guess it like anything, the way to improve is to practice, I think I have now only done about 20 laps of the course in total and it just isn't enough. I have ideas where I can gain time but to put them into practice and find out if they will work, will take time and in a meeting I might only have time to get one or two things right.

Next year will bring an improvement but I know the year after will be spent trying other ideas. The problem will be worse when I think I have it mastered and am still too slow, that is when I need to learn how to race, and age isn't on my side.

I should have done this years ago.

 

[storm42]

I run a Pazon on my road bike and it is reliable for sure. I just like the idea of running the ignition trigger off the crank, ala RTD and I guess Steve Many's system.

You would probably find that the Ignitech box would work with your trigger, no matter where it is mounted.

 

[acotrel]

To go faster down the hill you have to keep right out to the right and not think about an apex on the left before the chicane! And don't brake until you are past the Friterie! and route out of the pitlane.

Yeah! I know, bigger balls required!

If you need bigger balls, you have a problem. On any race circuit, you don't need to go fast around corners the first few times you approach them. Systematically working up to them is a much better idea. Then it becomes routine. What I don't like is riding at extremely high speeds on big race circuits with my motor revving high for long periods. Especially when it is a long stroke Commando engine with a bolt-up crank.