Next up is Tonfanau in mid Wales on 20th April, followed by Oulton the week after. How did your weekend go?
I've only just spotted no.74 in race 17, looked in the program and you're here at Aintree. I'm at the Club in corner, where are you in the paddock?
Well, it seems like ages since I have posted on here, but things have been so busy with the racing and life in general, that I haven't had a chance to keep things up to date here. Anyway, the 2014 season ended on October 13th, at Anglesey. It has been another incredible year of racing with things just getting better all the time. I have raced at Anglesey and Oulton with Wirral 100 club, Tonfanau with Crewe and South Cheshire Club and also Aintree with the Aintree Racing Club. I have been extremely lucky with the weather at all the meetings, which is always a bonus. I have somehow managed to escape with only one off too, which was a stupid one at Anglesey on a track day in the wet. The damage was minimal to the bike, but I wasn't quite so lucky as the bike landed fair and square on my right hand calf, resulting in a pretty unpleasant injury known as compartment syndrome (I won't bore with the details, but wikipedia gives all the details!!). I started the year with my Clubman licence, which means I no longer had to ride with a novice bib on. I was therefore aiming to get my National licence, which basically allows you to race at road races in Ireland, IOM etc. To get my national licence, I needed to finish 10 races, at 3 different circuits and finish within 110% of the winner's time and on the same lap. I have managed to do this, with the exception of Oulton Park and one meeting at Tonfanau (missed due to leg injury). I now have 9 signatures, so need only one more to go to qualify for my National licence. The R6 has performed faultlessly, the HM quickshifter has been superb and I cannot recommend one highly enough. The bike has now gone to Infront Motorcycles in Chester for a full engine strip down and refresh and whilst it is there, it is going to have a trip to the dyno for an ECU reflash to free up more power and remove all the restrictions that lurk in the ECU. So, all in all, it has been a great year again. 2015 will bring new challenges, as I am hoping to compete in the Southern 100 in the Isle of Man, Cookstown races in Ireland (hopefully) and Oliver's Mount in Scarborough. I was aiming to do the Manx GP, but this will have to wait until 2016, due to entry restrictions, but I still want to do Tonfanau and Aintree as they offer proper club racing, superb value for money and such close racing too. Just a long winter to wait now.
Cheers Wedgie, just going to play the waiting game now and get this winter out of the way. Hopefully we will catch you at Aintree next year for a meeting or two.
First off, happy new year to one and all on here. It has been a fair while since I have visited the site, so thought it was time to give an update on things racing wise. My last post summed up the racing year in 2014 and my plans for 2015, with the R6 having gone off for an engine refresh. So, the bike is in the capable hands of Infront Motorcycles in Chester and a list of work has been set out for the bike and the engine refresh. I was in no rush to have the work done, as the season doesn't start until mid March, so figured the bike would take as long as it took to be completed. Around late Novemeber, I had a call from Infront to say that there was a "small issue with a piston". They weren't wrong, as part of the piston skirt had fallen off and disappeared, with another section hanging on for dear life. Not what I had hoped to hear, but it sounds as though I have had a lucky escape, as the gearbox, bores, crank etc were all fine. I had hoped that the engine didn't valves, mainly due to the fact that they are titanium and cost £125 each, meaning that replacing all 16 would cost a few quid in parts alone. I was relieved to hear that the valves are fine. I am now faced with having a new set of pistons, cam chain, cam chain tensioner and followers, main bearings and a boat load of gaskets. It is also having a new clutch fitted for good measure, the head skimmed and valves re-seated, plus an ecu reflash. Not what I had hoped for, but then again, racing was never going to be cheap and it could have been much worse! I am hoping to have the bike back and in fine form for the end of January, with hopefully a power increase from about the stock 118 to somewhere nearer 126ish, which will make a nice difference. As for the racing itself, I have one more signature to obtain before I get my national licence. Hopefully I can get this box ticked in one of the first meetings of the year. I can then send my licence off and get my National, which will allow me to enter Irish road races, the Isle of Man events and Oliver's Mount. I am still going to do a good amount of club racing including Wirral 100 club at Anglesey and Oulton Park, Tonfanau in Mid Wales, Aintree race circuit (hopefully Wedgie from here will join me here too) and a new one for 2015 for me will be Darley Moor in Derbyshire. I am also hoping to dip my toes into the world of road racing in the form of the Southern 100 in the Isle of Man. So, there we have it. My bike was not so well, is now on the mend and I am looking forward to another year of quality club racing, with some new challenges thrown in for good measure. Can't wait!!!!
Hi Robin Think I am doing the round at Anglesey with W100 Sunday 29th Match with couple of mates so see you there maybe . Good luck with the racing your long term plans seem to be on track with the IOM so will look forward to following your progress . Cheers Jase
Cheers Jase, it would be good to catch up at Anglesey on 29th. Hopefully the weather will be as good as last March, as it was about 18 degrees and t-shirt weather the whole weekend. What are your plans for racing this year?
Darley Moor is an ACE track, bit rough round the edges and no facilities to speak of bar Toilets and a Cafe. Tiz a rough Cadwell Park but I like it!
That sounds like luxury in comparison to Tonfanau and Aintree then! I love that sort of circuit, got a really good club race feel to it and because the circuits aren't as popular as Oulton etc., the entry fees are much lower. Win win all round I reckon!
My plan is do most of the race season with NL if I can get away from work with a round at hottrax doing endurance with Wedgie and YT but as you know in racing it doesn't always go to plan plus maybe 1 or 2 with W100 .
Nice one Jase, sounds like a good year for you there. Are you and Jimbo still racing together? Wouldn't mind doing an endurance round or two also, but as you say, racing never goes the way you think! Wirral 100 aren't bad either, but you should have a look at aintree too. Properly fast circuit and you can do 6 races in a day for £125!
Yeah Jimbo plans to race as well with me not sure how many rounds yet as he has stuff on this year, got myself a caravan now which is converted to also carry my bike so makes it a lot easier for me as sleeping in the back of my trailer for 3 days did take its toll on me come the last day of racing with a bad back and lack of sleep especially on the cold nights.
Ah you can't beat a caravan, pretty much essential. Sounds like a neat conversion you have sorted out, being able to carry your bike too, very handy indeed. Let me know if you are definitely doing Anglesey on 29th March and I am sure we can get you in our garage, helps keep the costs down.
