Back On Track

 It has been a hectic few weeks since the engine blew up at East Fortune in June…….

The first task was to source another engine which turned out a lot easier than we expected. Cecil (the owner of the bike) made a few calls and within a couple of hours he had an engine despatched from England.  So it was smiles all round, as we knew we had an engine to get us working.

The day after it arrived Cecil was busy stripping it down to prepare it for racing when then postman knocked on his door with an extremely heavy parcel. It was another engine!

Apparently someone who works in the breakers yard where we bought the engine saw the note pinned to the wall with instructions to send a CB450 engine to Cecil so he did, not realising that it had been done the previous evening! We decided to keep it anyway, as you just never know when they will go bang!

So all this excitement got too much for Cecil and he headed off to the shops and when he returned there was a pallet on the doorstep with yet another engine! Cecil being a great believer in UFOs and aliens looked to the sky to see if his favourite wee green men had left him this present but it was nothing as exciting as that.

The first phone call he had made was to our usual supplier of bits and pieces and although he didn't have an engine at the time he promised to try and source one for us. He kept his promise, found a minter of an engine and sent it to Cecil thinking it would be a nice surprise! We decided to keep that one as well as our other Team Cairnduff rider, Billy Lyle, is doing the Manx GP and needed a spare engine anyway.

The next thing on the shopping list was a Wiseco piston. Luckily one of the pistons had survived unscathed so we only needed one new one. A gasket set and new camchain were also purchased and then it was time for the engine build. Cecil totally stripped one of the engines, got the barrels bored and then washed everything in white spirit and reassembled it. We were able to use the head, cams and ignition from the blown motor which was a stroke of good luck as those items alone saved us about £400.

 After two days of hard work the engine was ready. It only took a couple of hours to fit the engine in the bike, the only problem being that my cat had somehow got locked in my garage overnight and had left me a rather smelly present in my toolbox and then it was time for the moment of truth. All the usual questions ran through my mind. Will it start? Will it run? Will it be a good 'un or will it be a bag of sh**e?

 After running up and down the street a few times with the battery disconnected to get it to turn over and circulate the oil I connected the battery and after a quick run and bump it fired up at the first attempt. I had to keep the revs very low as the engine was as tight as the proverbial duck's whatsit! Then it was into the van and off to my private test track, a local industrial estate! Can you imagine how boring it is to ride up and down a half mile straight while keeping below 6000rpm? I had to do that for 20 miles or forty times up and down the road. Then it was another 20 miles at 7000rpm and then another 20 miles at 8000rpm. I got so fed up doing this that it took me two nights to do.  After it was well run in it was time to play so I started racing my mate Andy on his SV650 around the industrial estate. Neither of us could believe it but in a quarter mile drag race the 1968 450cc tuned Honda could (only just) beat the 2001 SV650cc bog standard Suzuki. 

BACK ON TRACK

Kells Road Race

 Although I prefer racing on short circuits I do like to do the odd public road race just for fun although I'm the first to admit that I'm not prepared to push too hard as I don't really fancy the idea of wrapping myself around a lamp post. Kells Road Races in Co. Meath, 2.5 miles of country roads was the first outing for the new engine. I had never been at the circuit before but half a dozen laps in the van soon taught me what way the road went. Newcomers' practice on the Saturday consisted of 20 modern bikes and two classics as we headed off behind a marshal on a Honda SP2.  I soon got the feel of the circuit and was getting used to Hanlons Leap which does exactly as it says on the tin! You approach it flat in fourth and snick it into fifth just before the front wheel leaves the ground. It scared the **** out of me the first time but from then on it was awarded a grin factor of 10.  The Classic practice saw me really getting settling into it and I was disappointed when the chequered flag came out as I could have ridden around it all day. As we headed off to the pub I was praying that Sunday would be dry for the race.

I was on the fifth row of the grid (Group C) for the 500/1000cc race but as the country roads are so narrow the race is set off in three groups 10 seconds apart. Group A is rows 1 &2, Group B is rows 3 & 4 and Group C is rows 5 & 6. In effect you have three separate races with the overall results being taken on corrected time. When the flag went for Group C I got a blinder of a start and was leading the group into the first corner. I was so surprised I nearly went through the hedge but I got the head down and decided to push a bit just to see how long it would take the rest of them to get past.  After three laps one rider passed me but apart from that I managed to pull away from the rest of Group C until once again I was disappointed to see the flag as I was really having fun. I finished 15^th overall and was 8^th in 500cc class so I was as happy as a kid in a bath of ice cream.  I reckon that race has become a 'must do' for the 2003 season.

Short Circuit

 One week later and it was back to the short circuits for the fifth round of the Championship. As I missed three rounds due to the Big Bang I have no chance of winning of it but I was determined to have a good race anyway. The first practice was the usual story… trying to wake up and get into the groove; I just can't go fast in practice as I keep thinking what's the point. In fact I didn't even bother going out in the second practice as it was raining and I just thought a bacon sandwich (go faster food) seemed like a better idea!

 Thankfully the sun came out for the afternoon and it turned into a scorcher of a day, a bit of a rarity this year. I was on the front row of the grid and I knew I was going to get gobbled up in the first corner by the quicker and more nimble 350 K4s. I was fifth coming out of the first corner and stayed there for the ten laps of the race but I had to work really hard as I could hear a bike right behind me at every corner.  There was less than a second between us for the whole race until I was able to get a backmarker between us on the last lap. After the race I discovered it was my mate who lives about two miles from me who had been trying everything to get past me on his 450cc Ducati. I was fifth overall and won the 500cc Class. Great Fun!

 Race 2 was almost a carbon copy of race 1 although I had managed to get a better start and so had a 2 second lead over my Ducati mounted rival for the ten laps. The result was the same, fifth overall, first 500cc.

 So there you have, my latest tales of life with a classic bike. Hopefully that is the end of our mechanical gremlins for a while but somehow I doubt it!

 My next outing is at Nutts Corner at the end of August so with a bit of luck the sun will shine, the bike will work, I'll ride like a hero and we can all sit back and watch the pigs do a flyby over the circuit!

 Keep it between the hedges

Liam