Taff's racing diary for 2005

in the next few posts are my racing rides for 2005. hope you enjoy them!!!

raced at bovingdon yesterday (13/3). the soil was moist but not bad. the track was about 10 minutes around but was quite poor. concrete roads next to barbed wire fences and a lot of trust asking the riders to follow the track long after the tape was ripped out. this was an old airfield and wit wasn't overly exciting. the quads were plain stupid and shouldn't even be in the same race!

i took my usual number of #102 and got away in 5th overtaking the other 4 at the first corner. the manic glare screwing with their minds again!

this was to be a 1.5 and 1.5 race.

with a new trial tyre on the rear the track had to be handled with care as we slithered up the straights.

the bike ran well and all i had was the beginning of that valve bounce noise again only this is with a spare standard cylinder head. i guess these valves are starting to tulip too!

just one rder got me in the morning and one in the afternoon. they always get me on power but i'm not too worried. however i could handle some more.....

i had a monstrous scrap with a new ktm 450exc. same weight for once and he didn't cheat either which was a pleasant change.

he had difficulty in the slither coming out of tight turns where i had softened the rear shock and had just 10LBs pressure in the tyre. then he would pull a massive wheelie.

the swine was trying to intimidate me!!!! (PS he did a good job-i sobbed!).

i also had a best mates best man start racing and lapped him twice in the morning and his brother twice in the afternoon. however down the straights this PE250 (1980) had more power than me!!!!

i hope to have come in the top 10 of 120 riders. will let you know and maybe even get some links to some photos.

regards

Taffy

the extemes of a large nation.....

regards

Taffy

cheers fry

my left kidney is showing the last signs this morning of blue/brown and should be gone tomorrow. there's a big red blotchy patch that will be another week or so healing that was a scab.

that was one hekuva fall!

there are a coupla switchgears on euro e-bay and i've had a bid in for one of them.

rad hose guard comes off tonight i hope and will be buffed up before sending.

what i need from you is an address please?

that was one helluva holiday and i'm glad i did it. i'll be back! :evil: :evil:

regards

Taffy

ok 3rd in class. 6th overall out of 160 entrants (140 finished)
http://www.chilternhills.info/Berry%20F ... index.html

:cry: :cry: :cry:

Taffy

time card event back in tunstall forest w/ eastern centre

third meeting last sunday and an old fashioned time card event on the sandy/woody area around woodbridge near ipswich.

since the previous meeting three weeks ago i had decided to fit the rekluse clutch that i brought home from the states. this was relatively straight forward but i did notice in the rekluse downloads that it was updated. unable to get the required 1.5" wave spring in time i went ahead anyway. i had also decided to go the whole hog and convert the left magura clutch cylinder to a left-hand rear brake. a few quotes later and HEL performance products have sent me the required cable with some 5.1 synthetic brake fluid.

using the KTM syringe i reverse bleed and it's all set.

other changes are;

smaller choke jet, nearly all the breathers are removed from the FCR in the light of working on scoots carb.

i also junked the foot rear brake system completely.

so were ready to go!

a report on the rekluse can be found on gix's long thread but as for the racing i got going but fell after about 400 yards when the engine braking didn't function and then i fell again on the special test stage.

the suspension is over two seasons old now and getting knackered so after the first lap i let the comp off three on the front and also dropped the pressures to 10 pounds which all helped immensely!

i was doing miles in just second or third as i staired just 5 yards ahead looking for tree stumps. this would normally be first and cogging up down up down.

the course had a log after a turn but you couldn't pop the front wheel here. that's all the rekluse gave away.

my time allocation was 60 and 60 to begin and i did 47 despite starting a minute late and then another 47. this time i did goggles, a carb mod, half a bar of chocy (i do love my chocy!) and refilled my water.

i'd had a coupla beers the day before ya see....

for the next two laps i was given 48 and 43. i can't remember the last time i got in on time on lap three! however i have, as previously said, found the tall seat to help A LOT and now i can add the rekluse to that.

so i came in, drew breath for a minute and went again to see what i could do about that 43. i stalled it about half way around and spent a minute getting it going. unfortunately i'm in the process of trying to get the clutch to stop dragging and this is an example. it would not kickstart in gear!

as chuffed as i was with lap 3; 4 was a poor 46-47 minutes which i really thought i could do better.

with the tall seat i'm also losing nothing in the woods now and the narrow but tall bars make a big difference. with the grip of holding both bars by the index and thumb i had the other three fingers to operate both brakes and that meant that i wasn't re-gripping.

so only 1 blister after 3.5 hours riding!

the rekluse uses a bit more fuel i reckon and i'll guess how much soon.

most fun and no problems-isn't that the way to do it?

Taffy

ashdown farm, didcot

what a bad day! after two cracking results this season and after all the risks i took last weekend-i did not expect things to go so badly this weekend.

i turned up to find nobody did racing numbers so i blagged (1) some electricians tape and did those. then when they scrutineered the bike i failed on a throttle that wouldn't return.

two riders (2) came over with WD40 and we stripped the throttle mechanism and tried everything. then i re-routed the cables between the rad rubber and the tank rubber, this nessesitated moving the decomp cable.

with that sorted and scrutineering cleared i lined up on row 15 of 16. time duly came and it started first time (APJ had been squirted 340 times by now so quite happy with that!) off we went and i thrashed myself quite merrily on quite a good circuit with two large woods, some off camber banking, some long straights and some horrible stutter bumps from previous meetings.

however on the first straight i had no power so i decided to pull in at the end of lap one and slacken off the decomp which i took to be the problem. i did this and restarted the bike, kicked it in to gear and nothing happened , like nothing :cry:

i took a guess that it was the rekluse. i had stated that if you don't have the rod through the gearbox due to going to LHRB-you should then remove the 'top hat' radial roller beaing and washer.

WELL I SAID THIS AFTER I'D REBUILT MINE. i wasn't actually practicing what i was preaching!

so i decided to wipe out the rest of the 2-hour morning session, lay the bike on it's throttle (again!) and get too.

i borrowed a water catcher (3) and stripped it all but found that i'd left the key to the torq screw in the car. running around to someone, he looked in his 'fanny pack' :lol: :lol: and actually carried the thing! (blag 4) i then pulled the 'top hat' out and on the rebuild found i had no waterpump gasket. two lads started looking (5) before 1 found it in the coolant.

while all this was happening some tosser came over and said "these are meant to be unreliable aren't they?" *^$%#+$£"!!!!!!!

as i was short of coolant i borrowed some (6) and without asking i took his water and filled my camelpack as well! (7).

i looked up and i had 11 minutes left so all i could do (20-25 minute laps) was ride once around the paddock!!! anyway, got going in the afternoon and had a great time.

i had dropped the forks through 10mm this week and it handled quicker in the woods. but the forks are badly worn and so are the headrace bearings so it did flap a bit.

when i catch a slower rider i shout "come bye" as we approach an area they could pull over. i did it about 5 times and i alwaysd thank the rider.

however at a row of trees where i went left and the rider infront right, i called "come bye" and went for it, he appeared to hesitate but thought better of it. i locked everything up and shouted "For F.S." and eventually got by further on.

after the race the clerk of the course pulled me over and said that the club had received a complaint and that what with the incident where i'd deliberately aimed at a marshal two years previously (as if i would right?)-i'm on my final warning with the club.....

anyway, i think i may nearly have been nearly first in the afternoon but i was fresh! the bike is so quick through the woods now! i actually catch riders there now. 12 months ago and it's where i lost ground. the raised narrow bars, tall seat, rekluse and LHRB have been the reasons.

rider 167 has been catching me for two seasons and yesterday io caught him. as we came to two close trees he slowed and i didn't. the narrow bars mean that i could go straight through and i did think of him stopping.
bham! i punted him straight through the gap a bit quicker than he wanted to go!!!

all this though has however screwed up yet another championship.

mr lineweaver's finest LX2 cam to be fitted as well as a jetting kit next. whilst i have another project to carry out and also to rebuild the forks.

regards

Taffy

don't click here if you think huseys break down!

PS this isn't me!
Taffy

did a chiltern hills 2 + 2 enduro yesterday. since my last race i had fitted the lineweaver LX2 cam and lowered the MJ to a 152MJ. the auto clutch now has 25/15 steel to tungsten bearings and it has settled.

no day at the 'lane end' circuit would be complete without my whole morning centering around whether i wanted a c**p or didn't i!

i couldn't make my mind up and alas -yes you've heard it before-"it was a weight off my mind" in the end.

mind you, wanted another on the line!

had a great laugh when straight from the line and a 90d corner a quad went into 2' of watery mud, got stuck, fell on his back, covered the marshals in spray and had us all piddling ourselves :lol: :lol: :lol:

got going and the course was the usual brilliant lane end course with open woodland, drops to streams, mud, trees laying at all angles to be jumped, roots showing and lots of open farm land.

i was only overtaken immediately by the lad starting with me and later by some 'hot rod' 224 i think who was some international superstar!

from the start i changed the way i rode, i can't explain it any other way than to say that if i'm unfit when i go for a run i immediately 'jog' but if i'm fit i 'run'. make sense?

anyway-nutter! that was me! nutter!

the bike was bloody awesome with less gear changes due to the cam. it's just so easy to ride now. anyway i did 5 laps in the morning going over by 7 minutes. i came in having not kept an eye on the clock and when i asked where graham albrecht was they said he had gone out for another so i did the same!

i was running 10 front and 10 rear, however the back end would flick around hard as if i had a puncture. i have a very long wheel base at present to try and stop the tyre rubbing against the rear flap so i put it down to this.

in the afternoon i sprinted from the start trying to keep with 192 or 195-whatever and even though he lost me i never stopped the tempo and i was flying.

no mistakes and flying. i wondered after a while whether i had ever ridden any better (in my opinion of course!) and just sat there on full gloat!

i need to get full pad contact back though because i can't lock the rear whell up easily enough by hand (i have LH RB). also i want the hook up of the rekluse to be quicker. the pick up point is ace-just the earlier full engagement without the slip. may go from 25/15 to 22/18.

but as usual-it wasn't to last! for the second lane end in two years i got a rear end puncture after three laps! i wobbled across a field cutting out a bit of the course to give me a headstart in the 'puncture repair championships!' however i had trouble getting the clamps through and in the end said 'stuff it i've had enough of this'. well who the bloody hell wants to roll in mud 'n shyte after you've just done three hours and you have a 130 mile drive infront of you?

but i'd had a really great day. 240 riders, 24 rows of 10. about 5 huseys were there. colin spicer (he of short in the leg) 'barry' as well as another coupla lads on a 400 and one on a 450. 'barry' is now racing a 70's twin shock PE suzuki which he has restored and very nice it is too!

out in a fortnight.

results here;
http://www.chilternhills.info/Moor%20Fa ... index.html

regards

Taffy

results are two posts up from here and before anybody calls me a cheat-which i am as often as i can get away with-i would like to mention that upon knowing i had a puncture and roughly where i was to get home, i sailed across the farmers field sat on the tank. i waved at a marshal who didn't care less, showed my bus pass and got away with it to the guard, bribed the sentry, made love to the wife of the organiser and got on with the puncture without a sole noticing...

so yes your eyes don't deceive you, i did cheat!

7th fastest lap outa 225 entrants ain't bad though.

regards

the cheating welsh bastard! :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

yes nick-all over the show. i've been told just now by my mate chris that they're having to count every square yard they intend to race on and subtract it from the farmer's subsidy on his land.

DEFRA is the anacronym of the 'kwango' body doing this.

i don't know where it's all going to finish...

regards

Taffy

nick

first the foxes! there's one outside the window right now with his entire family giving me the finger!!!! F YA! i think he's mouthing to me

as for her bob, well she says she'd rather be covered by another body :lol: :lol: :lol:

regards

Taffy

bloody yanks!

they're either late for two world wars or they never turn up at all!

well, i booked up my first two-man'er for two seasons again with 'american mark'. last night he suddenly tells me that he has a bad back and may not race. if i'd been told earlier in the day i could even have booked up the TBEC event over at telford near wales.

as it was, when i called this morning-sure enough-he was too bad to race so i called up my mate graham johnson who nowadays just does MX and he was here by 7.30am with an old kawazaki headlamp and his race numbers on.

good man!

so off we went and i let graham start.

for those of you who don't know how it goes-it's like this;

you have a time card. graham; rider #20 goes off at 10.04 from row 5 (4 riders to row/minute) and he has 30 minutes to be back and get his card signed. if you're quick you can do 6 x 5-minute laps or 5 x 6-minute laps, joe average will do 4 x 7-minute laps and wait at the gate for the minute to hit his time of 10.34.

too soon and you get a 1/6th of a lap penalty, too late-the same.

so i got the 10.34 to 11.04 slot and did 4 laps comfortably. i got it in my head that i was on 11.03 in so i got a penalty for being EARLY!!

graham did a session either side of me in 28 and 28 again comfortably. however it was drying and the berms were getting better as i went off to do 5 laps in 32 minutes just before lunch!

in the afternoon. graham did a 28 minute 4-lap session whilst i did a 5-laps in 31 and just as the card marker looked at his card it clicked to another minute-blast! i had fallen off at a pacey second gear curve. standing i had leaned in too early and hit all the stutter bumps from the morning session. this meant that my headlamp shell had a fight with a tree and lost-badly!

there was nothing to pick up or re-fit. it was shattered!

graham did 4 in 28 again and because i'd sent him out 2 minutes late he now came in on time! i set off on my last session and eventful it was too as i couldn't get by an expert rider! an expert! i can't believe it even now! anyway i got him on my third lap and pulled away. next thing i'm on that long left curve again, standing, peeling in, hit the bumps, fall and the front ignition switch stops 4" from the same tree. unbelievable!

the two accidents were identical.

as for the berg well i had had my forks serviced and .46 springs fitted. the front was excellent and in general it tracked and went beautifully. i tried out a new mod which i'll keep under wraps until i get everything sussed on it and then i'll let you know!

anyway, 5-laps on that last session even though i was held back for two laps and fell i still did them in 31 minutes this time.

i'm just so chuffed with the LX1 cam! it just rips your arms off! if last week i said it was a better cam than the '53' now i'll say it's a lot better! it's quieter, better for the bike and the stomp is great!

i now need to go to a 52T (presently a 51T) rear to go with that 14T front and that way i can avoid first gear more. i keep getting neutrals between first and second whereas they don't happen between second and third.

i'va also been changing my riding style recently but as that has much to do with the modification i made i will also 'keep stum' on that until another time!

i'm out at another two-man'er next week and 'american mark' has said that he'll be fit!

anyone wanna bet!



regards

Taffy