Taff's racing season 2006

raced today again down at little hadham where i was about 6-weeks ago. conditions were dry in the open but the muddy brook in the woods was horrific-thank goodness this week has been dry!

work done to the bike since last time out was:
new blue tail unit
3 #plate backgrounds
rest of blackbird decals fitted
a set of SX bars (same as later bergs) with 1" chopped off each end
rear tyre turned
used but newish rear disc fitted
used but newish headlamp fitted
new ignition barrel lock

it was also my first 'dry' chance to try the rear spring and the fork springs and valving. i've fitted a PDS4 for those of you that don't know: it's a 86/111 by 260. the front end: i've dry practiced at swaffham with the .48s and the last wet one. since the practice i'd changed the valving but the wet race meant i was holding judgement.

bars were great, didn't even notice them whereas the EXs get on my ****! so there's a winner before you start!

it's a time card event again and i was given;
40, 40, 23, 21, 20, 19, and a miserly 15 to finish!

the sudbury club give you a number for the season now so 102 is mine and i started some 3 minutes behind a line of riders and 4 minutes ahead of the next. very strange. so i rode on my own around to the special test and then caught a few lads queueing. from then on i could pick off a few for the rest of the lap but it was really weird leaving the line with no pressure.

i took it easy in the ST's as the woods were slippery and the open was dusty -and slippery. i came in and took 6 off the fork comp and dropped the pressure to 10LB on the front.

this worked a treat next lap out AND the race line was drying!

i fell softly twice trying to jump into 4 foot deep ditch, sure i landed all right but i was off balance and fell against the far bank both times!

the rear spring is absolutely brilliant - it's like being on velvet. the forks were also better on the second lap with less spiking.

i really enjoyed myself when the championship and expert riders started with me. this happened for the last 5 laps and i found that in a 16 minute lap i was losing 1 minute to them but was able to follow them for long periods, they seem to stand all the time and they physically REALLY work the bike. both those are going to be too tough for me but i will continue to improve.

i noticed i was doing 18s then 17 and finally on the 19 minute lap - i did it in 16. i'd wobbled a few times and knew that i could possibly do this 15 minute last lap in 16 or better. to do it in 16 is fine as there is a 1-minute allowance.

i belted off the line and came to the deep bog, two sides were conquered but at the third a husky rider sat on the only dry route!

i asked a 'puller': "is there another route?"
"no, he's stuck in the only one!"
so i dropped the nose into the brook (no speed at all) THEN opened it up and tried to get up and out. alas i got stuck but with a little help plus the old revloc not stalling the bike when i fell: i was ok!!!!

i got going and it took about a minute of deep breathing to recover, plus the rear tyre was sodden and a liability.

however i never 'wobbled' again and on approaching the pits i was on 16 minutes. as i got to the fron three women stood there TALKING!!!!! FFS :twisted: :twisted:

the only bloke eventually came over and credited me with 16-mins even though by now the clock had gone over - good lad!

so that meant that i had cleaned despite the stuck rider.

later i cheked the STs and i was 13 from 50 and would have been 9 from 18 in the experts class. a very satisfying day. the bike starts absolutely first time every time and sometimes i just 'stroke' it like a 2-stroke and it still starts first time.

by cleaning, i'm hoping to have a very favourable result.

i now have four weeks off in which time i had pledged to turn the engine into a 450 and fit several new bearings etc which the bike deserves, howeveri really wanted to finish developing the bike as a 400 first which would require me working on the carb with help from TAKIS and also i'd like larger headers which would cost me a fair few quid!

anyone got a 'like new 400 piston and liner?'

regards

Taffy

back at hawkedon today with a slightly altered course. despite overnight rain this only kept the dust down and by the end the circuit looked like a flat-track with a dark black line around it.

the stutter bumps were awful from the previous meeting and this was debilitating, i think a solo race would have killed me! my partner now has a gas gas 200 and was way quicker on it than his CRF450. i have a worthy partner.

lap times dropped so that i was doing 5 in 31 whilst my partner did 4 laps in 28 minutes to get us back on time. how naughty of me!

the carb mod is described elsewhere and the extra surge wasn't always helpful. i'll learn to ride around it.

oil is now leaking down from the front left of the head and also i have a strange 'stain' from the water pump leak hole in which the stain goes up..... (no water is missing but it could be oil).

forks are still a little spikey but the course was a real test and i get the feeling that anything i'd ridden would have been tough!

results to follow.

regards

Taffy

i could die this time!

well i could have done i think if we hadn't had thunder and showers on the saturday and a slightly overcaste hazy start to sunday that lasted till the third hour.

i had completely serviced the forks (see thread on enduro forks), also i have recently fitted the belmouth and pipercross filter (see belmouth and 41mm thread). finally i had fitted my auxillary tank which has been sat on the shelf for 2-years.

this came with a wierd breather pipe out the side that was similar to the top one. i had a blanking #plate machined and fitted. however i never received the 'insulated offset pipe clamps' in time so i simply curved up some metal strips and drilled them. i ran a breather around the headstock and just fed the fuel line into the right hand pipe at a Y-junction.

i also re-fitted the old full size 9 litre tank for this race as i was doing a straight 4-hour race. the butts quarry course is very steep in either direction and a real test of rider and machine.

after removing from the trailer with ease i rolled the bike forward and trusted it was in nuetral. however it was in gear and after three kicks it started. but it stalled after 5 seconds or so. it was then that i realised i was in gear. TROUBLE WAS that the bike was now stuck twixt choke n no choke!!!

so after another 5-6 kicks i said 'stuff it!!' and went off to scrutineering. i lined the bike up with the other 40 in the clubman class. this class included over 40 and anyone doing ironman. i was doing 'over 40 - ironman'.

after a breif breifing we were invited to start our engines and warm them up. i walked 50 yards to gulp a carton of creamed rice pudding and as i got back they called stop engines!

jesus H!! i haven't even started mine and we're about to start!

so of course it took 3 kicks and by then they'd all gone! i couldn't believe how quickly i started puffing, it was so humid and i seemed to be extra sweaty today?

anyway, the racing.

straight away, despite having found a loose bolt in the selector mechanism i noticed that the bike would jump out of 3rd gear. i would presume it was between 2nd and 3rd so kick up again only to get 4th. in the end after about an hour of this i just hung on to second gear in the three places that i would have used third (there was nowhere to use fourth on the course).

i worked my way through a few before i met a pile up and queue at a hill. i whipped past and up the steep climb only to stall and watch 3-4 get me back. net gain? mmmmm!????

anyway, the rocks were loose and everytime i tried to up it i made a mistake and hung on. i couldn't reach 'the zone' because everytime i got near i screwed up. just not used to rocks i guess!!!!

in the overall race i had three riders fall sideways and take me off too. i managed to stall about 4 times on sheer faces and i also had to walk the bike out 3-4 times when i'd hopped off.

this 'hop-off' might be known as 'bailing out fast' but i prefer my version! i also looped it twice on a very steep climb that had a 90 degree corkscrew get-out at the top and you had to get it right or it got nasty!

i also got three points for a refusal (as the horsey lot might say!) as i ran out of revs on some loose stuff. several times though i could feelt the difference the belmouth was making as i lugged in second up a climb and gave it some-the bike responded well!

anyway, once when knocked off i guess i got a bent rear disc coz for the rest of the day the LHFB lever 'bobbed' in and out to the touch.

during a fall i noticed lots of steam but just got on with it. other times i smelled petrol, others - BBQ!!!!!

i waited to see the 12 0' clock half way mark before pitting. debs filled me up while i put a gallon in the bike for safety sake. two 'flap jacks', fresh goggles and i'm away.

the next hour went quickly and i was still riding like a tart i'm afraid. i just couldn't attack the course! also anyone familiar with enduro racing will know that if you "rush" a backmarker they let you bye but if you catch them slowly - they don't move!!!

well because i was doing the ironman and many of them were doing 30 mins on-off: i wasn't really much quicker than this 'core' of riders. thus they didn't shift for me!!!!

i suddenly lost the rear brake on 3 hours 15 so i pulled over and spotted the rear banjo had come loose. a result of that earlier fall/bent disc? it was REALLY hairy doing steep descents w/o a rear brake and so ipulled in. there was oil all over the bike!

so i now tightened the banjo bolt, replenished the oil, put some in the magura m/c (well you canna but try wee laddy can yee!) but of course there was no chance it would self bleed despite me playing 'wanky-handy' with the lever for a few laps!!!!!!

what with all the pills, taking loadsa water, a good fry up on the day, camelpak on the day, flapjacks, rice pudding i got home in reasonable shape!

man i made some mistakes! and that unenforced pit stop. so i didn't bother to check the results but steve came over (gruntenberg) and said that i'd come 3rd and would get a trophy. he'd come 4th having lost a split link on the first lap so did really well.

i was still panting 30 minutes later. i was phuqed!

i have had a 'quick strip' on the books for a while now. now i guess i have to! really quickly! gearbox to be sorted....

regards

Taffy

hi taffy checked out the results, for such a long race results r quite close!
did u enjoy the weekend all the better when u got the result reports
bet that trophys on the mantle piece :lol:
how did u sleep?

like a baby :baaaby:

haven't collected it yet nor have i seen the results so i'll pop over and try and grab a link for everyone. bound to be some photos soon!

here

i slept well after midnight and 5 pints o guiness!

now that's what i call finishing in style!!! :wink: :wink:

cheers for that

Taffy

taff weres ur next race at do u know?

Lplates

well i'm in real rush now but i should be out at wattisfield near bury st. edmunds on august 13th. after that i'm doing an 'aby' with the banovallum club. search for louth in lincolnshire and nearby is aby. that'll be on 10th september.

things will pick up a bit then for the autumn season.

thinking of starting racing

regards

Taffy

RE: Re: Taff

it seems absurd that i should be doing my next racing report three months later but i'm afraid that is how **** up this season has gone!

in the intervening 12 or 14 weeks i've had a bloody belly full of it and would really like to have a go here at the bloke but he's nice on the one hand and then gets the order wrong on the other!

it brings into question the point in racing my old husaberg at all when you've had the crap i have this season. i was told by the same man that it wouldn't be my stator and it was. that lost me two meetings and a practice day.

i've also called off others late and been wise enough not to enter others even though i couldn't see what could go wrong! but it did!

i've been sent the wrong gears, i've been sent used gears which i'm assured were sent to the dealer "from above" (and you can guess who would do it can't you!), i've been sent needle rollers that are completely circular when i needed them to split. my order has been forgotten but covered as didn't arrive and finally they sent the wring gear twice.

without a doubt my dealer has had to trust the importer who sent him a KTM gear that needed a bush yet the bush was forgotten.....

i was also told that i needed to weld rods to the gearbox output bearing to remove it when it simply only needs a 10-12mm cold chisel and a coupla lumps of metal to get it out. i feel like i've had to teach him....

in the middle of this i decided not to rebuild for a race meeting in lincolnshire because the dogs were more worn than i had realised. that one's on me.

also my dealer has done free clips, shims and spacers as well as all 4 needle rollers. sometimes postage free.

to cap it off, i always get a receipt for everything. but i forgot the day i sent two of the wrong gears back and they have never arrived at their destination.

what else can you say!

i have just bought a house and the chances of racing next season are looking slimmer all the time. at 45, if i stop this time it will be for good. been racing for spanning 27 seasons now and a coupla seasons out will see me near to 50.

so i intend getting the engine together in this new '04 frame. to get this ported BV head tried out along with the doma system as well as the 450 piston/barrel that just sits there. but really, it's costing me a phuqing fortune and i'm working with an old unreliable bike, a dealer that can't get his **** together and an importer who just CANNOT stop doing things on the cheap all the time....

i do most of this testing in order to pass the infomation on to you the UHE members. but really, what is the point? you're smarter than most but u,timately you don't do ANY of the tricks to your bikes and you don't listen to advice do you!

truly a hobby that i've persued at great expense to myself and yet ultimately futile. this is the second time i've raced an obscure and rare machine that was unrelaible and although i've enjoyed both battles in my own way - WHAT IS THE POINT?

if it wasn't for moab i could make a clean break and concentrate on the house. i've done it all.

regards

Taffy

that reads like an epilogue


oh my word i thought i was pissed cos my elecy starts not working! and ive spent best part of a grand on my bike in 10 months! only rode it about 50hrs max , in that time.
and every time I come home i ave to spend some money on it? and to top it off I cart keep my arse on the seat!!
never mind theres always next weeks race :lol: :lol:


when the pain has healed and ur mates r calling to ask for a lift or can u fix there bike?

u know u love it

cheers lee!

what a great way to sheer me up. not to tell me how lucky i really am but to tell me how much worse it is for you! FFS

i've had two fairly enjoyable rides in the last three sundays on my mates 520. came 8/40 with a bald front (ok 4mm of tread but they do start with 13) the other was a pairs race and my mates carb fell off but still enjoyable all the same.

interesting to compare it to mine. far more torque. ***** at slow speeds. might be heavier but feels lighter. sit in it and not on it. easier to balance in ruts. bars far too wide.

so last race oif the season tomorrow with banovallum in lincolnshire. out on it again with a new tyre and some changes to the sussies.

see how it goes this time.

regards

Taffy

this was the most enjoyable ride of the season bar none! i went to manby in lincs where i had my first meeting of the season and a DNF due to the stator going wext.

this time on the katoom i had made further mods to the suspension and the bike was better than ever. conditions: tons and tons of mud!

photos here
http://www.dephotos.co.uk/album.html
motorsport
manby
banovallum
(photos 14, 38, 113, 165, 214, 294 in the morning and 18, 21, 121, 426, 427, 428, 497, 498, 571, and the last two 620 and 621 with a nice wheelie)

the course was like a tank range and had a steep drop that could only just be negotiated and lots and lots of mud! there were 2 trips around 3/4 sides of a farmer's field which on the 520 was a blast! what a m,onster this machine is!

two falls which i thank god are getting rare: the first i'm catching three riders hand over fist down a long straight but the riders in front have to file into a rut and they all slow to snails pace for something i'd have taken flat in 4th so i locked everything up (still going to splat them) so i turn it sideways (still going to wipe the three out) so i laid it down and came to a stop in 10" mud.....

in the afternoon i went one side of a stalled rider only for a top rider to go around us both and block my line, fair enough except that in the process of stopping on a sixpence i fell over in about 1' yes one foot, of mud and just sat there!

later, goggles off and no gloves i completed the race. i thought i'd come about 5th but it was 2nd from 32 finishers so i'm dead chuffed with that.

three good rides to finish the season and cheer me up.

i now have a husey to rebuild ready for next season, if it happens. what with a new address and the USA i may not have the money but we'll see!

regards

Taffy