Team UKRM at the Snett 8 hour

I've got one of them sitting in the garage, fully race prepped that
hasn't turned a wheel since last October. IME the problem with
endurance racing is that the cost of the bike is actually only a very
small part of it. You'll then need x sets of wheels, and enough
spares to keep it going in the event of a spill.

I was asking a few people if KRC run a stocksport class which is
essentially Superstock bikes with no endurance specific mods. This
would keep the costs of "converting" for endurance to a minimum IMO.
Unfortunately for some strange reason they don't which considering
they are always looking for new teams to join I find utterly
ridiculous.

<snip>

 

Sorry to hear that. Hopefully things'll look rosier after a few beer^h
days.

I thought Kwak engines were bulletproof - or has this one been tuned
to the limit?

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, sweller

OK, my two penn'orth.

Firstly, you're beating yourself up far too hard over a minor bit of
forgetfulness. Nobody died, Champ got a healthy shot of adrenaline, and
the scrutes were pacified eventually. We'd rather not do it again, and
I'd bet my own money we won't because you'll never forget it. Did you
notice how I handed over the socket driver to someone else every time a
wheel spindle needed torquing up? ;^)

Personally, and (it must be said) from limited experience, you and Mike
are both huge assets[1] in the pits. You both exhibit an air of
unflappability that I've learned a great deal from. The refuelling did
go smoothly this time, partly because of Champ's servicing of the fuel
rig, and partly because of thinking "OK, it didn't work, deep breath,
off, try again". That's a valuable lesson.

We got the bike out into the pit lane with whole seconds to spare for
the first time in a while, no last millisecond panics, no fuss, no
drama. It went well. We're getting it sorted. Let's not forget the third
last time at Snetters. OK, so we've pushed the current mechanicals too
hard. Those-who-pay will learn from that, and decide what to do.

Let's ignore the 476 thing you thought of and *did* do something about,
eh?

It was. And it doesn't entirely miss the point. It was fun (up until the
last bit) and that's why I was there. I can't speak for everyone else,
but I didn't notice too many "S&M Club" stickers.


[1] <Checks very carefully that he hit the 't' key>

--
Wicked Uncle Nigel - Manufacturer of the "Champion-105" range of rearsets
and Ducati Race Engineer.

WS* GHPOTHUF#24 APOSTLE#14 DLC#1 COFF#20 BOTAFOT#150 HYPO#0(KoTL) IbW#41
Enfield 500 Curry House Racer "The Basmati Rice Burner",
Honda GL1000K2 (On its hols) Kawasaki ZN1300 Voyager "Oh, Oh, It's so big"

 

Seven of the top twenty are RC45s. Champ, you need a nice little Honda.

 

I had to laff at the "non-classe".

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, platypus

Well, you *do* meet the nicest people on them.

Not an SP2 though, please. They break.

--
Wicked Uncle Nigel - Manufacturer of the "Champion-105" range of rearsets
and Ducati Race Engineer.

WS* GHPOTHUF#24 APOSTLE#14 DLC#1 COFF#20 BOTAFOT#150 HYPO#0(KoTL) IbW#41
Enfield 500 Curry House Racer "The Basmati Rice Burner",
Honda GL1000K2 (On its hols) Kawasaki ZN1300 Voyager "Oh, Oh, It's so big"

 

That bike is competitive, as is the team; we proved that in May. The
last two DNF, both mechanical, were avoidable.

 

First point is true to some extent, second is spot on.

Realistically we aren't going to be winning a championship. At the
moment I'll happily finish last as long as I know myself and the team
have done the best we can. The key word in there is finish, we need
to work out what needs to be done to make that a regular occurance.
I'm sure if there was an "endurance racing magic wand" you'd see a lot
of frantic waving in the paddock, but there isn't so we have to accept
that sometimes racing bikes is just plain shit.

With the cancellation of the 24 hour I think the team were on a bit of
a low before the 8 hour even started. Mix in the problems we had and
you have a group of very pissed off people.

From my experience racing last year in a 12 round championship with
four separate races each round you had a lot of time to either get it
right or get it wrong but either way you got enough bites at the
cherry to even it out. With endurance we get just five goes all year
to get it right. Having got the cracking result we did at Snett in
round one, the best we could hope for was more of the same or head
backwards.

 

On Tue, 28 Jun 2005 07:31:55 +0100, "sweller"

Only once you've learnt from them though. One of the managers at the
Le Mans 24 hour commented that it's perfectly acceptable to make a
mistake once, making it twice is totally unacceptable.

Fitting the slipper clutch and quickshifter was a mistake at Brands,
we didn't make it again at Snett.

If we're being completely honest here I feel the blow up at Snett was
mostly my fault, although I do have some defence. I was told seconds
before I went out to keep an eye on the temp gauge. I did this and
when it reached almost 100 it then occured to me that I had no idea
what good or bad was in terms of temp. I needed to make the decision
whether to come in or not and the bottom line is I made the wrong one
by staying out.

In my defence the gauge did drop down again but the reason for this
has now been explained. Lesson lean't, I'll know this for the future
and won't make the same mistake again but that's little consolation
atm.

 

....and, it was 1997.

 

You're both right and wrong.

The 7R is too old. Not too old to be competitive (in fact, in its
class, it's on the money, the speed differences being down to rider
ability and pits stops), but just everything on it is a bit tired, and
we don't have the money (or, partly, the time) to sort out every
little detail.

The problem with saying "get something modern" is not the cost of the
bike, it's everything else:
- 4 sets of wheels, with disks
- enlarged fuel tank (preferably two)
- quick releae system on wheels
- spare bodywork
- etc

I've moved into problem solving mode now...

 

heh. Sure. What's that old saying about how to replicate the
experience of sailing - "stand fully clothed in a cold shower ripping
up ten pound notes" ?

 

Actually, I might retract that statement. It looks like they'll
be reissuing our results *again* (third time) after another suspected
cock-up with the numbers and aggregation of the results...

 

Got a project plan?

 

IIRC it's 50 pound notes but it's the same idea.

 

More than 20 GBP

 

**** off. That's implementation details - I do solutions.

 

^^ ^^^^^^^^^

i.e. 2/10ths of **** all actual work.

 

Well, you're in the same business, so you'd know.

 

Actually, I do "technology change management" at the moment.

Only for another couple of weeks though.