Team UKRM Bishopscourt report (long)

Bishopscourt Round
------------------------

The Team UKRM trip to Northern Ireland started on the Thursday
evening, with an exceedingly well loaded short wheelbase van (the
usual LWB wasn't available) wobbling up to Holyhead (Neal & Mike
stopping briefly in Bridgnorth to collect Alex) in around 4 hours.
The ferry was scheduled for 2:30am, but we were on at 1:30am, and
after briefly trying the floor for comfort, booked a cabin and got our
heads down for a surprisingly good 4 hours sleep. We splashed through
a wet Dublin dawn and drove up through Eire and into Norn Iron during
the morning, arriving in Downpatrick just too early for breakfast at
our favourite cafe. After breakfast elsewhere, we found our way to
the circuit, arriving just as they opened the gates to the queue of
waiting vans. The weather was still pretty awful; while the rain had
let up a bit, it was still blowing a gale, such that my inexpensive
tent threatened to become large kite until I pitched in the lee of one
of the circuit buildings.

We grabbed some more sleep in the early afternoon, and then set up our
pit and got the bike ready to roll for the start of 5pm practice.
James arrived from the airport in a soft top Porsche, which he thought
was very fine; he'd claimed risk of castration from his wife if he was
away for three days, so managed to avoid the character-building
experience of four countries in a van, and flew into Belfast, being
collected by Hog and delivered to the circuit at high speed, and in
some style. It's definitely his turn to drive the van next time.

By this time, the weather had improved - the sun was breaking through
the clouds, the circuit had dried, and the wind had even dropped a
bit. The bike went out on worn tyres and with old brake pads, just
to let the riders find their way round. Alex and Neal seemed to
remember it well enough from last year, and James seemed to come to
terms with the multiple overbanding, many and large bumps, changes in
surface and high speeds easily enough. What he couldn't come to terms
with was the high footrests, so we built up the seat with a few layers
of carpet, and lots of gaff tape. Race day engineering at its best.
We didn't set the world on fire with our times, but we weren't too far
off the pace either. By now Andy and Adie had arrived, so we almost
had a full crew. Wik arrived in time to miss the action, but to join
us for dinner in Downpatrick; funny, that.

Race day started with a shower, but the weather soon improved, and we
were blessed with bright warm sunshine for the rest of the day.
Scrutineering gave no problems, and after sending the bike out for a
brief free practice we got into qualifying proper, swapping to new
Dunlop slicks and Carbon Lorraine brake pads to make sure the riders
were familiar with them, and they we ok for the race start.
Remembering that you don't win an endurance race during qualifying, we
were pretty steady, and qualified 28th out of 35 starters, with a 1:22
time. Fastest on the grid was a 1:14. But, looking at the rest of
the times, we looked like we should be able to mix it with a good part
of the field, and be competitive in our class.

Before we knew it, the pit lane was open for the formation on the
grid. We checked our watches, and sent our bike out even tho many
other teams didn't seem to be ready. And, for some reason, they were
caught napping, and the pit lane closed with a good third of the field
still in the pits, meaning they'd have to start the race from the
pitlane. We formed up, and the Alex was sent on the first of two warm
up laps. [Alex was starting for us as the crash during the 2nd hour at
Oulton had meant that he'd got no real race time]. Hanging over the
wall waiting for the start, I heard a problem - the fuel pump on our
bike was not stopping (it should stop automatically when the carbs are
up to pressure). Too late to do anything about it, the flag rose then
dropped, and the riders sprinted across the track. And out bike
wouldn't start! Alex probably took 10 or fifteen seconds to get it
going, but it seemed like an age before he hared off after the pack,
to be soon followed by the marauding pack waiting in pit lane.

As usual, once the start is safely away, the rest of the team relaxed
in the pit. But, after only 20 mins, Adie (doing sterling work on the
pit wall, standing in for Suze), reported him missing. A minute or
two later he arrived in the pit with grass hanging out of the fairing
- it seemed that the huge bumps at the end of the start-finish
straight had pitched him onto the tank in the braking zone, causing
him to miss his turn in point. He'd decided to go straight on to the
grassy run off, dropping the bike on the way to the tyre wall. The
footrest was bent straight, the exhaust cable-tied on and the fairing
covered in tape and the bike sent back out. Alex then settled down to
do some consistent times, mostly in the 1:22s & 1:23s, with a best of
1:21. But, the damage had been done - we'd dropped a good five laps,
and it's very difficult to make that back up on the track.

On the hour, Alex came in, the bike was refuelled and James went out.
He quickly got down to business and started posting good times, with a
few 1:19s. He had one slow lap where he did a bit of grass tracking,
but otherwise his session seemed to pass without too much incident.
At the end of the second hour James came in and after another refill
Neal went out. The team now seemed to have the hang of the
new-for-2004 fuel rig, and were fueling the bike in around 5 seconds.
Neal's session started OK, with his times going from mid-twenties to
regular 1:23s, with a best of 1:22. Of course, this made him the
slowest rider, but he claimed that he was excused, having only broken
his collar bone seven weeks before at the Oulton round. This part of
the race was dogged with incident, tho. The pace car made an
appearance, and the went in again. Then there was a big crash at the
scarily fast chicane at the back of the circuit; somehow the marshals
missed it and the rider was left lying in the long grass for several
laps unattended. When the officials did get to him the pace car came
back out, and after a couple of laps brought the race to a halt on the
start straight; there was never an official explanation for this, but
it seems the crashed rider was seriously hurt - the race was halted
for 40 minutes. At the restart, Neal got back into it, and had a
couple of memorable dices with some other teams. However, he soon
noticed that the bike was overheating; and not just because of the
tape on the radiator (which Mike had surreptiously removed during the
stoppage). The temp gauges was showing around 95 to 100 degrees, but
didn't seem to get any worse, so he kept going. Because of the
stoppage, Neal's time was extended, and the team moved onto a 45
minute cycle. The next stop went well, with the bike being refuelled
and a new rear slick being fitted; Alex went out with 2 and a quarter
hours to go, but after 15 mins was back with a loose exhaust. The
exhaust was soon re-fixed, but there was also water leaking - we
discovered a small weep in the rad, probably started from the earlier
crash. We stuck in some rad weld, glued something over the hole,
topped the radiator up and sent Alex back out.

James started his session with 90 minutes left, and started banging in
regular 1:19s. In retrospect perhaps we should have given him the
"SLOW" sign; he was on his countdown to come in (we give the riders
boards saying "3", "2", "1" and "IN"), with two laps to go, when he
disappeared. It turns out that he'd crashed at the first corner; the
fastest, bumpiest and scariest part of the circuit. The bike was a
mess, and there was no way it could be patched up in 45 minutes (it
looks like it's going to take more like 4 weeks). And so our race
ended. James was a bit messy too; he had concussion, and was
eventually sent to hospital. After a brief check over, he discharged
himself, and just managed to get a taxi in time to get his flight home
from the airport. (The next day his local A&E x-rayed him and
plastered his broken wrist). Meanwhile, the rest of us went out to
eat and drink too much.

So, another DNF for Team UKRM. The damage to the bike is extensive,
(fairing, tank, steering damper, radiator, rearsets, clipon, clutch
lever, etc), but you have to look on the bright side in this game - we
were on a reasonable midfield pace, the difference between our fastest
and slowest riders was only 3 seconds (much better than previous
seasons), and our pit crew was very efficient. So, next stop Pembrey
on the 4th July.

As always, many thanks to the whole NI round crew - Mike, Wik, Andy,
Adie and Hog. We never forget that endurance racing is a team event.

[I've just typed this up from memory, so errors, ommissions and wild
exagerations excepted]

 

Snip fine stuff

I'm not bashful about it, you missed out one extra lap of the circuit! or
perhaps too many KRC people lurk... )
and the sirloins, how could you forget those beauties.

 

It was somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the

Well done anyway. From what I hear of Bishopscourt it's a wonder anyone
stays on and it's about time some proper resurfacing was done.
It's an old airstrip circuit, isn't it?

--

Dave

GS 850 x2 / SE 6a
SbS#6 DIAABTCOD#16 APOSTLE#6 FUB#3
FUB KotL OSOS#12? UKRMMA#19 COSOC#10

 

Cheers'n'ta. Yep, it is an old airstrip.
In some ways I agree, but oddly enough for some reason,
I really enjoy racing on that circuit. Sure it's as rough
as a badgers arse and *very* basic. But inspite (or perhaps
because) of this it is great fun and a real challenge.

--
Alex
BMW R1150GS
DIAABTCOD#3 MSWF#4 UKRMFBC#6 Ibw#35 BOB#8
http://www.team-ukrm.co.uk
Windy's "little soldier"

 

<g>
this tale sounds like someone was emulating the "most pissed out of our
heads car journey" stories from some of the Moto GP riders (as published
in the ever wonderful MCN Sport).

 

Champ wrote:

<SNIP>

Shame, you appeared to have everything so well orgainised...

 

You forgot about the two disabled children in wheelchairs we ran down....and
that party of Nuns

 

<excellent reportage snipped>

Who's turn is it to crash next?
<D&RLF>

 

We've yet to crash the van on the way
to or from an event yet?

--
Alex
BMW R1150GS
DIAABTCOD#3 MSWF#4 UKRMFBC#6 Ibw#35 BOB#8
http://www.team-ukrm.co.uk
Windy's "little soldier"

 

Well, we've had one each now, so I guess it ought to be my turn again.
But I crashed on the road this week, and anyway, Alex hasn't been
taking it seriously cos he hasn't broken any bones, so I think it's
his turn.

 

Excellent. The ballon debate of death.

 

Running a SuperMoto next year?

 

Despite my best efforts, too!

 

Top stuff, Mr C.

Things are looking quite good, apart from the crashes.

When James and Alex's takeover from the oldies is complete, the team
could show promise.
--
| ___ Salad Dodger
|/ \
_/_____\_ GL1500SEV/CBR1100XXX/KH500A8/TS250C
|_\_____/_| ..66073../..15556.../..3157./.19406
(>|_|_|<) TPPFATUICG#7 DIAABTCOD#9 YTC#4 PM#5
|__|_|__| BOTAFOT #70 BOTAFOF #09 two#11 WG*
\ |^| / IbW#0 & KotIbW# BotTOS#6 GP#4
\|^|/ ANORAK#17
'^' RBR-Visited:35 Pts: 705 Miles:2429

 

Oi! I resemble that remark...
[snip]

Proper team effort, that


One phrase, though: "o-rings".
=8-o

[of the one they call Dening]

Fooking hell! Silly bar-steward.

Heh. It's a team speciality.

Indeed, thanks in particular from me to Hog for introducing me to the
biggest steak I've seen this side of Wyoming.


--
| Wik -UKRMHRC#10- 2003 R1150GSA -DC#1 -'FOT#0 'FOF #39 - BOD#12 BOB#12
|# You don't believe me | "Experience is the worst teacher.
|That the scenery | It always gives the test first
|Could be a cold-blooded killer. | and the instruction afterward."
***** human response from wik at blueyonder dot co dot uk *****

 

To put it another way, I did a lap on the GS on Sunday morning as the last
thing before leaving the circuit. Coming into the first corner at 70+mph
(compared to, I'd guess, 130+ for the riders) and finding I was being
bounced off line by the strips of tarmac that sit proud, laid horizontally
and staggered across the entire corner, I'd say it's best suited to
rally-cross...

--
| Wik -UKRMHRC#10- 2003 R1150GSA -DC#1 -'FOT#0 'FOF #39 - BOD#12 BOB#12
|# You don't believe me | "Experience is the worst teacher.
|That the scenery | It always gives the test first
|Could be a cold-blooded killer. | and the instruction afterward."
***** human response from wik at blueyonder dot co dot uk *****

 

Good point. Must be one of the crew's turn.

--
| Wik -UKRMHRC#10- 2003 R1150GSA -DC#1 -'FOT#0 'FOF #39 - BOD#12 BOB#12
|# You don't believe me | "Experience is the worst teacher.
|That the scenery | It always gives the test first
|Could be a cold-blooded killer. | and the instruction afterward."
***** human response from wik at blueyonder dot co dot uk *****

 

apply as, erm, applicable:

well done, bad luck, ohh... nasty, silly bugger, better
luck next time, etc.