My half arsed F400 nc30

[28hodge]

Pissed off does not come close. I punched the tank really really hard after the chequered flag and hurt it.
Sat in the collecting area in the blazing sun, and I was really warm, and already I knew that the entire grid was sat on the wrong tyres! Everyone was on wets, it had been so wet first thing that it seemed stupid to be on anything else. As we rolled out onto the grid I was encouraged as there was still some pretty serious damp patches. But as soon as we set off on the warm up lap and got round turn 1, it was pretty clear that the track had dried way more than anyone expected.

Why I hadn’t gone for a wonder to have a look I don’t know, I guess like everyone else I had just not expected the track could dry out so much in such a short space of time. I had wondered about maybe being able to run a dry rear but just thought it would be too wet especially round under the trees so never really thought it was a serious option!

I was sat in 3rd but about 2 laps from the end the rear tyre was utterly destroyed, my 14 year old rear wet had finally had its day, my laptimes tumble and I dropped from 3rd to 6th in the space of a lap and a half.

I actually went as quick in the race on wets on a drying track as I had in quali, on a dry track with supercorsa on. Which goes to show how utterly shite my quali was!!

[LancasterTony]

any chance of renting that ultrasonic cleaner?

If i can find it yeah, we have moved house since i last moved it and have no clue where it has gone.

Well if you find it, send me a PM or I may miss it.
cheers

[28hodge]

I don’t have long till I am out again in the thunderbike sport class. This is a split grid with the rookie minitwins. Thunderbike sport set off first then 30 seconds or so after us the mintwin rookies set off.

I put the battery on charge, change the tyres that had been sat in the tyre warmers on a wheel tree that Adam lent me and topped the fuel up, so we were good to go

[28hodge]

Sounds a bit daft this, but I didn’t really know how to approach this race. The F400 races obviously matter to me and I want good results and push hard. This was the first time I had gotten an entry into the thunderbike class.

The result mattered but I was conscious that I had a further 2 F400 races later in the day still. So I didn’t want to push like crazy and risk a crashing, damaging the bike or myself and not being able to take part in those races.

I was still a little hacked off with losing 3rd in the sub class in the F400 race on the last lap and a half, so had that as motivation and also the fact that it would be totally dry so was another opportunity to try and get me times down below 2mins.

I got a great start again but my god minitwins are slow on the entry into turn one. So got baulked behind one. Losing me a lot of the time that I had made up off the line. Then to be honest with you, I kinda of don’t get into the race. Once steve Young comes by exiting shell oils I seem to pick the pace up a little more and then have an OK race, but I am not pushing as hard as I maybe would if this was an F400 race, even though it basically is a F400 race as I am battling with Dan and Steve both on F400’s.

I make a couple of mistakes and to be honest there is an error on pretty much every lap, my best lap was ruined by Dan hardy cutting out which made him run wide then pull off the track heading into druids, this ballsed me up. And I was slow round druids, meaning I only just got passed the minitwin that had run off track.

As we came round to start the last lap I was determined to get steve back and keep the minitwin behind me, which was made easier as steve missed a gear heading into cascades and ran on meaning all I had to do was hold of the minitwin, having dived underneath him round turn one, I thought his best opportunities would be heading down lakeside into island bend, as the 72bhp mintwin would have the legs on me here, and then on the pull up out of Brittens chicane up over hilltop where again the minitwin would have the extra punch over me. And I made this move even easier for him as I messed up a shift and held 3rd gear for too long robbing me of drive.

I give chase but don’t really have an opportunity anywhere and I’m not pulling a do or die move risking crashing for a place in a class that isn’t that important to me.

I finish 16th (so maybe should have tried a pass into the last corner so as to get into the points!!) but more importantly despite mistakes on most laps. I manage a 2.02.494 on the last lap, so a new PB. That’s nearly 1sec quicker than last year.

Every lap is in the 2.03’s and 3 are all under my previous best. Which is encouraging.

Still need to find 2.5 seconds though but looking at the splits I can tell where I am losing, Cascades and Island bend can both be improved.

[28hodge]

Race three of the day was the second F400 race.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYEa1BO2V7M

[28hodge]

I got a storming start and was up with the leading sub64 bikes into turn one, I got baulked a little as 2 bikes started rubbing just in front of me which cost me a bit of time, this lost me some of the advantage I’d gained off the line, so I lost a couple spots down into cascades. Then heading into island bend and shell oils I manage to catch some time but get put wide into shell oils and lose a spot as a YPM TZR ducks underneath me.

I was desperate to try and stick with the leading sub64 bikes but I’m starting to lose touch already. Out of Brittens chicane and I am having that TZR back, we both get past a ZXR that must have missed a gear or something, the TZR covers his line into Hislops, so I go down the outside of him, brake really late and manage to outbrake him and drop across his nose.

I try to concentrate on getting forward, but make a total hash of turn 1 at the start of the second lap, run out of room on the exit and end up the wrong side of the kerbs and on the plastic grids that are full of grass. I get an almighty tank slapper, the camera does not do it justice at all, it makes itlook like a little wiggle.

This lets the TZR past followed closely by another TZR, and this kinda sums up the rest of the race for me, I ride OK but really I never manage to put a fault free lap together, Lap 3 is my fasted lap but even watching that back on the vids im not especially happy with it.

I also have one dodgy lap, where Steve Young gets past me, as something happened with the throttle as I came off the gas heading into a braking zone the throttle seemed to stay open a little pushing me on. I use the standard throttle so it has a long action, I think I just kinda didn’t rotate my wrist enough to fully close the throttle but at the time I was a bit worried something on my glove was caught on the twist grip and holding it open a little, or worse something mechanical was holding it open, so I took a lap and really concentrated on shutting the throttle.

I finished with a best lap of 2.01.592 22nd in the f400 and 6th in the sub64, which I was pretty bummed about. The laptime was quicker but not where I wanted it to be and the results were not where I wanted them to be.

[28hodge]

I had race 2 of the Thunderbikes to get ready for, but due to the potential issue with the throttle I decided to sit it out and take the time to look to see if there was an issue as we had the re run Silverstone race that we lost due to oil being spilled. This was a points scoring race for me so mattered more than the Thunderbike race which I only entered to get a little extra tracktime. It also meant I could save the tyres a little bit more.

I found nothing wrong with the throttle but was happier that I looked at it and put my mind at rest. Then we sat and waited for out Silverstone re run race, which was scheduled to be the very last race.

And we waited

And waited



And waited.

First hold up was due to an oil spillage which was around Island bend and into the shell oils hairpin.

Island bend is fast, it’s a 6th gear approach, you stroke the brakes at the end of the straight come back one gear and tip in and get straight back on the gas rolling it on all the way round before sitting up straight and braking hard for the 180 hairpin.

Island bend is a lefthander and has little run off on the right, if you go down here given your speed and the lack of run off, you will more than likely make it to the barriers, which are made out of 30year old rock hard tyres!!

With oil down here the next race out after the clean up is the minitwins. Some of which come in after the first lap and aren’t happy about being asked to ride in the conditions. But racing continues.

We are getting close to the curfew where they have to stop for time. But we should just sneak in and get our race done in time, the 2nd last race get underway and we start to get kitted up, then there is a big crash. The race before us is the 1000 class and there is an accident going up clay hill. This is fast, Search for John Kirkhams crash here from BSB a few years ago and you’ll get the idea.

The rider is injuried and needs the air ambulance, this dealy scuppers any chance of our last race being run.

And sure enough a couple minutes later they abandon the meeting, so we pack up and head home

[28hodge]

I was disappointed with Oulton really, I love the track but just don’t seem to be that quick round it. I wanted a sub 2min laptime which I failed to get and the sub64 class was pretty strong at the round There was 3 TZR YPM TZR250 bikes out with us, these have a massive weight advantage this year thanks to some rule shenanigans in the off season and the fast lads have bikes with high 50’s bhp, making them have a pretty decent advantage over a sub64 4 stroke bike.

I ended up with 2 6ths placing’s, Race one I was third with one lap to go but the tyre just destroyed itself and was sliding everywhere, so I dropped to 6th which was really frustrating, as I was going to miss the next two rounds due to me and my girlfriend expecting our first child I was going to have to miss them so needed to get as many points as possible.

Race two I just didn’t get going and kept making mistakes and I basically rode like a bit of a turd. Then they cancelled or Silverstone re run robbing me of a chance to gain some more points. This race was eventually run when Bemsee went to Pembrey and I wasn’t there, brilliantly those that are around me in the championship table where though so this hurt me even more.

Basically I was really looking forward to going to Brand GP in August to get back on track and try and make amends from a crap showing at Oulton.

[28hodge]

Brands Hatch GP

I love this round, Bemsee are the only club that get the opportunity to ride the GP circuit, and what a circuit it is, it’s a long way from me but its 100% worth the journey. This was by far my best round last year and I got my first sub64 pots at this round last year.

Added to this the fact that I had missed the previous two rounds at Cadwell and Pembrey due to them being a bit too close to my girlfriends due date so I had to cancel the entries (well Cadwells at least, Pembrey I never entered as I was the actual due date, entering that round would not of been a wise decision) and I was really really keen to get back on the bike.

I set off at 12ish and had the journey from hell, I was hoping to get to Brands in 5hrs ish so I would be there in time to get through scruitineering on Friday before it shut and then go off on the trackwalk. Nope

6hrs 20mins! It was a total nightmare. So I missed getting through scruitineering and the trackwalk, so basically just unloaded everything into the garage sorted my bed out had some tea and fucked off the rest of the day hoping the rest of the weekend would go a bit more to plan.

So thanks to arriving late I was up early to get the bike through scruitineering before it got busy. That done I grabbed some breakfast then sat around for best part of 4 hours waiting for my quali session.

We were late in the schedule (2nd last group from a 9 group block of races) but our wait was made worse thanks to the first group (minitwinners) going skittling on the first lap of their qualifying session meaning the air ambulance was required! Not a great start, this coupled with a couple other delays and holds ups meant for a long drawn out morning of not actually doing a lot.

Anyway our quali got underway and to be honest I rode like an arse, but after 10weeks off the bike that was to be expected, we get 15mins which round the GP circuit isn’t much given a slow outlap etc. The bike was running a new quick action throttle too, this was the first time I had used it and really I could have done with more than 15mins to get used to it.

I manage 5 flying laps, to call them flying is probably a bit of a exaggeration, they are less than inspiring, I don’t really get much of a clear run, but still they are all way off the times I want/need to be doing.

However I find something on my last lap and manage to go 1.5 quicker than any of my other laps, but this is still only a 1.50. the leading subs are in the mid 1.45’s!! my best lap last year was a 1.47.800.

I’m a little worried about this, but to be honest I knew I was going to be a bit rusty, and added to this I am still adjusting to the new throttle, so I am happy enough that I’ll soon be back down to my PB once ive gotten a little bit more comfortable, I am also pretty confident that I’ll be able to get into the Mid 45’s towards the end of the weekend.

But those doing mid 45’s straight out the blocks in quali are only going to get faster too, so I seriously doubt I’ll be able to get towards the pointy end of the sub64 grid!

The weather is stunning, its forecast to be good all weekend, so no tricky tyre decisions needed, so we fuel the bike wang the battery on charge and wait for race 1.

The club have a nightmare, accidents in various grids cause plenty of red flags and lost time. Its gone 3pm by the time we get our first call.

So here’s race one from grid slot 24 out of 40.

[gavins]

Bah, i made so many mistakes but enjoyed that race best of all weekend. I love the camera changes after you overtake me on lap 2 :). I'll upload the view from behind you this evening if i get time and add it to this post. *added vid, best viewed on youtube, fullscreen in 720p.