Pembrey 3/4 April New Era Super Club

[skidlids]

Just got my entry through, I will be racing under No.88 in the 600 class.
Well racing maybe a bit of a stretch of the imagination for me at Super Club level, but if anybody wants to come along to watch me circulating at the back of the field and to watch WJB on Monty's bike I have three spare 2 day competitor passes, given to me for putting DSC down as my Sponsors.
So if anybody wants them send us a U2U and I'll get them into the post.

[WeeJohnyB]

Kev -see you there mate. Are you on the R6 then? Are you doing the test day on Friday? We have a large canopy. If we get there early enough we should get a decent spot - you're welcome to join us in the 'tent' if you want. We've not used it yet and it's a tad big, so there should be plenty of room. We will be number 89 in the GP250 class, hopefully not at the back!!!

Anyone else coming need tickets, we have spares as well, just drop me a U2U.

First race of the season - feeling nervous, no not me:(:o:(

WeeJohnyB

[Felix]

Best of luck to both of you! Be sure to post how you got on.

[skidlids]

Cheers for the good luck wishes Felix
WJB will be down there on Friday as my mate Dallas will be testing the R1 that has replaced his 748RS that he raced last season. I should be on the R6 if not it will be the GSXR600 thats arriving from Ireland tomorrow. Ianh will also be there on his tuned 998 No.6 in the SoT class. Gordy is also hoping to pop along over the weekend by car (No bike yet). Use of big tent/awning could be very handy.
We may try and get there Thursday night.
Kev

[chris.p]

Have a good one Kev, let us know how you get on, watch the F400 race, the top three are lads I used to race with in D.Phoenix with, they are top three in the championship at the moment.

Chris.:roll:

[Edited on 27-3-2004 by chris.p]

[kwikbitch]

Go Guyz! Go Guyz! Go Guyz!
http://smilies.sofrayt.com/%5E/_950/ole.gif

[skidlids]

thanks for the support guys and gals.
On the way back from the Dyno run at Moto Rapido I stopped off to check out my GSXR600 that arrived from Ireland today. Would love to race it at Pembrey next weekend as it has 116 rear wheel BHP, thats 11 more than my 916 had just put out on the dyno. As 600s go it is very well sorted but without any spare wheels for my wetr I think its to much of a gamble. So expect me to be on the R6 but don't be suprised if I'm on the Suzuki.

[Gordy]

Good luck to you all. Kev thanks for the offer of the tickets, but i won't be able to go now, as i'm going to look at/collect a bike on saturday so can't get a pass out for sunday. i'm sure you'll all do well but more important, have fun.

Gordy.

[skidlids]

No probs Gordy as soon as I saw your post about going to view the bike next saturday I thought you would have to give it a miss, at least you have your priorities right, look forward to seeing you out on a 888 in the very near future. Maybe the 18th for a run down to Dorset

Kev

[Alan Holland]

Best Wishes to all the DSC Boys @ Pembrey this weekend - sorry we can't be with u ( perhaps you're relived now ? ) but have a little outing @ Croft to attend.

Weather forecast looks fine so it'll be a busy weekend for us all.

Keep it on the black stuff and see u soon

Alan and Phil

PBR.

[bradders]

best of irish to you Kev and WJB

[skidlids]

Cheers for the good wishes guys, Just finished preping the R6 late this afternoon, new body kit looks nice complete with its DSC Logos, shame the tank doesnt match but had to let the matching one go on the other bike. Jerry can is full of Super unleaded and the Van is full of £45 worth of Diesel.
Just got to load everything tomorrow morning to head off down there in the afternoon as I'm helping my mate Dallas on the Friday practice day. its going to be along weekend but hopefully very enjoyable.
Monty, WJB and Ianh we will see you down there.

Kev

[Monty]

Looking forward to it Kev, everything is ready, I just have to load the bike on the trailer, fit the front mudguard, stickers, race numbers, load the genny, 3 jerrycans of avgas, 1 jerrycan of unleaded for the genny, tools, tent etc etc. ****-it looks like I'm not ready at all yet-going to be a long day-see you tonight.;)

John

[WeeJohnyB]

just a bit excited:roll:

I 'packed' all my kit at the weekend I just couldn't wait, I'm so looking forward to it. I didn't sleep much last night...got in the office at 7.15am, leaving early to meet up with Monty and drive down there. Looking forward to trying a new track as I've never done Pembrey and also to get back on the wee beastie and take it to the max - we've still not opened it up fully after the rebuild. We're hoping to get mid pack by the end of the weekend, maybe a bit ambitious, but we're going to give it a try.

Good luck to everyone racing this weekend.

WeeJohnyB

[stumpy1]

Good luck m8.....................

[skidlids]

WJB you will find the TZ well suited to Pembrey, I've seen Neil Higgs on the DTR bike putting in some really quick lap times. Another half hour and i'm off down there.

[skidlids]

Pembrey April 2004-04-05

Arrived Thursday evening with my mate Dallas and set up in the top end of the paddock. After 6 years of riding various Ducati’s Dallas now has a R1 with Ohlins all round, full Micron system, rearsets etc, where as this year I am starting the season on a R6 which up until this weekend had never seen a short circuit, its engine and induction system is totally standard, the main mods being Ohlins shock and steering damper pinched off last years TT bike and a set of Harris rearsets.
After setting up our pit area and having something to eat and wondered the paddock catching up with fellow racers that we haven’t seen over the winter break. Eventually I came across WJB and Monty unloading the car and getting out the new awning/marquee/house and gave them a hand to set it up before heading for my bunk.
Friday was practice day for which both Dallas and WJB were booked in. Dallas took to the track with a view to just refreshing his memory of it as he hasn’t been there for over a year and on his last 2 visits has had a couple of offs, one involving broken ankles and ribs. After several sessions Dallas was down in to the 1min 11s and feeling comfortable, so it was time to try a few tweaks to the bike. Made a small change to the rear shock length to increase the rear ride height. This resulted in lap times dropping to 1min 10s with Dallas happy in that he was getting both knees down for the first time ever at Pembrey. We decided to try for a little more rear ride height but this resulted in slower lap times and Dallas reporting the bike was not so confidence inspiring, so we put it back to the previous setting. It looked as if we needed to lower the gearing as only 4 gears were being used but sadly the race vans didn’t have the necessary front sprocket, a change of rear wasn’t possible as the wheel was already fully forward and would have required a new chain. So Dallas just did a couple of more sessions with the bike as it was eventually getting in to the mid 1’09 bracket. And after 80 or so laps the Pirelli Diablo Corsas were holding up well. This time compares to his previous best of 1’07 on his 916 Strada race bike using slicks in the middle of summer.

As for Monty and WJB, I’ll leave it to them to tell you about their tales of woe.

Saturday was race day and my turn on track I had the bike scrutinised on the Friday evening and after getting my clothing done I signed on and got my practice pass. Following a very rainy night the track was fairly wet so I decided on a wet front and a intermediate rear. When I got out in practice (3rd group of the day) the track was a real mix of wet and dry patches but didn’t feel to bad on my choice of tyres the only dodgy feeling bit was the braking area into the hairpin which was fairly dry and the block pattern on the front wet was squirming around a lot causing me to have to brake earlier than I wanted. The result was 21st place on the grid and about 8 seconds off the times of the front row guys. After coming in I decided to get the Super Corsa removed from my spare front and fit an intermediate instead.
Race 1 took up my place on the grid on a drying track with some damp patches and a wet hairpin where a oil spill had been cleaned up. I got a average start and joined the rest of the Queue at the hairpin/bottleneck. I was a lot happier with my tyre choice and track conditions and slowly improved my lap times getting down to below 1’ 10.5 secs, sadly this wasn’t quite quick enough to stop me getting lapped by the race winner and the next 5 riders. I need to lap in the 1’08s to avoid this happening, which is a time I was doing last year on the Ducati. However I came off he track happy with my progress on the R6 as this is the first time I have raced it and there is still a lot of set-up to do. I felt with a few more dry races I would get the ride heights right and then look at fitting lower gearing and go from there as I was very happy with my lap times first time out and with the bikes ability to change direction and hold a tight line.
Sadly to say the rest of the weekend was wet races for me and following he odd big slide, a misting visor and a clash with another rider no further progress was made.

Still the weekend was far from a disaster the bike has good potential I just need some dry track time to get it dialled in and closer to the set-up of the other R6 that I parted with the weekend before.
So a list of things to do is now in place, and includes things like fitting single rate Ohlins fork springs, race compound brake pads, stiffen rear end, adjust ride height (lower) and buy a few more sprockets.

High lights of the weekend was watching the Ianh winning the Powerbike on his 998 and both he and Les Liney putting in some very good rides in the SoT races.

[skidlids]

I hope your going to do the same after Cadwell, certainly hope its not as brief as your previous race report which was far outweighed by your medical report.

Steve will it still be possible to pick up my wheels, discs and battery from you later this week in Reading, Hopefully the Strada will be vacating my workshop in a week or so then I want to assemble the 748SP.

[Felix]

Great report, Kev. Given the dodgy conditions, at least you stayed upright, which always helps for the next race.

The weather you describe is utterly useless in trying to setup a bike. As you say, a few good dry days will sort it.

You've made a great start with your report and I think it needs to be compulsory for posters that race to file reports of their activities. Watch me "forget" to file mine.;)

I'll be doing my first test session at Croft week on Wednesday. I hope the weather cooperates.

[skidlids]

just had a text from Alan Holland saying that Phil pulled out of the MRO race at Croft this weekend due to lack of grip and thought it to dangerous to carry on, hopefully Alan will be putting out a more in depth report in the near future.
As I have never been to Croft I have no Idea of the circuit layout or type of surface or the weather they had there this weekend. Hopefully your trackday will be different.

[Felix]

I wasn't at Croft on the weekend but the weather must've been *****e (I don't live far from there).

[WeeJohnyB]

I can't talk about it until after my final appointment on the couch.

Wet, cold, windy, miserable, disaster, failure, hate racing, hate bikes, hate crashing, (twice), hate scratching brand new leathers, hate tyre choices, hate paying out loads of money for tyres, hate smashing up someone else's bike, hate paying out shedloads for new parts, hate only finishing one friggin race, hate being LAST, yes that's LAST.

Nop, can't talk about it I'm afraid...too angry still:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

WeeJohnyTotally****edOff:(

[KeefyB]

Not a good day then mate?!!?
Aah the highs and lows of motorcycle racing!You love it really.;)

[Felix]

WJB, mate, that sounds bl@@dy awful!! Tell us when you're ready.

Chin up, mate!

[Alan Holland]

Boys - wasn't the best of weekends. Piggin miles to get there 6.5 hours - and weather tit's up.

Sat went well - got a real good set up and mega power on the RS. Apart from one race where he locked up front end @ 100 mph plus - in standing water...) We've been sorting out the fuel mapping with the new dataloggin gear and Phil was very confident of getting a decent result. Sunday Qualifing went well ( dry ) managed 13th overall - 1 sec odd splitting 13th / 6th place. Then 10 mins before Phil was due out it ****ed it down. Just managed to change tyres to full wets but failed to remap fuel ( lower power / smoother power del ). Just couldn't put any power down exiting corners - most times it was lock to lock ( Bev would of got a ride for Oxford Speedway no probs .. ). Back end was just spinning up so continued for a few more laps and then called it a day. Bikes were being dropped like wild fire, so played safe.

Oh well one of those weekends again. But we've got more data to work on ( and a mint dry fuel map ) so we have to keep having a go.

Cadwell in two weeks and a TD on the 24th / 25th so it'll be busy as normal. Best result over the weekend was Man U stuffin the Gunners. Anyone want to barter for some tickets ?? I need 2.

Cheers

Alan.

[Monty]

"Piggin miles to get there - and weather tit's up."-that'll be Pembrey then will it Alan-well it was for us. And WJB had to fast off's, and the weekend cost us both a fortune in tyres and bits...........:mad:
I don't think either of us will be in a hurry to come back to 'sunny' Pembrey.

John

[Alan Holland]

Monty - ''We'll keep a welcome in the Hillsides''

@ least u raced - ish...Snetterton the previous sat was cancelled due to high winds...Even thought of strapping the caravan down !

Oh well - just remember the weather @ Silverstone 2003...

[WeeJohnyB]

Ok, I think after my final session with the shrink I can talk about this now.

It was a dreadful weekend. It's a long way to go, it took us 4 hours, plus the packing beforehand and the unpacking when you get there. It took us 90 minutes to put up my new awning in the rain for the first time, but that was one of the highlights of the weekend - at least I know it works and we can put it up in half the time next meeting. It rained most of the time and the wind was force 5 at times, blowing all the tents around. We went for the Friday testing day as I've never been before. It's quite a good little track, although I could hardly say that as I never really got to give it a good go. I fell on Friday, lowsided tipping it into a left hander after the end of the session, so I wasn't even going quickly, I don't know why I went down, but there were about a dozen people went down at the same bit. I walked the circuit later and there is a bump just off the line and if I wasn't on the pace, I would have maybe been off line and not concentrating. On the other hand, with so many others going down, who knows. When you crash and it's your fault and you can see why, that's one thing, but not knowing why confuses you and zaps your confidence for going in hard next time, as you constantly think the front is going to slip away at any moment. We're running on second hand tyres as we can't afford to buy new and as I didn't trust the slicks we had on, we decided to dump them - they looked ok but they'd probably been heated and cooled too much and lost their grip. Damage to the left of the bike and to my little finger, but nothing too bad.

We did get some good laps in towards the end when it dried out a bit and I managed a 1.07, not bad after only about 20 laps, so I was feeling a bit better, but still had some way to go to get on the pace.

Saturday was race day and my first race of the season - really nervous and excited, but in no way was I ready as my head was just not right after yesterday. I was feeling like I didn't want to crash again, which is not a good thing to feel for racing.

We'd had the slicks, inters and wets on and off constantly due to the weather, poor Monty was knackered, especially after spending hours fixing the bike the previous day. Eventually we decided to change onto the inters for the first race. They were second hand again and they looked pretty crappy, but they were all we had. One of the CB500 guys said we should chuck them, but it was race time and it was damp. As we only have two sets of wheels, we had to take the slicks off to get the inters on, so I ran to the tyre guy and got him to do it double quick time, then literally ran back and Monty put the wheels on as I did the warmers, only about 10 minutes to go so I wanted as much heat in the tyres as possible. I'm panicking now. There's a bit of rain threatening and the track is damp/dry line -who knows what the feck tyres to put on. 10 seconds later and it's time to get out there. There are loads of strokers going past our tent and we still have the warmers on, I'm really getting agitated now. Off come the warmers and stands and I push Monty up the paddock to bump start the little beastie and it's straight into the holding area. Once round and I form up on the grid. (I'd qualified last, but that's another story - I missed the first few dry laps of the qualifying session and I did my qualifying on slicks in the wet - everyone else did two flying laps and came in - I did 6 slow laps in the increasing rain and gave up - oh dear)

Anyway, I got a reasonable start and gallantly held onto my last position as we all piled into the hairpin. Right, right, left all in a line, no problem, I was already thinking that the next five in front of me were holding me up, so I was feeling ok, tipped it into the fast right hander and it went down even faster, begger:mad: I was really mad, I wish it had been on camera, as I walked back over to the bike and kicked the tyre. I then sat in the rain and cold for ten laps watching everyone else racing and then waited another 10 minutes for the recovery truck, got bundled into it with two other bikes. The run back to the paddock in the truck is more dangerous than racing - the back is open and nothing is strapped in, just you standing holding your bike.

None of us could understand why I'd gone down and I'd completely lost my confidence, sense of humour and will to carry on - frankly, if I could have left I would have. I actually sat on that banking watching everyone thinking "that's it, I've had enough, I'm not cut out to be a racer".

About an hour later, we were still mistified at what happenned when someone said 'what tyre pressures are you running?'. We checked the cold front tyre to find 41, not the 29 we thought was in there. We'd not checked the tyre pressure after the tyre man fitted them - he has to fit above the pressure to make them stick or something, anyway, at least we knew why I went down, with the warmers on, they were probably up near 50 and rock hard, ah well.

Problem was I'd broken bits of the bike again and we had to spend another £250 on bits and Monty spent 8 hours non stop fixing the bike. Gutted. We decided not to trust some of the second hand tyres and I shelled out another £330 for some new rubber.

First race on Sunday was wet and horrible, so it was on with the new wets, (I've never ridden on wets before, so this was going to be a challenge). We'd been running back and forward looking at the track to see what tyres to go for and I'd spotted a few boys changing to wets, so that was the wise choice, only when I got into the holding area, EVERONE was on inters and one guy on slicks. FECK IT. The track had a dry line all the way round.

I was not about to bin the bike for a third time or waste £200 of brand new wets, so I tootled around in last place, avoided getting lapped and brought the bike and the tyres home in one piece.

By this stage I'd completely lost all will to carry on and we decided to call it a day before the final race.

Long silent car journey home. Long week at work.

On a brighter note I did Cadwell on my 748 yesterday and started to get back into it, but I was still lacking in confidence tipping into corners thinking the front is going to go at any moment.

Mallory on the 11th of this month, so we'll see how we get on. Still not sure if I can push someone else's pride and joy to the limit. Monty has decided the fairing is shagged, so there's another £150 to spend.

We won't get much change out of £1000 for the weekend when we add everything up...bang goes another family holiday...relations in the Bunting household are stretched to the limit I'm afraid....and the cat was killed on the road yesterday. Woe is me!!!

WeeJohnyB:(:(:(:(:(

[Felix]

Oh, man!!! No wonder it took you a while before you could put it all down on paper.

One thing I absolutely hate and dread is being rushed in preparation. Changing weather is always going to be a challange being rushed makes it 4 times worse. The sky high tyre pressure is a typical example of this. And, there was two of you. On your own, it'd be far worse!

The drive home, when it all sinks in, is probably the worst bit. Adrenalin gone and all that time to think.

I was supposed to be racing at Croft last month but missed the entry deadline. The weather was exactly the same as you had at Pembrey. Both of my mates crashed, gail force winds, caravans blowing over, etc. In retrospect, I don't mind I missed that first meet.

Chin up, though, brighter days are only around the corner.

[skidlids]

WJB That about sums it up from what I saw of it, my weekend was far from ideal, but compared to yours I can't complain to much.
Who you with at Mallory this Sunday, if the weather is crap next weekend I was going to go and watch the New Era Superclub meeting at Mallory on the 18th, I originally planned to do this meeting, but finances are at breaking point with the tuning work on the TT bike and trying to get my 998 finished.
need some dry practice on the R6 to get it set up, may have to book in to Mallory on a Wednesday afternoon, or take it to Castle Combe with its standard can on it.

[Monty]

He means the 18th Skids, we are racing next weekend at Mallory-Sunday 18th, New Era Superclubs-I think he still has brain fade from Pembrey!:lol:
I rode the TZ at Cadwell on Good Friday, the motor is sharp as a very sharp thing so I think we forget Pembrey and declare Mallory the start of out season.

John

[Guido]

WeeJB & Monty,

What a bummer..that's a hellish tale of woe fellas. Only wish I could help on the £'s front.......

At least it can't get any worse and to do it all at the 1st meeting is far better than half-way thru or 2wards the end.

Chin-up fellas.

Sorry to hear about the cat John.. Say hi to the family for me.