KERMIT1200
Hero member
- Location
- Worcester,UK
Too right. Aim low 1 min 20msecs in qualifying. Already told my pit wall/timing man to call me in if I drop below 1min 20secs!!!!!!!!! Its only the National Circuit, so Melbourne loop out.
Andy
TT1 4 Hour Endurance racing
- Thread starter KERMIT1200
- Start date
Andy
motoddrob
Hero member
- Location
- S/W Australia
Good luck Andy
KERMIT1200
Hero member
- Location
- Worcester,UK
Pau Video 2 - 1727881191928.mp4
The team are at Donington this Friday and Saturday, race kicks off at 1500 till 1800. Engine rebuilt!
The above video is from the last race at Pau, when it all went wrong, enjoy.
You will have to open the link on the above to see it.
Andy
The team are at Donington this Friday and Saturday, race kicks off at 1500 till 1800. Engine rebuilt!
The above video is from the last race at Pau, when it all went wrong, enjoy.
You will have to open the link on the above to see it.
Andy
Great to see the bike and crew at Donnington today. Glad I caught up with you all. Good luck for tomorrow. Bike sounds sweet and glad to hear dropping the forks a couple of mm tidied up the slight high speed wobble. A lovely noise down the pit straight, bruuuuummmmmm. 
Last edited:
KERMIT1200
Hero member
- Location
- Worcester,UK
Thanks Paul and all the people who came and supported the team. Your show of support was fully appreciated and I thank you all.
I afraid the bike failed approx 35mins into the race, I believe ?????? the crank failed ? . I rolled the dice and -
Anyway big thanks to all. Full report will follow.
I afraid the bike failed approx 35mins into the race, I believe ?????? the crank failed ? . I rolled the dice and -
Anyway big thanks to all. Full report will follow.
Andy J
Hero member
- Location
- Isle of Man
What a bummer Andy! Will give you a call in the next couple of days.
andre g
Hero member
Hi Andy, did you exchange the oil cooler after your demage at Pau? All the alumium waste wich came in the oil flow will stay in the cooler, block it and will send small particles in in the oil and demage all other bearings. The oil cooler is scrap and cannot be cleaned in my opinion.
KERMIT1200
Hero member
- Location
- Worcester,UK
Hi andre, Yeah VERY thoroughly cleaned and oil lines. Even put in a Ultra sonic tank twice. Full report and pictures of Donington to follow.
Andy
Ps The engine had to be rebuilt using a standard crank(time constraints), that had already done thousands of miles. Asking it to handle 50% more power and torque was a big ask. I was apprehensive to say the least, and never really pushed it 100% on track at Donington . I rolled the dice and ................. The motor lasted a total running time of 3.5 hours.
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Bob Broadhead
Junior member
- Location
- Rotherham UK
some photo's from Donington Park
Sorry Andy I only managed to get Tony on the bike
Bob
Sorry Andy I only managed to get Tony on the bike
Bob
KERMIT1200
Hero member
- Location
- Worcester,UK
Full report from Donington.
Its been a disappointing season, the effort put in has been immense, you couldn't buy the bad luck we received. At times its been difficult to be positive. Big thanks to the team for sticking through it all, to see them ALL working on repairing the bike to re- enter the race at Paul Ricard was brill.
Enjoy the report.
LAVERDA TT1 TEAM DONINGTON 2024
A lot of work had gone in to rebuilding the engine following the catastrophic failure at Pau Arnos. It goes without saying that all the rubber inlet manifolds were replaced but the real work would begin with a trip to Keith Nairn. Inspection revealed the barrels beyond repair along with a couple of valves but worst of all the crank was out of true and #1 journal needed replacement. Time was against me getting the crank fixed so I rolled the dice and decided to use a standard crank and rods I had lurking under the bench...
The week before the race was spent weather watching. The Midlands in mid-October is a far cry from the 35° experienced in Pau Arnos... The best we could hope for was consistent weather across the Friday and Saturday as this would make tyre choice easy. Initially there was a mix of sun and showers but as the days went by the weather came to us with no rain forecast for either day. Score!
Donington Park is my favourite circuit and I was confident we’d go well. Running in the UK massively reduces costs as the bike can be trailered up and a twin room at a nearby ‘Days Inn’ was a very reasonable £40 per night.
Before meeting up with the team Andy and I dropped the bike off on the Thursday night to be ready for the Friday track day, We were sharing the garage with Phase One running James Ellison (a double European Superstock champion, World Endurance champion and World Supersport, MotoGP, and American AMA Superbike participant)! Alongside Phase One was Team Bike with Casey O’Gorman who is signed to Marc Marquez’s management team – we fitted in a treat!
We weren’t looking for lap times in deference to the standard crank. The practice was to shake down the engine and tune out any handling gremlins. Both Tony and I experienced slight side to side movement of the bars down the Dunlop straight which was fixed by dropping the forks through yokes by 2mm. The engine was running well though the standard crank could be felt with more vibration and slightly less response off the throttle. The silencer was doing a good job, maybe too good especially compared to other bikes so we fitted the less restrictive end can which seemed to free the engine a bit (the next day this passed noise testing recording 98 db at 5,000 rpm). In retrospect though maybe there was a problem as the bike required more to start – oddly sometimes not catching on the rollers but responding to the electric start... A late call to scrutineering meant a day that started at 7:00 didn’t end until 19:00 but spirits were high as we went off to Castle Donington for a well deserved team curry to finish off a good day.
Saturday was set to be a busy day with qualifying between 10:50 to 11:30 and then the race from 15:15 for 3 hours. We arrived at a more tolerable 8:30 and set to preparing the bike for qualifying. Once again we weren’t chasing lap times as to qualify each rider merely has to complete a minimum of 3 flying laps. Tony went first and stayed out for 4 laps before coming in for me to jump on. I stayed out for 6 or 7 laps - well I was enjoying myself. Once again we’d not pushed the engine but it felt okay – the only slight doubt was raised by Nick spotting at the Melbourne Loop were he reported hearing ‘pinking’ as I exited The Esses and headed down towards the Melbourne Hairpin. Once again starting within the garage wasn’t instant but the engine seemed to be running okay and we’d qualified.
There was only one other competitor in our Classic Class but unfortunately this was the Dutch ‘Semtex’ Ducati team. They’d previously been in a faster class but by changing from Brembo twin pots to PO8’s they dropped into the ‘Classic’ category. Excellent riding, light weight and 100% reliability meant they’d come 3rd overall out of everyone last year and results from Paul Ricard and Pau Arnos suggested they’d come close again in 2024. Interestingly their Ducati puts out just 100 bhp but the light weight TT Formula 2 frame makes it competitive. Our strategy therefore was to keep running and see if attrition might be our friend...
We decided Tony would start the race and do the first 45 minute session. The bike started on the button after the Le Mans start and he followed the field away so as not to get tangled up with racers high on adrenalin! The race was not exclusively for European Endurance Cup riders though as the field was made up with the ‘No Limits’ endurance championship. This meant we were on the same track as even more modern bikes – the speed differential between them and the Laverda was a hazardous 25 seconds per lap!
Everything was going well with Tony less than a second off his qualifying time. Tony was keeping the revs to 7,500 rpm and found the Laverda stayed with the field into and through the corners but lost ground heavily accelerating out. All was well until 35 minutes when the engine cut out then cut back in limping along at 20 mph which led to a close call as two riders simultaneously swept past him either side at close to 150 mph… you shudder to think if he moved just 2” off his line! Tony made pit lane with the engine popping and banging. The bike was wheeled into the garage – tank off, plugs out. There was a spark but the rev counter seemed out of synch with the engine revs. The IgniTech ignition LED indicators were working but worryingly there appeared to be excessive crankshaft end float? However with the primary side secondary cover removed, HT leads trimmed a change of plugs and caps things appeared to be back to normal... though did I see some smoke from the exhaust? We had no choice but for Tony to take her out but yes I did see smoke because as he rode to the end of pit lane this became more apparent. We prepared to bring him in but by the time he’d got to Starkeys Bridge the engine began to misfire badly and Tony had no choice to call it a day. Tony tried to get back to the pits via the infield but had to give up and leave the bike leaning against a post at the beginning of the start/finish straight.
A disappointing end made even worse as being our ‘home race’ it had been brilliant to see so many Laverda people drop by (including my mum who made sure everyone had cake and sausage rolls before getting on the pit wall to watch the action) to chat and wish us well. Thanks for coming and supporting the team. Big thanks also to to Red and Keith who’d helped turn round the engine that only six weeks before had been reduced to scrap!
We finished 4th in Class for the season, the aim was to at least finish 2nd. Disappointed is an understatement. All that was left was to watch on as others celebrated and then get to work clearing the garage and loading the bike. It’s racing so they say and we weren’t alone in our misery within the pit as Team Bike were left pondering a thrown rod in their RC30 (try getting parts for one of those…).
2024 has provided wonderful memories but hasn’t been the best season in terms of results. As ever the final thanks go out to the team of Tony Jiminez, Andy Peacock, Paul Creasy, Tim Ainslie, Ben Allen , Lorraine & Nick Alcock.
Like I said I rolled the dice …………………………………………………..
Its been a disappointing season, the effort put in has been immense, you couldn't buy the bad luck we received. At times its been difficult to be positive. Big thanks to the team for sticking through it all, to see them ALL working on repairing the bike to re- enter the race at Paul Ricard was brill.
Enjoy the report.
LAVERDA TT1 TEAM DONINGTON 2024
A lot of work had gone in to rebuilding the engine following the catastrophic failure at Pau Arnos. It goes without saying that all the rubber inlet manifolds were replaced but the real work would begin with a trip to Keith Nairn. Inspection revealed the barrels beyond repair along with a couple of valves but worst of all the crank was out of true and #1 journal needed replacement. Time was against me getting the crank fixed so I rolled the dice and decided to use a standard crank and rods I had lurking under the bench...
The week before the race was spent weather watching. The Midlands in mid-October is a far cry from the 35° experienced in Pau Arnos... The best we could hope for was consistent weather across the Friday and Saturday as this would make tyre choice easy. Initially there was a mix of sun and showers but as the days went by the weather came to us with no rain forecast for either day. Score!
Donington Park is my favourite circuit and I was confident we’d go well. Running in the UK massively reduces costs as the bike can be trailered up and a twin room at a nearby ‘Days Inn’ was a very reasonable £40 per night.
Before meeting up with the team Andy and I dropped the bike off on the Thursday night to be ready for the Friday track day, We were sharing the garage with Phase One running James Ellison (a double European Superstock champion, World Endurance champion and World Supersport, MotoGP, and American AMA Superbike participant)! Alongside Phase One was Team Bike with Casey O’Gorman who is signed to Marc Marquez’s management team – we fitted in a treat!
Friday dawned and the team (minus Lorraine who was gently snoozing) arrived at 7:00 to prepare for the track day which we were using as unofficial practice. We’d done the same last year at Brands Hatch. The pit wasn’t hectic because Phase One and Team Bike had done the same thing the previous day because Thursday allowed louder exhausts.
I was surprised to see we were using the GP circuit which includes the much maligned ‘Melbourne Loop’. This section was added to make the circuit long enough for Motogp but the problem is the loop takes away from the fast flowing nature of Donington Park. The tight section amplifies the advantages of more modern bikes with their fast turning, superior brakes and Mach 1 acceleration! In addition to this the problem with using track days for practice is that you’re sharing the track with riders who may be fast but who also may be reckless. This point was demonstrated during one of my 20 minute sessions when I was overtaken by a rider on the rumble strip at Starkeys sweeping left hander, his rear wheel catching my front. A close call that almost ended the weekend before it got going!!!
We weren’t looking for lap times in deference to the standard crank. The practice was to shake down the engine and tune out any handling gremlins. Both Tony and I experienced slight side to side movement of the bars down the Dunlop straight which was fixed by dropping the forks through yokes by 2mm. The engine was running well though the standard crank could be felt with more vibration and slightly less response off the throttle. The silencer was doing a good job, maybe too good especially compared to other bikes so we fitted the less restrictive end can which seemed to free the engine a bit (the next day this passed noise testing recording 98 db at 5,000 rpm). In retrospect though maybe there was a problem as the bike required more to start – oddly sometimes not catching on the rollers but responding to the electric start... A late call to scrutineering meant a day that started at 7:00 didn’t end until 19:00 but spirits were high as we went off to Castle Donington for a well deserved team curry to finish off a good day.
Saturday was set to be a busy day with qualifying between 10:50 to 11:30 and then the race from 15:15 for 3 hours. We arrived at a more tolerable 8:30 and set to preparing the bike for qualifying. Once again we weren’t chasing lap times as to qualify each rider merely has to complete a minimum of 3 flying laps. Tony went first and stayed out for 4 laps before coming in for me to jump on. I stayed out for 6 or 7 laps - well I was enjoying myself. Once again we’d not pushed the engine but it felt okay – the only slight doubt was raised by Nick spotting at the Melbourne Loop were he reported hearing ‘pinking’ as I exited The Esses and headed down towards the Melbourne Hairpin. Once again starting within the garage wasn’t instant but the engine seemed to be running okay and we’d qualified.
There was only one other competitor in our Classic Class but unfortunately this was the Dutch ‘Semtex’ Ducati team. They’d previously been in a faster class but by changing from Brembo twin pots to PO8’s they dropped into the ‘Classic’ category. Excellent riding, light weight and 100% reliability meant they’d come 3rd overall out of everyone last year and results from Paul Ricard and Pau Arnos suggested they’d come close again in 2024. Interestingly their Ducati puts out just 100 bhp but the light weight TT Formula 2 frame makes it competitive. Our strategy therefore was to keep running and see if attrition might be our friend...
We decided Tony would start the race and do the first 45 minute session. The bike started on the button after the Le Mans start and he followed the field away so as not to get tangled up with racers high on adrenalin! The race was not exclusively for European Endurance Cup riders though as the field was made up with the ‘No Limits’ endurance championship. This meant we were on the same track as even more modern bikes – the speed differential between them and the Laverda was a hazardous 25 seconds per lap!
Everything was going well with Tony less than a second off his qualifying time. Tony was keeping the revs to 7,500 rpm and found the Laverda stayed with the field into and through the corners but lost ground heavily accelerating out. All was well until 35 minutes when the engine cut out then cut back in limping along at 20 mph which led to a close call as two riders simultaneously swept past him either side at close to 150 mph… you shudder to think if he moved just 2” off his line! Tony made pit lane with the engine popping and banging. The bike was wheeled into the garage – tank off, plugs out. There was a spark but the rev counter seemed out of synch with the engine revs. The IgniTech ignition LED indicators were working but worryingly there appeared to be excessive crankshaft end float? However with the primary side secondary cover removed, HT leads trimmed a change of plugs and caps things appeared to be back to normal... though did I see some smoke from the exhaust? We had no choice but for Tony to take her out but yes I did see smoke because as he rode to the end of pit lane this became more apparent. We prepared to bring him in but by the time he’d got to Starkeys Bridge the engine began to misfire badly and Tony had no choice to call it a day. Tony tried to get back to the pits via the infield but had to give up and leave the bike leaning against a post at the beginning of the start/finish straight.
A disappointing end made even worse as being our ‘home race’ it had been brilliant to see so many Laverda people drop by (including my mum who made sure everyone had cake and sausage rolls before getting on the pit wall to watch the action) to chat and wish us well. Thanks for coming and supporting the team. Big thanks also to to Red and Keith who’d helped turn round the engine that only six weeks before had been reduced to scrap!
We finished 4th in Class for the season, the aim was to at least finish 2nd. Disappointed is an understatement. All that was left was to watch on as others celebrated and then get to work clearing the garage and loading the bike. It’s racing so they say and we weren’t alone in our misery within the pit as Team Bike were left pondering a thrown rod in their RC30 (try getting parts for one of those…).
2024 has provided wonderful memories but hasn’t been the best season in terms of results. As ever the final thanks go out to the team of Tony Jiminez, Andy Peacock, Paul Creasy, Tim Ainslie, Ben Allen , Lorraine & Nick Alcock.
Like I said I rolled the dice …………………………………………………..
GregT
Hero member
- Location
- Christchurch NZ
From experience I can reassure you that one good season and all the troubles getting there are forgotten.
Keep at it.
Keep at it.
piranha-bro2
Hero member
- Location
- Melbourne
You couldn't havre given any more than you did. As we (annoyingly at times) hear, that's racing. Bring on next year!
KERMIT1200
Hero member
- Location
- Worcester,UK
KERMIT1200
Hero member
- Location
- Worcester,UK
A small snippet!
KERMIT1200
Hero member
- Location
- Worcester,UK
Well it's basically done. New lightweight (replica) frame, alloy swinging arm, 17inch wheels (engine raised in frame!), titanium and even a ceramic bearing used. I weighed individual items and ended up with 170.82kg, checkout file - I dare say 175kg would be more realistic . I'm at Mallory Park testing 16/17 August, if time allows and their weigh bridge is OK I'll check.
Competitive action looks likely now from 2026.
The bike and some of the team will be at Willersey 3rd Aug, then I'm testing at Mallory Park 16/17th August.
Competitive action looks likely now from 2026.
The bike and some of the team will be at Willersey 3rd Aug, then I'm testing at Mallory Park 16/17th August.
Attachments
hooksey
Hero member
- Location
- Vic , Australia
Very farkin purposeful…… even down to the race # 31
