Andy J
Hero member
- Location
- Isle of Man
Having scrapped the planned trip to Spa for the Belgian round of the European Endurance Classic Club Andy B and I dragged our sorry arses over to the other side of the country instead to Cadwell Park for the final round of the British Historic Racing season. Although not quite in the same league as Spa, Cadwell is still an interesting and, in places, a challenging circuit to ride and as I had never previously raced at the venue it seemed like a reasonable alternative. It also gave me the opportunity to acquire additional signatures towards next year's IOM 'mountain course' licence.
Just to add an additional bit of excitement to the weekend, we also had to contend with the sudden panic buying of fuel, just because a few petrol stations hadn't been refuelled due to a shortage of tanker drivers, not fuel. As it happens we found fuel for the van and bike without too much effort, but drove past plenty of 'dry' filling stations on the way there and back.
The choice of steed for the event was somewhat dictated by the availability of a usable, race prepared bike. My preferred choice would have been the Monty I 'paraded' at Cadwell the previous month at the VMCC 75th anniversary track weekend, but the early signs of a blowing head gasket meant that I was reluctant to risk it, and there wasn't sufficient spare time to fit a new one.
Therefore, the only alternative was the Alpino 'track bike' I had raced at the BHR, Three Sisters round in 2019. In 2019, the bike had been an ideal choice given the wet conditions and the circuit is essentially designed for karts, but on this occasion, with generally fine, dry weather predicted, it was definitely going to be struggling in the power stakes.
Furthermore, the bike hadn't turned a wheel since the event in 2019, and a few of the parts, including the rear shocks, had been substituted for others. There was also a slight oil weep coming from seemingly somewhere around the back of the engine, but insufficient to identify the source.
But undeterred by this I had Andy B give the bike a bit of a check over including an oil change and fit a newly donated quick action throttle (thanks Matt). He reported the bike was starting up easily and running well. A bit of a discussion was held on what gearing to run and in the end I decided to settle for the standard 42 rear sprocket, which had worked good enough on the Monty the previous month.
We left Andy's place around 4pm Friday and endured a painfully slow journey to the circuit, which meant it was dark by the time we arrived. Despite this we managed to get the awning erected, the bike out of the van and, following a late supper of Andy's home-cooked chilli, completed a few final preparations for racing, such as fitting the transponder. Surprised by how late it was by then we turned in for the night, knowing an early start was required to get the bike through scrutineering at the earliest opportunity.
As it turned out, scrutineering was a cursory affair, totally visual given they were still operating covid protocols and the bike passed with no issues. We didn't even get noise tested during the weekend. However, I initially 'failed' my kit inspection as in my rush to catch the ferry I had left my dog tag behind. A bit of white card, with my details on, and hung around my neck satisfied the 'inspector' at the second time of asking.
I opted to go out in the first of three practise sessions, with the 'nutters' as one fellow competitor described that particular cohort, in case any issues surfaced and needed time to be resolved. This proved to be a good call.
Not for the only time during the weekend we seemed to be held in the holding area for an inordinate amount of time. As the bike got hotter and hotter, and as hot oil fumes started to gas me, I killed the engine and hoped it would start again once the organisers were ready to let us out to play. Fortunately, it did start, when called upon, without much effort.
As at Pembrey, I settled on a cautious pace to start with, to reacquaint myself with the circuit and to check that everything was in order. From almost the word go something seemed amiss. The rear end of the bike was moving around far more than expected, and a short time later a dragging noise started to emanate from somewhere beneath me. A glance down couldn't immediately identify any obvious issue but after another lap of intermittent scrapping noises I pulled off the circuit by the start line pit lane for a better look. I didn't bother getting off the bike but had a good lean over to the left and right side to check the belly pan hadn't come adrift or that the shark's fin wasn't loose. Again no obvious sign of what was causing the noise, so I just thought it might be the belly pan vibrating and carried on for another couple of laps at moderate speed, given the noise continued plus the bike seemed to be wallowing somewhat.
Once back in the pits it didn't take long to identify the cause of the scrapping noise, the home-made, perspex and thin aluminium rear 'mudguard' had partially come adrift and was dragging on the rear tyre. Fortunately it didn't appear to have caused any significant damage to the tyre, just a little bit of extra wear on the centre. A pair of tin snips solved that problem and it was unceremoniously removed. A cursory examination of the shocks also suggested too much travel and they were jacked up a couple of turns to stiffen them up.
However, even more concerning was where before there had been a small amount of oil around the rear of the engine there was now a liberal coating of oil and a small, but steady drip into the oil catch tray on the right hand side of the bike.
Andy whipped the tank off and to his surprise discovered the bolt holding the cam chain tensioner blade had 'disappeared'. No wonder there was oil escaping, there was now a small hole in the engine. Fortunately, it was an easy fix and once a new bolt was inserted the oil 'leak' problem dried up.
By now, we had also sussed out my main 'competition' for the weekend, a seasoned competitor, Phil Bootherstone (who I immediately gave the nickname 'Bothersome') on a Morini 500, which, on the face of it, looked much better prepared for racing than my 'low budget' racer. On paper his bike, even if it was in standard trim, has marginally more power and torque, and less weight than the virtually bog standard Alpino I was riding. Never-the-less I wasn't going to let that worry me and was determined to end the weekend as top dog in the Italian middleweight bike stakes.
TBC
Just to add an additional bit of excitement to the weekend, we also had to contend with the sudden panic buying of fuel, just because a few petrol stations hadn't been refuelled due to a shortage of tanker drivers, not fuel. As it happens we found fuel for the van and bike without too much effort, but drove past plenty of 'dry' filling stations on the way there and back.
The choice of steed for the event was somewhat dictated by the availability of a usable, race prepared bike. My preferred choice would have been the Monty I 'paraded' at Cadwell the previous month at the VMCC 75th anniversary track weekend, but the early signs of a blowing head gasket meant that I was reluctant to risk it, and there wasn't sufficient spare time to fit a new one.
Therefore, the only alternative was the Alpino 'track bike' I had raced at the BHR, Three Sisters round in 2019. In 2019, the bike had been an ideal choice given the wet conditions and the circuit is essentially designed for karts, but on this occasion, with generally fine, dry weather predicted, it was definitely going to be struggling in the power stakes.
Furthermore, the bike hadn't turned a wheel since the event in 2019, and a few of the parts, including the rear shocks, had been substituted for others. There was also a slight oil weep coming from seemingly somewhere around the back of the engine, but insufficient to identify the source.
But undeterred by this I had Andy B give the bike a bit of a check over including an oil change and fit a newly donated quick action throttle (thanks Matt). He reported the bike was starting up easily and running well. A bit of a discussion was held on what gearing to run and in the end I decided to settle for the standard 42 rear sprocket, which had worked good enough on the Monty the previous month.
We left Andy's place around 4pm Friday and endured a painfully slow journey to the circuit, which meant it was dark by the time we arrived. Despite this we managed to get the awning erected, the bike out of the van and, following a late supper of Andy's home-cooked chilli, completed a few final preparations for racing, such as fitting the transponder. Surprised by how late it was by then we turned in for the night, knowing an early start was required to get the bike through scrutineering at the earliest opportunity.
As it turned out, scrutineering was a cursory affair, totally visual given they were still operating covid protocols and the bike passed with no issues. We didn't even get noise tested during the weekend. However, I initially 'failed' my kit inspection as in my rush to catch the ferry I had left my dog tag behind. A bit of white card, with my details on, and hung around my neck satisfied the 'inspector' at the second time of asking.
I opted to go out in the first of three practise sessions, with the 'nutters' as one fellow competitor described that particular cohort, in case any issues surfaced and needed time to be resolved. This proved to be a good call.
Not for the only time during the weekend we seemed to be held in the holding area for an inordinate amount of time. As the bike got hotter and hotter, and as hot oil fumes started to gas me, I killed the engine and hoped it would start again once the organisers were ready to let us out to play. Fortunately, it did start, when called upon, without much effort.
As at Pembrey, I settled on a cautious pace to start with, to reacquaint myself with the circuit and to check that everything was in order. From almost the word go something seemed amiss. The rear end of the bike was moving around far more than expected, and a short time later a dragging noise started to emanate from somewhere beneath me. A glance down couldn't immediately identify any obvious issue but after another lap of intermittent scrapping noises I pulled off the circuit by the start line pit lane for a better look. I didn't bother getting off the bike but had a good lean over to the left and right side to check the belly pan hadn't come adrift or that the shark's fin wasn't loose. Again no obvious sign of what was causing the noise, so I just thought it might be the belly pan vibrating and carried on for another couple of laps at moderate speed, given the noise continued plus the bike seemed to be wallowing somewhat.
Once back in the pits it didn't take long to identify the cause of the scrapping noise, the home-made, perspex and thin aluminium rear 'mudguard' had partially come adrift and was dragging on the rear tyre. Fortunately it didn't appear to have caused any significant damage to the tyre, just a little bit of extra wear on the centre. A pair of tin snips solved that problem and it was unceremoniously removed. A cursory examination of the shocks also suggested too much travel and they were jacked up a couple of turns to stiffen them up.
However, even more concerning was where before there had been a small amount of oil around the rear of the engine there was now a liberal coating of oil and a small, but steady drip into the oil catch tray on the right hand side of the bike.
Andy whipped the tank off and to his surprise discovered the bolt holding the cam chain tensioner blade had 'disappeared'. No wonder there was oil escaping, there was now a small hole in the engine. Fortunately, it was an easy fix and once a new bolt was inserted the oil 'leak' problem dried up.
By now, we had also sussed out my main 'competition' for the weekend, a seasoned competitor, Phil Bootherstone (who I immediately gave the nickname 'Bothersome') on a Morini 500, which, on the face of it, looked much better prepared for racing than my 'low budget' racer. On paper his bike, even if it was in standard trim, has marginally more power and torque, and less weight than the virtually bog standard Alpino I was riding. Never-the-less I wasn't going to let that worry me and was determined to end the weekend as top dog in the Italian middleweight bike stakes.
TBC
