TT1 4 Hour Endurance racing

I get the expense, just driving for your trips interstate must hurt Red. Spending coin on Laverda, who would do that Andy.
 
Not something we do here - but I'd love to see it done here. Having been involved in bike prep for the old Castrol 6 hours back in the day i can imagine what proper prep for the bike will involve - and cost.
Been practising wheel changes ?
 
GregT said:
Not something we do here - but I'd love to see it done here. Having been involved in bike prep for the old Castrol 6 hours back in the day i can imagine what proper prep for the bike will involve - and cost.
Been practising wheel changes ?
Click to expand...
Wheel changes, for a 4 hour race? Maybe if there's a storm.

Reminds me of the last official Laverda participation of Laverda in the Bol d'Or, 1999. Be it with a Zane.
There was the Italo - Dutch official team, and a French team.
The French team practised wheel and brake pad changes, used air wrenches for all their work. Very impressive but on a bike that qualified last, with half the horse power of the big teams.
The Italo - Dutch team having understood that finishing was important, not gaining seconds on a wheel change, did everything methodically, and calmly.
After practise, both bikes were prepared for the 24 hour race, and that included new clutches.
Those machines have a central fine thread nut on the clutch drum. The French used power tools on that nut. Their bike was out of the race after an hour, they'd threaded the clutch nut.
The other team, unfortunately, was out around 23.00 hours after a fall.

Very much the same situation here. That RGS is in no position to contend anything apart from finishing in what has become a very competitive classic endurance with some serious big money tools on the track.

Fingers crossed for them, even if the bike is orange.

Paul
 
Well we eventually made it to the circuit this afternoon despite the odds being seemingly stacked against us.
Firstly, my flight from the IOM to the UK was cancelled, necessitating an overnight ferry crossing and an unwelcome drive in the early hours of the morning for Andy B. So we were both pretty knackered by the time we set off for the ferry to France.
Secondly, our chief mechanic confirmed he had tested positive for covid and was no longer able to travel.
Even so, by the time we reached Newhaven things appeared to be improving as the ferry loaded on time and we thought we would be in France on schedule and at our hotel south of Paris by midnight.
No such luck as there was an announcement that due to technical difficulties the sailing would be delayed by 40 odd minutes or so. Needless to say we weren’t amused.
Having eventually arrived and disembarked an hour later than expected the sat nav proceeded to try and guide us through the narrowest back streets of Dieppe before getting us on to the main road to Rouen and then onto the motorway to Paris.
Things then went from bad to worse as the sat nav again decided to f**k with our heads by directing us more or less through the centre of Paris rather than skirt through the outskirts. After a few wrong turns and deviations owing to the sat nav trying to direct us onto a road with a 2m height restriction in a van 2.3m high we did by the wee small hours of the morning find the hotel.
Full optimism, we left Evry, having had a few hours kip and a light breakfast, expecting to be in Aix en Provence by late afternoon. The weather had turned pretty shit and it was a cool and very wet drive down the motorway. Stopping a few hours later for a comfort break and some snacks a bit of steam was noted coming from around the front of the vehicle. A quick look under the bonnet didn’t reveal anything of concern, and as the temperature gauge was in the normal zone, it was put down to all the rain and some of it evaporating on the hot engine and exhaust.
An hour or so later approaching Valence, a good 150 miles from our intended destination for the night, I could detect a slight whiff of something getting warm and announced I would pull in at the next service area to check the coolant level.
Almost immediately after stating these words the temperature gauge shot into the red but fortuitously we were only 400m from the entrance to the service area, and I was able to coast in and park up near the services. Having allowed things to cool down a bit it was apparent there was no coolant to be seen. 4-5 litres of coolant disappeared into the system but encouragingly it didn’t all empty out on to the floor, although there was signs of dripping.
We decided to carefully drive onto the next service area and check again, which we did.
There, we discovered a fall in level again requiring a further litre of water to top it up. Discussing the various options we decided we didn’t want risk continuing on the motorway and breaking down so we would pull off at the next junction and look for a garage. As fortune had it, a quick google, told us a garage was located no more than half a mile from the junction, so off we went, arriving around 4.30pm to join a small queue of motorists seeking assistance.
Hoping it was something simple like a leaking hose or joint and we would soon be back on our way, they were dashed following a visit to the ramp and three mechanics peering closely at the underside of the engine.
Although the chief mechanic’s English was no better than our French, we understood enough to know the diagnosis was not good. He explained he could perhaps order a part that may provide a temporary fix but he wasn’t sure it would last as there were other issues. His advice was phone for a recovery vehicle.
Obviously that wasn’t what we wanted to hear and we debated the pros and cons of the various options available to us. But first we needed somewhere to stay for the night. As luck had it, team manager, Rob Bradbury had decided to call it a night as well, having been held up in traffic in Lyon and was heading for a hotel in Valence.
Once he had checked in he came and rescued us and took us back to his hotel for something to eat and helped us find some accommodation. We also started searching for ‘van hire’ and discovered a firm that was supposedly in walking distance from our hotel. Unfortunately it was the wrong hotel, we had booked into the North and not South Premiere Classe hotel.
Whatever, after another couple of eventful journeys we did manage to hire a suitable van, recover the bike and our kit from the van and trailer at the garage and continue our journey. How we get home will be another story, but at least we have a chance of completing our mission as we are at the circuit, all booked in, bike through scrutineering and we’re ready for practice in the morning.
TBC
 
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