TT1 4 Hour Endurance racing

I remember a race report, won't mention names but after a 10-hour drive to Philip Island, the race bike wouldn't start, spark issues so they did a rewire in the pits. I am nervous enough sorting my new bike out on the road, having the confidence to max any bike out right from the first build. BTW did anyone notice in the video of what's his face riding that rotary that he really took his time before going hard on it. Smart boy on an unknown bike.
 
It is a very good idea to thoroughly test a bike before racing it 😊. I seem to remember Phil Todd saying something similar to assure reliable running at the track.
FWIW, Andy's TT1 replica is road registered. You will however agree that road running doesn't usually apply the same stresses as racing!
 
What Andy didn't mention was the awesome teamwork from the Laverda TT1 squad. A small, neat team, with fewer resources than most in the pit, but still running well. Efficient, organised and engaged.

In Garage 7 with the Laverda was a well sorted Suzuki team from Derby who also only had 1 bike. It broke down and had to be pushed back to the pits where over 1-1/2 hours were spent trying to fix it and the dodgy electrics. They only finished due to some proper bodging - strapping a torch to the fairing and a cycle rain light to the tail so they could complete the very last lap at midnight.

In Garage 8 were two professional Suzuki teams from the UK - Classic Suzuki Spares and Phase One endurance. They had professional racers (Danny Webb, James Ellison, Ant Hart etc.), they were very well resourced with teams of 12, but neither of them finished.

In Garage 6 was a lovely Ducati team from the Netherlands alongside the van-der-Mark team from Holland (yes, THAT van-der-Mark) who were on Yamahas. They both had two bikes each but the Yamahas gave up in the first hour, however the Ducatis actually finished all the race.

Endurance racing is HUGELY popular in France with a lot of people there over the weekend, but the attrition rate is very high for these old race bikes.

Andy and Tony were flying in practice but reliability is what wins you races, and sadly the TT didn't want to play last weekend.

Roll on Brands Hatch !!!
 
Gareth99 said:
What Andy didn't mention was the awesome teamwork from the Laverda TT1 squad. A small, neat team, with fewer resources than most in the pit, but still running well. Efficient, organised and engaged.

In Garage 7 with the Laverda was a well sorted Suzuki team from Derby who also only had 1 bike. It broke down and had to be pushed back to the pits where over 1-1/2 hours were spent trying to fix it and the dodgy electrics. They only finished due to some proper bodging - strapping a torch to the fairing and a cycle rain light to the tail so they could complete the very last lap at midnight.

In Garage 8 were two professional Suzuki teams from the UK - Classic Suzuki Spares and Phase One endurance. They had professional racers (Danny Webb, James Ellison, Ant Hart etc.), they were very well resourced with teams of 12, but neither of them finished.

In Garage 6 was a lovely Ducati team from the Netherlands alongside the van-der-Mark team from Holland (yes, THAT van-der-Mark) who were on Yamahas. They both had two bikes each but the Yamahas gave up in the first hour, however the Ducatis actually finished all the race.

Endurance racing is HUGELY popular in France with a lot of people there over the weekend, but the attrition rate is very high for these old race bikes.

Andy and Tony were flying in practice but reliability is what wins you races, and sadly the TT didn't want to play last weekend.

Roll on Brands Hatch !!!
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It's because endurance is popular in France, and the Netherlands, that we got to ride Laverda motorcycles. And Italy in the form of long distance road racing, Giro and Milano Taranto.
Not surprising that the biggest export markets for Laverda were, France and the Netherlands.

I don't consider those UK Suzuki teams as campaigning old race bikes.

Paul
 
Do some searching here on the site regarding head gaskets, Athina the big gasket supplier, I think it was them did some stock take and decided to streamline their head gasket supply by changing their design of Laverda head gaskets without telling anyone. I forget the details but it resulted in one of the local racers here blowing a lot of these before that was noticed. From memory, its something to do with those copper flame rings. There should be some info on what to look for.
 
Vince said:
Do some searching here on the site regarding head gaskets, Athina the big gasket supplier, I think it was them did some stock take and decided to streamline their head gasket supply by changing their design of Laverda head gaskets without telling anyone. I forget the details but it resulted in one of the local racers here blowing a lot of these before that was noticed. From memory, its something to do with those copper flame rings. There should be some info on what to look for.
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Keith Nairn recommended Athena to me the day before yesterday.
Paul
 
Yes but back when this first became known there were 2 different Laverda Triple head gaskets being sold. Nobody noticed this change at the time or was told by the manufacturer. Old stock before that change and new stock after the change. If you do some searching here on the site the differences were made clear. It's such a pain to discover an oil leak and have to do all this work again because of this gasket change to save the gasket manufacturer a few cents on costs. Hopefully, all the Laverda suppliers caught it after it became news and only correct spec ones are in the market now.
 
The other gasket manufacturer was Centauro
Phil Todd sells gaskets and he has them made using his own,purpose made dies ,On his head gaskets the "O" ring holes are moved 1mm away from bore centres (radially) to minimise the chop of the metal flame ring,that is only 40 thou but works! I have never been aware of anyone having any kind of problem with them> I keep stocks of his gaskets for series 1 triples, for my own conveniance and as an aid to local riders, but not the head gaskets which you can buy (like all of them ) from him direct, I make my own head gaskets and have done for nearly 20 years, but they are not stock design so not suitable for home mechanics.
CLEM
 
CLEMTOG said:
On his head gaskets the "O" ring holes are moved 1mm away from bore centres (radially) to minimise the chop of the metal flame ring,that is only 40 thou but works! I have never been aware of anyone having any kind of problem with them ...
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Well, let me make you aware of a problem then. Although I'm pretty sure I posted about this at the time, so forgive me for repeating myself.

It was one of those head gaskets with the o-ring holes moved outwards from the flame ring that was a failure on my Jota. The o-rings were too close to the edge of the stud holes and wouldn't seal properly. It absolutely pissed oil like a fountain within seconds of starting it up. Obviously the head had to come off again, which was a pain in the arse. Once the head was off, I could see that the o-rings had slipped down inside the stud hole on one side. I fixed it by moving the edge of the o-ring hole back to where it should have been by carving into the flame ring with a dremel.

I have a vague recollection of an email exchange with Phil at the time and the dremel fix was his recommendation. Or maybe I dreamed that, or it was someone else I spoke to. It was a decade or more ago. The memory is a bit hazy.

In Phil's defence, maybe the stud holes in the barrels have a bit of variation in their exact location as they come from the factory, or possibly a previous owner of my bike had opened them out for some reason.
 
Hi Bazzee,
Nope. The secondary covers are made from Carbon/Kevlar material.
The rules state that all engine covers that contain/hold oil require a secondary cover; made from either Steel, Alloy or Carbon/Kevlar
Papier mache:)

Andy
 
Well this time next week the team will heading down to Brands Hatch. No Limits track day for Tony and myself to reacquaint ourselves with the GP circuit, on Friday 28th. Qualifying on Saturday 29th, with the 3hour race kicking off at 1520.
Bike appears to be sorted after the disaster of Paul Ricard, again will be running on Bridgestone CR11's.
Need to at least finish to obtain points for the championship ; before heading down to Pau Arnos in France 8/10 Sept, for final race of the year.

Andy
 
Looking forward to it..just about 5 miles or so away...oh, and a new head gasket design fitted to my Jota, is on release..no bloody rubber o rings..not copper either. Contact Mr Nairn...
 
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