Developments...?

First off, sorry for the lack of any updates of late!

We all went up to Cadwell for the first round on the 16th & 17th May. I went up earlier, to test on the Friday and sort out those carb/ timing niggles.

First off, i noticed that it was decidedly reluctant to get going, worse than the last test at Snetterton...

However, I put the carb needles back to base settings, as per the last laps of Snetterton. Not sure why, but it felt even worse, tho would just about run. Someone had an off on my first lap tho, and they held us all on track just after Mansfield. Told to kill our engines, it was back to the paddock in the Race Support truck. Not for the first time...

So I decided to decrease the size of the needle jet. Running round the paddock it was no better. So the other way, jet up. By that point, I must have been feeling optimistic, and it was our next session, so I tried, but got a few hundred yards before stalling at the slow-running point of the hairpin. Unable to bump it again before it stopped rolling, I sat that one out and waited for the Support van to come and get me again.

I put the carbs back to standard, and then tried to very marginally retard the timing. She still wasn't happy to start, and would barely run at all. Ok then, advance? No better.

By this point, the best part of the day was behind me, and I was no further forward.

To cut a long story short, I fiddled a bit more on Saturday morning, but couldnt even make it out for practice. A bit more time on the carbs and the rollers in the afternoon, but I eventually spat the dummy and went home on saturday night.

On the way home, the heater matrix in the van burst, making for a sauna-like cabin.

So what now then??

Well, I sold the van, and haven't touched the bike. The week after Snetterton got married, and then had a couple of weeks off on honeymoon...

Got back on monday, and I think I may start pondering where to go with this. Perhaps its the cam? Its a stage 4, previously used with a 100mm domed piston. In this motor, its got a 98mm flat-top piston, could this explain why it will only run well above about 5k??

The season's not looking great for me, but I'll keep posting on the development of the bike. For more successful racing-related stories, may I direct the avid reader towards Dave Bennett's excellent www.drbracing23.blogspot.com