So this is where I belong!

End of race season review

What started out as a pipe dream with the mini blade (not that kind of pipe.....) ended with a championship in the first year of trying. It was a bold claim to the prior owner that I'd get the championship as I'm not a binary rider. I personally need to progress through learning and fear management and that takes time in understanding the bike and pushing it along with chassis and suspension revisions to make it work better to support faster lap times. Add in that I never practice as I'm too busy helping other racers with suspension support all weekend (other than 4 laps Sunday morning to check everything works), and that makes the achievement even more humbling as the riders in this class are top notch with finishes often in the .5 of a bike length range over start finish. It is not unusual to have the top 5 riders separated by less than one second.

I did not doubt the ability of this bike - let's make that clear. Given what stock suspension and swing arm offers in terms of flex, the build revisions of RVF forks and triples and the CBR400RR swing arm made the handling of the bike far more predictable. Those changes matched the rigidity of the frame and brought a very even platform to the track to push harder with. That did therefore expedite learning dramatically, but the that kind of learning is also very high risk indeed as you have no idea how the bike will talk to you when things go pear shaped/turn to custard. All part of the racing game of risk and reward right?

So what does that mean for this winter?

It means that the bike will come down to the frame and be rebuilt from the ground up with new everything including all chassis bearings, bushings etc if they are available. The original engine has been stripped as you have seen in this thread and the parts sent away for REM/cryo. There are many suggestions on the table as to what to do with the engine:

- light head porting
- removal of scissor gears
- acquisition of a lighter flywheel
- MC19 cams
- other as yet not discussed engine changes via Mike Norman of GForce when he looks at the engine very closely.

I would be happy to read about what others have done to their engines and the +ve/-ve effects of those changes. I don't want to blow up a brand new motor given parts are so scarce and I need longevity not outright BHP. I can learn to be a better rider and lose more weight (to a point) with a focus on being a better rider. To that end I am committing to practice days where I won't be coaching 1-1, working on suspension etc. Just me, the bike and a test plan.

It has been a remarkable year indeed and thank you all for following this project. In between touring Australia and New Zealand this winter teaching and coaching with workshops and suspension schools, I'll have to find time to get the bike built prior to the end of December.

Right then......

Yes I deserve a royal bollocking for being away so long. Cliff notes to save time

- All motor parts back from processing, currently in Los Angeles and awaiting their return to the race shop in Milpitas some time this month
- no photo's available to me yet of the parts so I will take them when I see them
- eBay pistons are MASSIVELY heavy compared to stock so we are looking at testing hardness and possible machining for weight reduction
- head porting started, 50% done

- need to follow the links for bearings so thank you for those


Round 1 race report here: 2015 Race reports (2014 below) | Feel The Track

Used the stock air filter for Round 1 and need to dyno the bike compared to the foam air filter that was in it to see what the differences are. Rides much better with the stock air filter.

More coming in the next few weeks so thanks for your patience and your support of this thread!