Published May 14, 2012 | 
I spent a good chunk of Sunday tinkering with the GSXR ready for the coming weekend at Pembrey. I finally got to fit the R6 calipers to the bike. This was a little bit more time consuming than I had thought it would take. I got the required spacers from a person on TDR forum and they required a little turning down to make them fit and to get the lugs out of the forks. I didn’t have the necessary tools to do this so I enlisted the help of a mate of mine to do this. Using a very much a measure lots and cut once it took a good long time. That said I am happy with the results as they really are a snug fit.
The other reason to go to my mates garage was to do a few bits on the van. One issue was get a working speedo and fuel gauge. It’s a common problem on the VW T4 that a connector corrodes on the speedo and just needs cleaning off, how that effects the fuel gauge is beyond me but it does and that is thankfully what it was.
Published May 10, 2012 | Yeah I get 65% of my race fee back for the cancelled Mallory Park race.
Not 100%, I know this was unlikely, but at least it’s something from the club and definitely helps.
Next stop Pembrey to start my 2012, lets hope it’s better weather.
Published May 8, 2012 | I just thought I’d pop something up as I haven’t done anything really since my last post. Taken the bike out, given it a clean etc. I have put my entry in for Pembrey. I was thinking that I might give that a miss as it’s such a long way to go but with the cancellation of Mallory I felt I had to ride sooner rather than later. I am a little disappointed in not hearing anything from NG themselves. It would have been good to have a “We know you are frustrated but here are the facts” email or something rather than have my entire entry fee for 2 classes being just taken for what amounts to standing in a windy, wet car park for a day. I would have thought Mallory has an insurance policy from having to cancel events and so the cost may well have been covered for most of the track, if not all of it.
Published May 2, 2012 | I have written a report up of the track day at Mallory on the 27/04/2012
Mallory Track Day Report 27/04/2012
Published April 29, 2012 | Round 3 of NGRRC at Mallory Park was abandoned due to truly atrociousness weather conditions.
Must say I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand there is the fact I got all geared up and ready to race and on the other hand I was very apprehensive about racing in the wet as I had no feel at all for the grip on Friday. There is no question it was the right call. There
Don’t know what happens about an abandoned meeting, if we make up races at other meetings, a refund or a simple “tough that is racing”. I am sure I fine out soon enough.
Must say I loved having van. It made packing up and hiding from the rain a lot easier, along with the drive there and back.
Oh I am sorry to report the that a dear part of Team Cheese did not make it through the event… the awning didn’t survive the winds 
Published April 28, 2012 | Just a quick post to say I got out yesterday to have a track day and a practice at Mallory Park in at times torrential rain. I was rubbish. Really rubbish. I have no feel or confidence in the wet. I have always been lucky when it comes to the weather at track days and racing and this was my first properly full on wet day on a bike. I have no feel for it. I spun up on 2 occasions, one on cold tyres on the first lap and once at speed which was a very scary (4 gear going into the lakeside esses) and that seems to have moved me back a lot.
Enough to say it wasn’t the start to my riding year that I was looking for and I can’t say I expect any great things from the races tomorrow at my best track. I will be a mobile chicane at a guess. Still fun though and stayed upright (soz Jo).
A wet first outing of 2012 at Mallory Park
7 Photos
I’ll put a full report up later.
Published April 24, 2012 | A couple of quick shots as it gets near to race time.
Published April 23, 2012 | Finally got everything together. The fairing fit….ish, Sprayed on my number boards and almost ready for the off.
I decided I’d add a little “extra” to my my fairly flat coloured bike and got some snazzy florescent blue paint, the idea to just add a little bit of “stand out from the crowd” bits. So everything is masked off again and after vigourous shaking of the can it goes on…. only for it to stop at a very “half done” effort. Noooo! A quick ring to the supplier and I get a “well they do sometimes do that sir”. Now I haven’t really got time to get another can and start again so I am left in 2 positions. Leave it as a half baked job and hope above hope I can get a can delivered and use if before loading up for Thursday. Or come up with another plan. I can black out the areas I had started spraying, rub them back and add a different colour that Halfrauds have.
And it was all going so well.
Technically thought I’m all set for the off. I finally dropped the coolant
Published April 18, 2012 | Yesterday saw the arrival of my entry for Mallory Park. Only a week and a few days to go. So how goes the fairing? Well it’s on, I have the number boards taped out. The proper masking tape helped a massive amount. I have got my decals from Roger. Just have to spend a bit of time spraying and adding the decals
My brake pads should be here, as I am writing this, I went for some SBS Dual Carbon pads as they work fantastically on the CBR, I’ll pick them up tomorrow when I am back in the office. Once I have them I can get on with swapping the calipers soon. I might rerun the brake lines so one goes down either leg as it’s just seems a little tight when at full lock. One thing I can do on the caliper is to remove the current “spacer” inserts before the pad arrives. These appear to be just pushed in but are held fast. To remove these I intent to heat the caliper slowly with a paint stripping gun, using the fact that the metal of caliper and the insert are different, so should expand differently when heated. I have tried just pulling it out and that doesn’t seem to want to happen.
And on other news I have my van, finally. I bought it off my dad as the clutch had gone he bought a new van and offered it to me, so quiet cheap but comes with a few annoyances. The clutch was done by someone my dad worked for as a “favour” and he took an age over doing it and charged a fortune too (so much for favours). In doing so he hasn’t reconnected the speedo up or hasn’t done it propely. Looking on the forums it seems a common problem and only a dodgy connection at the gearbox end so it’ll just take some effort to get at and clean. Talking of cleaning… well I spent a good couple of hours removing 18 months worth of crud from the van. It has been stood for sometime and was used as a bit of a shed and rubbish bin. 2 hours and a jet wash out it’s nearly de-cluttered. I intend to make the van into a bit of a motorhome when I have time… hahaha yeah well at least a bit of a van I can sleep in easily.
