2017 Pre-Season Progress - Part 2

With the start of our 2017 race season looming, we thought it was about time to provide you with a further pre-season update (see Part 1 here) on what has been happening over the winter at Two Daves Racing HQ.

Promotional Items
A new promotional "ER6 Replica" MiniMoto and custom helmet stand will travel around the country with us in 2017.

Some tiny sponsors stickers are on the way!

Exact replica of our NFmoto suit

So pop along and have your photo taken on it - if you can get Lucy off it!

​Race Van Changes
The 2017 racing season will be the seventh season that our trusty Vauxhall Vivaro van has been with us - so along with the usual annual service, it has also received some new wheels and tyres, some new rear brake hubs, some new roof rails (not shown below) and even some new dash lights! Even vans need love too! :-)

Before...

...and after!

Aprilia RS125SP Update
For those of you who remember the Aprilia RS125SP restoration, you may be interested to hear that before winter the Aprilia was tucked away into a "Vac Bag storage system" to help to preserve it, and a collection of photos from the Aprilia's racing career have been put in place to remind us of the great times that the bike gave us!

Silver Engine Update
​Our Silver Engine has now been run-in on the dyno (and proved itself to be healthy and strong), so was then removed and the Black engine was fitted back into our Kawasaki Supertwin.

Silver Engine taken out...

...Black Engine going in!

Whilst the bike was at the dyno having the Silver Engine run-in, we also had some new inlet rubbers gasflowed for the Black Engine, as there were minor differences between the two engines - so each engine now has its own set of "matched" inlet rubbers.

Airbox Modifications
After four seasons of racing (and multiple engine swaps), some expected wear and tear was beginning to show on the airbox - so minor repairs were made to the airbox to provide additional strength and to increase sealing.

Arata Exhaust Update
As we mentioned in the previous post, we decided to test an Arata titanium exhaust system to see what differences could be found. With the exhaust ports on our engines not being standard, a set of exhaust sleeves were required to mate the "off the shelf" exhaust with our modified cylinder head. Then, with the fabrication of a rear exhaust mount, our Kawasaki Supertwin was ready for a trip to the dyno.

Dyno Results
With all of the changes made over the winter (including the airbox modifications and Arata exhaust), the dyno results were very positive, showing increases all through the rev range - including an 18% power increase at certain points in the midrange!

​For the 2017 season, we will be reintroducing a quickshifter to our Kawasaki Supertwin. After gearbox issues experienced in the 2016 season, we removed the quickshifter function as a precaution. Now, after lengthening the shift cut timing to ensure that no excessive load is placed onto the gearbox, we are confident that we will be able to use the function without causing any problems.

Darley Moor Awards Presentation
On 4th February 2017, the awards presentation evening for the 2016 championships took place. Having won two championships in 2016, we had a number of trophies to collect. With a record number of attendees (circa 365) it was a fantastic evening that everyone enjoyed.

2016 Formula Darley Champion

2016 Mini Sound of Thunder Champion

2016 Championship Trophies

New trophies added to our collection

2017 Season Race Dates
​And last but not least... For 2017, the decision has been made to compete in the following championships, resulting in the race calendar that appears below:
​     * Darley Moor - Formula Darley championship
     * Darley Moor - Mini Sound of Thunder championship
​     * NG - Supertwin championship

Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th March – NG Supertwin Round 1 (Brands Hatch Indy)
Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd April - Darley Moor Round 1
Friday 7th and Saturday 8th April – NG Supertwin Round 2 (Oulton Park)
Monday 1st May - Darley Moor Round 2
Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th May – NG Supertwin Round 3 (Donington Park National)
Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th June – NG Supertwin Round 4 (Cadwell Park)
Sunday 18th June - Darley Moor Round 3
Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th July – NG Supertwin Round 5 (Castle Combe)
Sunday 16th July - Darley Moor Round 4
Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th August – NG Supertwin Round 6 (Anglesey) - TBC!
Sunday 13th August - Darley Moor Round 5 - TBC!
Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd September – NG Supertwin Round 7 (Pembrey)
Sunday 17th September - Darley Moor Round 6
Saturday 7th October - NG Supertwin Round 8 (Thruxton)
Sunday 8th October - Darley Moor Round 7