At long last, it was finally time for our first race meeting of the 2020 season! We last raced at Oulton Park over 6 years ago, despite living less than 30 minutes away from this great circuit.

Setting off with big smiles on our faces, it wasn't long before a series of issues was sent to test us - with caravan problems (overrun brake, fridge and water pump), a running generator not outputting any power (despite working perfectly when we put it away a few weeks ago) and a rare failure during scrutineering of the Kawasaki Supertwin.

Despite social distancing regulations, the meeting was a very social affair. Over the weekend we managed to catch up with Kyle Ryde, James Powell, Ian Morgan, Matt Waldron, James Ellison, Dijon Compton, Jed & Richard Fogg, Joel Cooper (who has supplied the majority of the fantastic riding photos used within this review) and we also introduced ourselves to some of the Northwich Bikers.

The Friday consisted of morning testing and afternoon qualifying. We took part in 3 test sessions on the Kawasaki ZX6R Supersport machine in sweltering conditions, and got faster every session. During the test sessions we finally migrated across to using our new RST new gloves. We closely monitored running temperatures following installation of the Kawasaki ZX6R Supersport lower radiator expansion, with the highest running temperature seen being 76 degrees. The Kawasaki Supertwin with it's own big radiator ran at a maximum of 82 degrees, so we're very happy with it's performance as other riders were seeing engine water temperatures in excess of 100 degrees this weekend.

​The first qualifying session was for the Pirelli Super Series 600 class. Prior to the session we had set a personal goal to circulate under the 1'50 bracket - so a target had been set! When the assembly area gates opened, almost all of the 40 qualifiers rushed out at once. Not wanting to get stuck in traffic, we held back for around 20 seconds and then headed out onto track. We were able to complete 5 laps (4 flying laps) without barely coming across another rider and set a fastest lap of 1'50.327 which put us 20th place on the combined grid.

Out into the Supertwin qualifying session - which was the first time that the bike had been used this year - we only managed to put in 3 flying laps due to a red flag during the session. Not having ridden the Supertwin posed a challenge, even down to the simple things like "What gear should I be in for this corner?".

One lap when approaching the Hislop chicane, a rapid series of downshifts from 6th to 2nd gear locked up the rear wheel and overwhelmed the slipper clutch, causing the rear tyre to screech and slide from side-to-side. We eased off the brakes, got the bike pointing straight and then run across the grass at Hislops - rejoining close to Knickerbrook. A good learning experience! Our best lap time of 1'57.154 was enough to qualify 5th on the grid (4th in class), but our 'ideal lap' was shown as a 1'56.497 so there was still more to come.

​On Friday evening we treated the Kawasaki ZX6R Supersport machine to a new dry rear tyre. After 150+ laps of the 2020 testing regime it was starting to feel a little worn, so a new one was fitted. The 150+ lap front tyre was still feeling good, so that carried on to fight another day! With the bikes cleaned and ready for Saturday race day, it was then time for a quick trip to the paddock bar.

​We took part in the emergency Saturday morning practice session to scrub in the new rear tyre. To take part in the practice session you needed to collect a pass from the race office on the Saturday morning - it's been a while since I've seen so many people wandering around the paddock at 7am, as there must have been 60-70 people at the race office! During the morning session some riders were pushing very hard and two people had quite fast crashes, giving them a busy morning to prepare for the races ahead.

When we started 600 Race 1 it was madness through the first few corners, with a lot of bumping and barging. Being conservative, by the end of the opening lap we had been pushed back to 25th place. We got our head down, picked off a few people and at the end we finished 19th on track (13th in class), setting a new Personal Best lap time of 1'50.152 - good but not quite achieving our target.

​We quickly headed into the paddock and switched bikes as we were straight out into Supertwin race. Going straight out had both good and bad elements - the bad was that we were a bit knackered but the good was that we were already up to speed after pushing 100% just a few minutes earlier. A good start meant that we maintained 5th place on the first lap, before moving up to 4th place by the end of lap 2. We put in a series of solid laps and eventually finished 4th on track (4th in class), with a new Personal Best lap time of 1'55.004 on the Supertwin.

​Onto the second set of races, we realised that No Limits base the next starting grid based on fastest laps (rather than previous results), so we started 600 Race 2 from 24th on the grid. An OK start but tentative first lap saw us drop to 26th by the end of the opening lap, but a strong run of laps saw us catching and passing people to finished in 24th position on track (13th in class). We also set another new Personal Best lap time of 1'49.763 to meet our target!

Once again, we were straight out into Supertwin race - this time from 4th on the grid. After an initial great start, we pulled a wheelie so changed gear but found Neutral! After a quick shift into 2nd gear we found ourselves sinking backwards through the field. An attempt to go around the outside of the pack at the first corner was thwarted when we were pushed onto the rumble strips, and we headed towards Cascades in 7th or 8th position. We slowly fought our way through the pack, setting another new Personal Best lap time of 1'54.207 along the way. On lap 5 we caught 5th place and performed an 'around the outside at Cascades' move that impressed even ourselves, and we crossed the chequered flag in 4th place!

This was a fantastic and thouroughly enjoyable weekend. We walk away with a few things to fix, but both bikes are running great. Our next outing will be at Darley Moor Round 5 (including the test day) on Saturday/Sunday 12th-13th September.

With our first race meeting of 2020 now only a week away, we thought that it was time to provide you with a summary of recent news...

Kawasaki ER650 Supertwin
Over 8 months had passed since the Kawasaki Supertwin was cleaned and prepared for hibernation. When we tried to bring it back to life it refused to provide power to the fuel pump. After a lot of searching through wiring diagrams - not helped by the fact that there is very little 'stock' wiring on the machine due to the Programmable Ignitech ECU - we eventually tracked the problem down to a corroded Ford relay that was being used as the fuel pump relay. With that identified, a couple of new relays were ordered, a brand new Yuasa battery was fitted and the Supertwin fired back into life! Big thanks to Dave Snr for his help in resolving the issues!

​Kawasaki ZX6R Supersport
As you may have previously read about, the Kawasaki Supersport has been fitted with a new lower radiator extension. In addition, a fresh bottle of Rock Oil has been fed to the engine and the front brakes have received some new Rock Oil racing brake fluid and a full set of EBC GPFAX pads.

​Other than that, some minor bodywork repairs have been performed due to the Darley Moor trackday incident involving a rogue bollard.

Yamaha CG50 Jog
To top things off, the centre stand on our 1989 Yamaha Jog snapped during a leisurely ride around the Cheshire countryside. We managed to find a NOS (New Old Stock) replacement - so hopefully this will last a further 31 years! Within our spares collection we found another damaged centre stand, so this must be a weak spot of the Yamaha CG50 Jog!

No Limits Oulton Park - Timetable Released
The timetable for next weekend has now been released, with Friday being the Practice/Qualifying day and Saturday providing two races on each machine for us - but as the races are back-to-back, we will need to be on top form between the races to make sure we don't miss the start of the Supertwins races!

The timetable is shown below. If you attend the meeting, make sure to (socially distance) pop over and say "Hi"  :-)

The Febur lower radiator extension first announced back in January 2019 has finally been installed on our Kawasaki Supersport machine, along with some shiny (and bright orange) 'kit-type' silicone hoses. The radiator extension was previously installed on a NP Motorcycles British Supersport machine, so we knew that fitment should be relatively straightforward.

​The 'kit-type' water hose arrangement moves the oil filter cooler hoses into the main waterways - to reduce the water temperature circulating through that section. On the diagram below you can see the changes made.

​Prior to fitting the radiator extension, we acquired a new (more sturdy) stone guard that matched the main radiator guard - this needed to be cut to shape, so a template was made to define our required dimensions and then cut out. Once the edges were lined we spaced the guard from the radiator using a combination of rubber pipe and cable ties.

​The mounting fixtures were prepared, then painted and now look like new. With all of this 'shiny newness', the radiator water expansion bottle was looking decidedly dirty, so received a thorough cleaning! With everything assembled and mounted, here are some "before and after" photos!  :-)

In the case that we ever decide to remove/disconnect the radiator extension (e.g. due to a water leak or the bike running too cold), we have acquired some straight pipe connectors to bypass the T-pieces so that only the main radiator is used - and importantly, mean that we can continue racing.

Our next outing will be with the No Limits club at Oulton Park on 14th/15th August 2020, so we will be closely monitoring running temperatures during that meeting. We'll let you know what difference the changes have made!  :-)

Here are some photos from the recent Loose Cannon track day at Darley Moor, taken by the official photographer...

Just 9 days after we were out on track at Three Sisters, we headed back to the familiar surroundings of Darley Moor for a track day organised by Loose Cannon. The day was very well organised and with only 20 riders in each group we never felt crowded out on track.

Before we ventured out onto the circuit, we were warned that the track was very "green" as it hadn't been used yet in 2020. This turned out to be more true than usual, as we discovered that there was actually vegetation growing on the track! Fortunately we were blessed with a bright and dry day, so after the first sessions, the track was back to its former glory. Perhaps more shocking was the revelation that 'on demand' hot water is now available in the toilets...  :-)

Having completed over 2000 laps of the Darley Moor circuit in the past 25 years, we didn't set any particular goals for the day other than to spend more time getting comfortable riding a bike.

At the previous test day, we performed some testing with tyre pressures - and we decided to continue that testing during the track day and to monitor the effects on tyre wear. We started the day with 29psi (hot) in the front tyre and 28psi (hot) in the rear tyre. Throughout the day we took part in 6 sessions and rode a minimum of 10 flying laps in each session - so we got some decent mileage in.

In the first session we were behind the 'pace bike' for three laps before being let loose. We used this time to assess the track conditions and slowly build our pace. We were not particularly committing to corner entry or exit at this point, but it was nice to be back on track.

In the second and third sessions we built speed and made some suspension adjustments and started lapping in low 1'00 laps. Our choice of gearing meant that we were hitting the rev limiter in 5th gear on approach to back esses. We also noticed that near the end of a long run the brake lever started to feel a little bit spongy, so we will change the brake fluid before our next outing - as well as fit some new brake pads.

During the lunch break we decided to drop one tooth on the rear sprocket and also changed the tyre pressures to 32psi (hot) front and 26psi (hot) rear. The change of gearing meant that we no longer hit the rev limiter towards back esses.

During the session we caught up with James Ford and followed him into the back esses. Unfortunately, just in front of him a Honda CB500 had hit a bollard and it bounced onto the track. We saw the debris late and didn't realise what it was (or what else lay ahead), so when James Ford picked it up and ran across the grass - on his brand spanking new and extremely pretty 2020 Yamaha R6 - we did the same. Unfortunately for us, we clipped a bollard ourselves which caused some minor damage to both bike and rider. You can see the onboard footage in the video below.

​For the remaining two sessions we played around with using different gears through different sections of the track. Most of the variants that we tried were ineffective, but we may just have found a few tips to carry across to our race meetings. Here is an onboard lap from later in the day.

​It was a really good day overall and it was great to see some familiar faces (current racers, ex-racers and circuit staff) once again.

Before our next outing - a No Limits race meeting at Oulton Park on 14th-15th August - we plan to make some further machine changes. Once we do, we'll let you know!  :-)
​

Here are some photos from the recent ACU test day at Three Sisters, taken by the official photographer...