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Racing

The Team

 

 

Our team consists of two riders Chris (56) and Tim (65), both of whom ride pre injection Kawasaki G series ZX6Rs. Chris started racing at the beginning of 2012, his first race at Donnington Park was an extreme challenge with torrential rain and minimal experience of the track. Having overcome a steep learning curve and a broken collar bone at Mallory Park in 2013 Chris is now coming into his third year racing and hoping for some good results in 2014.

Up to now Tim has only just got his bike prepared for the beginning of the 2014 season. He's had experience racing 80cc bikes in his youth on small tracks around the country but after a 15 year break is now spending time learning the bigger tracks on track days. Hopefully by the end of 2014 Tim will have gained his ACU licence and joined Chris on track.

In 2013 the team attended several rounds of the Auto 66 championship plus a few races in the Darley Moor championship where Chris often finished well.

 

 

The bikes-

To get on track as quickly as possible Chris' 1999 ZX6R was purchased already set up as a track day bike so only required a few modifications to conform to ACU rules. The oil filler cap and oil filter had to be lockwired and a shark fin chain guard had to be made and fitted. To get the best from the bike the suspension has been upgraded with new internals in the forks and new Nitron shock in the rear. All the suspension work was done by Reactive Suspension in York. A trip to Dynobike in Malton for a session on the rolling road ensured she was up to power and running sweet.

Tim's 1998 ZX6R started out as a road bike. Shortly after purchase the road fairings were sold and replaced with fibreglass race fairings. The alarm was removed and wiring loom tidied. The brake calipers were dismantled, cleaned and rebuilt with new seals. The pads already fitted were EBC HH which looked in good shape so were put back in. A new 520 chain and bigger sprockets were fitted, also a pair of Bridgestone BT015 tyres. It was thought since Tim was still learning the tracks the extra money for stickier tyres would be a waste. On the two track days attended in 2013 the BT015s performed well, softening up nicely once some heat was in them. A set of rearset pegs were bolted on, a thourough service carried out then out for a thrash round Cadwell!

 

 

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2014 Season Begins!

 

First meetings of 2014 at Darley and Cadwell go to plan!

During the winter off season both bikes have been treated to some fresh paint and stickers. Chris' bike has had a complete change of livery to white and black with new sponsor The Old Ebor pub. Tim's bike has been finished off by painting the tank to match the rest of the bike and a few stickers from his sponsor Black Sheep Research.

 

 

 

Since the ZX6R has a large weight disadvantage to certain other pre-injection bikes (R6) some weight saving measures have been taken on Chris' bike including chopping excess lugs off the frame, a carbon exhaust and lithium battery are also fitted. Other maintainance was also carried out during winter including a full brake calliper overhaul and new braided steel brake lines. A fresh front tyre and set of brake pads are stuck on and we're all set for the first race of the season at Darley Moor! The teams new motto... Stay on it! Has an obvious double meaning.

 

 

With some help from Sam and Dave the weekend at round 2 of the Darley Moor Road Racing Championship went well. The extra pairs of hands in the paddock make all the difference and made for an easy time with tyre warmers, stands, cooking etc. Chris made some excellent starts as usual ripping through the pack and did very well to keep a Fireblade behind him in the pre 98 class. The highly competetive pre-injection class was more of a struggle with some extremely fast riders and bikes on track. In all a good, dry meeting with Chris managing to "stay on it!" all day.

 

 

Two weeks later the team's at Cadwell Park for a track day and a two day Derby Phoenix race meeting. The weather was fantastic so both bikes went out for an afternoon session on Saturday to attempt to get to grips with the extremely demanding curves and bumps of Cadwell Park. Some improvements from the teams last visit were made so a successful afternoon was had by all.

 

 

 

Come Sunday and Monday the racing was on for Chris. Derby Phoenix has an extremely competitive pe-injection class dominated by R6's. The plan was pretty much to just get some more track time and try not to come last. Lap times greatly improved by day two, as ever Chris was making some blistering starts. A malfunctioning tyre warmer was pretty much the only thing that went wrong all weekend. Kendo Racing came to the rescue with a spare and the racing continued. A long but successful weekend at Cadwell was enjoyed by the team, with the weather staying warm and dry, one of the best weekends racing so far. Thanks to Kendo Racing also Dave for coming and helping out again.

 

 

Next stop for the boys... track day at Darley Moor! Tim's first time back for over a decade!

 

Darley Moor Track Day

 

Soon after the trip to Cadwell the team heads to Derbyshire for a blast round Darley Moor race circuit.

The weather forecast wasn't looking good but both bikes were chucked in one van and the boys headed off early anyway. On arrival the track was damp in places but looked promising for the morning session. Due to most track days at Darley being held on friday combined with the poor weather forecast only ten or so people turned up who were then split into two groups. First session was fairly steady to warm up and remind Tim where the track went. By the second session the track was just about totally dry so the hammer went down!

 

 

By following Chris round for a few laps Tim got an idea of how fast he needed to be for race pace. Although he could stay with him for a few laps poor fitness forced him to back off before the end of the session. Time for some more cycling and excercise!

 

 

Luckily the weather stayed dry for the rest of the day so around 60 laps were completed and 40 litres of fuel was burned. Chris had plenty of time to play around with different gearing and suss the track without the pressure of racing. A perfect learning day for both riders, no pressure or many other bikes on track to worry about. This was the first time both Chris and Tim have managed to get out on track together and was awesome fun for everyone from start to finish.

 

 

The bikes still in one piece were loaded back up into Chris' van after the last session. Both riders absolutely knackered from working hard to go faster head home towards a huge thunderstorm. The end of a pretty much perfect day at Darley Moor.

Up next- two day race meeting back at Darley! Can Chris turn all this practice into better lap times?!

 

 

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