Here is a rather badly focussed picture of the sidecar which myself and Doug race. We are mere cogs in the mighty racing machine that is the Tarmak Turkeys. A breeding ground for fast new motorcycle racing talent and new engineering ideas.
The team consists:
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Tom "keep left" Hodgins, Mike O'Sullivan, Rancid Tom Nelson, Lee Whitfield, Doug Marton and Alex Polley (me).
The Gobbler (motorcycle):
A fifty see see race tuned beast with a red petrol tank and a disk brake. This untamed hooligan can manage 80 mph when its packed up inside the van and we're going down a hill. When its on the track it can do over half that speed as long as its working alright.
The Unpronouncable (sidecar outfit):
Hours of thought and days of experience went into the design of this unpredictable maniac of a machine. Fashioned using some free glue and tent poles this baby fairly hoots once the seventy sea c lump hits the power band. Speeds of "far too fast for this corner" and "I wish we weren't going this quick" are common on the chassis whose handling rivals the very latest shopping trolley (even those new ones from Safeways with the handle you pull up).
.. but seriously..
We race a tuned Suzuki AP 50, tuned means porting (filed !) barrels, boring out carbs, constructing new exhaust pipes from computer aided designs (I shall put these programs on here one day) using a weld and blow technique. The sidecar outfit or chair is built from scratch using one go-kart + two trailer wheels, an RS100 motor + hand built pipes, aluminium glue and Microlite tubing. We race in the Moped Mayhem series which basically involves practice + short races on the Saturday then one 6 hour (!) moped endurance race on the Sunday with a couple of half hour chair races. This all adds up to a cheap weekend away (60 quid each (ish)).
See our pictures from ROWRA 98
A case study in how not to safely perform a testing session - KEEP LEFT!
For the Cadwell Park meeting last season, we managed to get both vehicles going early enough for a practice out on a disused air strip towards Warrington called Burton Wood Airfield. We arrived on a quiet Sunday afternoon to find a fairly homogenous strip of tarmac about the same width as a good strip of road and 1/3 of a mile long. The strip forms a straight with a long, fast left handed bend followed by ample room for turning at the end of the straight, the weather was not ideal with intermittent showers. We began testing the two vehicles identifying a couple of problems with the carbuerration of the AP and its electrical system. The sidecar engine had had a rebore consequently we were running in the newly finished barrels.
After an hour or two we decided to call it a day and Tom set off on the AP for a final "straight" or two. We then decided to set off for a gentle phutter to give the engine another few hundred yards of running in - no helmets as we were only running in. The outcome was tragically predictable as we started to enter the left hander I noticed Tom entering the same corner. I sat up on the chair and waved to him, the intention was to warn him of our impending encounter. Unfortunately both pilots decided the same route to pass then change the route simultaneously to another identical route .. then again and then Tom lost the front end on the wet tarmac the AP carreered into the chair throwing me off - no injury though. Doug was OK so were the bikes with the exception of the AP's forks. Tom was in shock and it turned out he'd broken his elbow, cracked a rib and his hip.
Not enough thought was put into safety issues apart from protective clothing (even this was compromised at the moment of the accident). This just goes to show quickly, once rapid vehicles and roads were born, a "Keep Left" convention must have been decided. Such a decision at the start of the pratice would have saved old Tom a lot of pain. OH WELL ... NEVER MIND !
New Season Rowra Meeting Review(1-3 May 1998)
Well we all got back safe and sound if a little tired after a three day meeting. The event was an entirely enjoyable event: friendly people, good race conditions, flat good quality tarmak on the newly extended Rowra Karting circuit, reasonable facilities and as a whole it was a succesful weekend for us Turkeys.A lot of last minute work went into completing the sidecar outfit. This included getting reasonable ground clearance, changing the gear selector, adapting the guard and passenger grab rails. Also some attention had been paid to the jetting through a pre-meeting practice session this time conducted safely with only one vehicle.
The AP had been upgraded aswell though this work was conducted in less of a rush over the winter. The back brake was now cable operated, the footrests now steadily mounted on the frame rather than swinging arm, the front brake system was entirely reconditioned - the whole bike was now solid and reliable.
From a personal perspective I had my reservations about the meeting since I haven't been riding long and this was to be my first
proper outing on the track on the solo. I was worried I wouldn't be competitive or that I would be too scared ..HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
.. after about 3 laps of the practice session Saturday morning on exitting the tight S's (pumped full of addrenalin) screaming "come on" at the top of my voice and decided I liked this sport!! I got off the bike to find my lap times quoted as 1'20 and 1'12 (erratic but I was entirely pleased with the 1'12). I'd managed to lose the back end at the affectionatly named "U bend" (a kind of widish radius hairpin) and fell off without hurting myself much nor the bike all good stuff.The day went well for everyone else including Tom "keep left" Hodgins who hadn't been on a bike since that nasty accident he was totally happy to have come back in in one piece, been reasonably quick and enjoyed himself immensly.
Where the turkeys had no luck though was in the three wheeler event - the sidecar gave us serious problems all weekend. During the practice the engine siezed and this cut our session short. We noted that many other outfits were experiencing similar problems on this dry sunny day (press=1020 hum=40%). We returned for the race later that day with richer carbuerretion but the engine did not run properly (crackling and clutch slip) so we came DNF place on the first sidecar championship race of the season. Later we stripped the top end to find the piston crown defiled to the point of useless so we swapped barrel and piston and went richer still on the jetting. We looked forward to the next day. None of the following days gave any improvement we went from a 180 to 190 then topend rebuild to 200 main jet on the RS100 motor and after less than 20 minutes the engine seized every time. On our last raced we really were holding off just so we could see the checkered flag but at the top of the hill "puuf" went our piston and were are now looking at a full engine rebuild - oh well nobody ever said it was going to be easy - nuff said about the chair.
Anyways back to the main event of the weekend, the 6 hr endurance event. It was fantastic conditions for sticking to tarmak - fresh clear day with brilliant sunshine. We'd blagged some new tyres in exhange for some welding (yes it was us with the oxy (enough hassle for the team's skilled welder)) and were looking forward to the event as everyone else was. The now familiar Le Mans Mayhem Start no less than impressive than ever and the intense cocophony made its way round for the first lap. The number 3 bike standing out as quick much like last season, impressive, ruthless (in my opinion I think this guy sometime takes lines that aren't his OK he is faster but he is not always in front and that's what counts still it all does add to the fun). The race progressed our two faster riders (Lee and Doug) managing best times of 1'07s, I got a few 1'10s and one suspect 1'08 - very pleased even if the fastest time was due to dodgy scoring! I also fell off big style in front of the "grandstand" having tried to overtake on a wide line a step-through himself already running wide, I was on a gravelly apex unable to ask much more of the bike when I inevitably hit the tyre wall. I was told that they did laugh in the stall - I was fine and carried on ever more eager (stupid fool!).
We finished the race on 272 laps not bad we found out later this was 30 odd laps more than out last season rivals "team APe". The overall winner I heard to be surprise surprise No.3 while No.65 beat team GLIA by one lap to win the Two stroke sports race. I had noticed No.65 during Saturdays practices, it seemed to go round corners significantly faster than anything else - it having smaller wheels, a less severe steering angle and a much more comfortable trials-like riding position, this came in to play on the early part of the next days race being wet for the first few laps when he managed to catch up with the supersport No.3 around the corners while being left for dead on the straights, overall in those conditions the bikes were perfectly matched but with entirely different performance. This is one interesting aspect of the Moped Mayhem that you never see so many (roughly 60m bikes) out on a track at the same time and with so many totally different ideas about how to go fast.
Monday's 4 hour race went well for us averaging similar lap times to the previous days race.
We all went home happy campers, I had been the most Tarmaked having offed 5 times (sounds more dangerous than the reality). We reckon we averaged something around 45mph around the shortis kart track (not that bad for a 50cc machine). We'd eaten well, drunk a bit - all bloody good fun.
See you at Ty Croes ? ............
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last update 15.5.98
