Tues., I was informed that Harold Dean had died. I mentioned in my last post that I had stopped by to see him at the rehab facility that he was in, but he was asleep and I didn't wake him. I left him a note and just before I got back to Doug and Amy's house he called and told Amy that I should have awoken him. Now I feel a little guilty and sorry that I didn't as I won't get a chance to talk to him again.
I mentioned that I was riding the 175 C-Z that he had given Doug. Years before, when Doug was visiting Harold (who lived 5 or so miles away) and checking out his extensive bike collection, Doug commented that his first bike was a 175 C-Z. A few days later, Harold dropped off the bike and told Doug that it was his. Doug and Harold had know each other maybe 20 years before when they both worked at New Haven Tweed airport, but had lost touch until Doug and Amy moved to Haddam. Harold was a pilot and had once flow to Alaska in his Cessna with a Triumph Tiger Cub in the plane, to get around on the land.
Harold had been a top Enduro rider in the 60s and had been sponsored by Jawa/C-Z. He used to drive down to there warehouse, first in Long Island City and later in Plainview, N.Y., pick up bikes and deliver them to dealers in the Northeast.
He had an extensive collection of bike that included many BMWs, mostly airhead twins, but at least one single, a couple of Sprints, a couple to Tiger Cubs, a late '40s 125 C-Z, a Horex Regina, and a Hercules 175? 250? 7 speed enduro, among others. He had recently given his very close friend Al Anderson his '31 Henderson 4 cylinder.
Harold rode into his last (85th) year and often accompanied us on the Tiddler Tours with his cheater BMW Twin. But, when you're in your 80s, you can ride what ever you damn well please.
It's the end of an era and Harold will be missed.
Friday, December 30, 2016
T-day weekend
I've been nagged about not having posted about our family's ancient Thanksgiving tradition of putting the bikes away for the winter. The tradition involves running each bike, then draining the oil and fuel, then lowering it into the basement.
First up was the '67 Moto Guzzi Stornello ISDT Regolarita that Douglas has started to restore for Pete Swider. Pete's dad, Mike, had used the bike for enduros and had modified it extensively. The plan is for Doug to tidy it up and bring it back close to stock. They're pretty rare as only 75 of this model were made. He'll ride it and, if he likes it, will buy it from Pete and, if not, Pete will sell it.
Next was the '65 C-Z 175 which hadn't been run since it we pulled out of the basement last Spring. There were those who wanted to leave it in the basement all Summer, but I argued 'Why have it if you aren't gong to use it?' And, I promised to use it. It's routsheet holder had the sheet from the '15 Roper TT, so I decided I do the Afternoon route. This was 54 miles on the west side of the river and I added a good 6 miles with a detour to visit Harold Dean, who had given the bike to Doug and Amy, at the rehab facility he's at now. But Harold was asleep and I decided not to wake him and pushed on. The C-Z is a great little bike if you're patient--comfortable and with good handling and the brilliant automatic clutch release when one moves the shift lever. It's not very quick, but I saw 62.2 mph on the bicycle electronic speedo, which is plenty for snotty New England roads. Just after I got started, I remembered that I had forgotten to check the tire pressure before I left, but it seemed to be handling fine, so I carried on. When I got back, I checked it and there was 11psi in the front and 20 in the rear. I guess neither it or I are very sensitive. We drained the fuel and down it went.
It was a dry, but cool day, and Amy accepted my offer to ride her '71 CL 350 Honda. All these bike have charging systems that can handle an electric vest and gloves, including the C-Z, which has the Power Dynamo 12V, 150 W system upgrade. I did check the tire pressure this time. The CL 350 has been 'CBized' with a low exhaust and disc brake, but I returned it to its roots by taking it on some dirt roads, some quite rough, after adapting to the enormous power after the C-Z. 32.6 miles (including Cedar Swamp Rd.) and it ran perfectly. Gas and oil drained, it went down the hatch.
Working my way up the power curve, I next 'rode Amy's '16 Moto Guzzi V7 II Sport Stone. With Amy being short, the bike has the lower seat, which make the 'bars seem high and wide for me. But otherwise, it's comfortable and throughly modern. Being a 90 degree V-twin, it's smooth, but with a pleasant thudding lugging at low revs. Just under 30 miles and, after draining the oil, but not the gas as we couldn't figure it out with fuel injection and fuel pump, it went down in the basement.
The next day, I fired up the '53 Moto Guzzi Airone Sport. I had last used it in the Fall Giro, where it leaked and burnt a tremendous amount of oil, like a gallon over the two days. Doug left it on his trailer to leak for a couple more weeks, then powerwashed it and put it on some fresh cardboard to leak for another week or so. So, this was the perfect opportunity to try to figure out where the oil was going. Shortly after I started it, I noticed the exhaust rocker spindle wiggling back and forth. So, I just rode it for a mile or two and drained what oil was left in it. Further inspection found that the rocker spindle bore was wallowed out and oil was definitely leaking from there. But, I was also missing three rocker cover screws, at least one of which gave direct access to the valve spring chamber and it's oil. But, this didn't explain the smoke that everyone told me was coming out of the exhaust pipe, rather than off the outside of the pipe. I pulled the head off and the bore didn't look bad, though full of oil. Initially, the piston looked good, too but, on closer examination, I saw that the ring land was broken between the top and second ring.
Sunday, I rode my '59 Horex Resident to the British Iron Association breakfast in Colchester. After breakfast, back in Haddam, Bill Burke showed up and pulled his trick Sprint out of his van. We headed to Rich Hosley's shop in Branford, where he said he'd be working on his La Salle. I was dead reconning and hit the Shore too far east and we had a bit of a tedious slog along Rt.1 and 146 behind some slowpokes. I actually overshot Rich's shop and we stopped at a gas station to figure out exactly where we were and the best way to get back. While sitting there idling with my electric vest and gloves plugged in, the Horex motor died. The motor didn't want to start and when I pulled out the plug, I could see no spark, though it was a bit hard to tell in the sunlight. Several people stopped to help, but I couldn't get it started. We called Rich and he drove his van over and we loaded the Horex into it. When we got it into his shop, I tried starting the Horex again and it fired up. Odd. After we had a good smooze, Bill and I decided to head back. I fired up the Horex and plugged in and waited idling while Bill got organized and started his Sprint. The Horex died again and we started connecting the dots. We checked the battery and it was well down. The 150 W Power Dynamo charging system could keep up with the load of the electric vest, gloves and lights at idle. So we put a charger on the battery for 15 or so minutes, then started back without me plugging in. We had a relatively high speed blast towards Haddam and the Horex ran fine, so I plugged back in for the last 5 or so miles. The Horex got it's fuel and oil drained and it went down.
In the meantime, Doug had just idled his Guzzi LeMans, Norton Electra, and Benelli 250 getting them hot, then draining the oil. Eight bikes down in the basement is a little tight, but the winter projects have begun.
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| The Certain forks and Suzuki front wheel are among the non standard items |
Next was the '65 C-Z 175 which hadn't been run since it we pulled out of the basement last Spring. There were those who wanted to leave it in the basement all Summer, but I argued 'Why have it if you aren't gong to use it?' And, I promised to use it. It's routsheet holder had the sheet from the '15 Roper TT, so I decided I do the Afternoon route. This was 54 miles on the west side of the river and I added a good 6 miles with a detour to visit Harold Dean, who had given the bike to Doug and Amy, at the rehab facility he's at now. But Harold was asleep and I decided not to wake him and pushed on. The C-Z is a great little bike if you're patient--comfortable and with good handling and the brilliant automatic clutch release when one moves the shift lever. It's not very quick, but I saw 62.2 mph on the bicycle electronic speedo, which is plenty for snotty New England roads. Just after I got started, I remembered that I had forgotten to check the tire pressure before I left, but it seemed to be handling fine, so I carried on. When I got back, I checked it and there was 11psi in the front and 20 in the rear. I guess neither it or I are very sensitive. We drained the fuel and down it went.
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| A couple of the iconic stickers on the C-Z |
It was a dry, but cool day, and Amy accepted my offer to ride her '71 CL 350 Honda. All these bike have charging systems that can handle an electric vest and gloves, including the C-Z, which has the Power Dynamo 12V, 150 W system upgrade. I did check the tire pressure this time. The CL 350 has been 'CBized' with a low exhaust and disc brake, but I returned it to its roots by taking it on some dirt roads, some quite rough, after adapting to the enormous power after the C-Z. 32.6 miles (including Cedar Swamp Rd.) and it ran perfectly. Gas and oil drained, it went down the hatch.
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| The Honda Cl 350 hadn't gotten a lot of use recently either, as evidenced by the cobwebs on the mudguard |
Working my way up the power curve, I next 'rode Amy's '16 Moto Guzzi V7 II Sport Stone. With Amy being short, the bike has the lower seat, which make the 'bars seem high and wide for me. But otherwise, it's comfortable and throughly modern. Being a 90 degree V-twin, it's smooth, but with a pleasant thudding lugging at low revs. Just under 30 miles and, after draining the oil, but not the gas as we couldn't figure it out with fuel injection and fuel pump, it went down in the basement.
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| The heart warming scene of a girl and her motor |
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| With my beloved Airone Sport. Amy Roper photo |
Sunday, I rode my '59 Horex Resident to the British Iron Association breakfast in Colchester. After breakfast, back in Haddam, Bill Burke showed up and pulled his trick Sprint out of his van. We headed to Rich Hosley's shop in Branford, where he said he'd be working on his La Salle. I was dead reconning and hit the Shore too far east and we had a bit of a tedious slog along Rt.1 and 146 behind some slowpokes. I actually overshot Rich's shop and we stopped at a gas station to figure out exactly where we were and the best way to get back. While sitting there idling with my electric vest and gloves plugged in, the Horex motor died. The motor didn't want to start and when I pulled out the plug, I could see no spark, though it was a bit hard to tell in the sunlight. Several people stopped to help, but I couldn't get it started. We called Rich and he drove his van over and we loaded the Horex into it. When we got it into his shop, I tried starting the Horex again and it fired up. Odd. After we had a good smooze, Bill and I decided to head back. I fired up the Horex and plugged in and waited idling while Bill got organized and started his Sprint. The Horex died again and we started connecting the dots. We checked the battery and it was well down. The 150 W Power Dynamo charging system could keep up with the load of the electric vest, gloves and lights at idle. So we put a charger on the battery for 15 or so minutes, then started back without me plugging in. We had a relatively high speed blast towards Haddam and the Horex ran fine, so I plugged back in for the last 5 or so miles. The Horex got it's fuel and oil drained and it went down.
In the meantime, Doug had just idled his Guzzi LeMans, Norton Electra, and Benelli 250 getting them hot, then draining the oil. Eight bikes down in the basement is a little tight, but the winter projects have begun.
Monday, November 14, 2016
Moto 3
While I'm obsessed with vintage bikes, I also follow modern racing. And while it was a great year in the MotoGP class, I very much enjoy the Moto 3 class, too. One Moto 3 rider that has fascinated me this year is the Malaysian Khairul Idam Pawi. He came on to my radar when he won the 2nd race of this season in Argentina by 26.17 seconds! No one wins in the intensely competitive Moto 3 class by that kind of margin, let alone a rookie.
Pawi raced in only one Moto 3 race last year, in Aragon for some reason, and finished an unspectacular 25th. Then in the pre season tests, he was 27th fastest of 33 at Valencia and 20th fastest of 33 at Qatar. In the race a Qatar, he finished 22nd, 17.608 seconds behind the winner. Then, in the next race he won by over 26 seconds. It was wet and he used the same tires as everyone else. When he got into a sizable lead, his team tried to slow him down, but he kept stretching his lead, just about crashing every lap. I wondered if he was the Next Big Thing or if he was a wet weather specialist.
The next race was COTA in Austin, Tx., and Pawi finished 20th, 48.107 seconds behind the winner. This led me to think that Argentina was just a very weird fluke. Pawi was 14th in the next two races, credible for a rookie in such a competitive class, but not The Next Big Thing.
Pawi crashed out in the next three races, while in 5th one lap from the end at Mugello, while 7th at Catalunya after he had led, and on the 1st lap at Assen. So, maybe he was a 'win it or bin it' type, except by now he also had four lackluster finishes.
At Sachsenring, Pawi won again, this time by 11.131 seconds, still a huge margin in Moto 3. Again it was wet. The next race in Austria he finished 27th, 40.361 seconds behind the winner. What's up with this guy?
At Brno, he crashed out while in 3rd. This was the 3rd wet Moto 3 race of the season and John McPhee won the race by the next biggest margin of the year, 8.806 seconds. So, it does seem that a wet track does increase the chance of an otherwise mid pack rider winning and at a bigger margin and perhaps the Championship contenders are more conservative, having more to loose.
Silverstone: 22nd
San Marino: 22nd
Some of Pawi's unimpressive performances could be attributed to him being a rookie and presumably never having been to these circuits before. But, at Aragon where he had raced as a wildcard in 2015, he was again 22nd.
Motegi:19th
At Phillip Island, Pawi crashed out on the first lap in a multi bike incident and it wasn't clear to me who was at fault.
At Sepang in Malaysia, at a track he presumably had raced before (and maybe many times), he finished 8th and scored his last points of the season.
In the final race of the season at Valencia, Pawi finished 25th.
The average margin of victory of all the Moto 3 races of 2016 was 3.926 second and the average margin of victory of all the Moto 3 races of 2016 that Pawi didn't win was less than half that, 1.854 seconds. Bagnaia won the race at Sepang by 7.108 seconds. Frenati won COTA by 6.612 seconds. Brad Binder, who pretty much dominate the class and won his championship before the other two were decided, won at Phillip Island by 5.937 seconds (after he had cinched the Championship and had little to loose). Pawi won his two races by over 26 and over 11 seconds. He's easily the most up and down racer I've been aware of this season.
Pawi, along with Binder, Navaro, Bagnaia,and Quartararo (all of whom finished the 2016 Moto 3 championship higher than Pawi) moves to Moto 2 next season and it will be interesting to see how he does. Danny Kent, who won the Moto 3 Championship last year, moved to Moto 2 this year and finished the season in 22nd place, so there's is certainly no direct correlation. I'll be watching how Pawi develops.
Pawi raced in only one Moto 3 race last year, in Aragon for some reason, and finished an unspectacular 25th. Then in the pre season tests, he was 27th fastest of 33 at Valencia and 20th fastest of 33 at Qatar. In the race a Qatar, he finished 22nd, 17.608 seconds behind the winner. Then, in the next race he won by over 26 seconds. It was wet and he used the same tires as everyone else. When he got into a sizable lead, his team tried to slow him down, but he kept stretching his lead, just about crashing every lap. I wondered if he was the Next Big Thing or if he was a wet weather specialist.
The next race was COTA in Austin, Tx., and Pawi finished 20th, 48.107 seconds behind the winner. This led me to think that Argentina was just a very weird fluke. Pawi was 14th in the next two races, credible for a rookie in such a competitive class, but not The Next Big Thing.
Pawi crashed out in the next three races, while in 5th one lap from the end at Mugello, while 7th at Catalunya after he had led, and on the 1st lap at Assen. So, maybe he was a 'win it or bin it' type, except by now he also had four lackluster finishes.
At Sachsenring, Pawi won again, this time by 11.131 seconds, still a huge margin in Moto 3. Again it was wet. The next race in Austria he finished 27th, 40.361 seconds behind the winner. What's up with this guy?
At Brno, he crashed out while in 3rd. This was the 3rd wet Moto 3 race of the season and John McPhee won the race by the next biggest margin of the year, 8.806 seconds. So, it does seem that a wet track does increase the chance of an otherwise mid pack rider winning and at a bigger margin and perhaps the Championship contenders are more conservative, having more to loose.
Silverstone: 22nd
San Marino: 22nd
Some of Pawi's unimpressive performances could be attributed to him being a rookie and presumably never having been to these circuits before. But, at Aragon where he had raced as a wildcard in 2015, he was again 22nd.
Motegi:19th
At Phillip Island, Pawi crashed out on the first lap in a multi bike incident and it wasn't clear to me who was at fault.
At Sepang in Malaysia, at a track he presumably had raced before (and maybe many times), he finished 8th and scored his last points of the season.
In the final race of the season at Valencia, Pawi finished 25th.
The average margin of victory of all the Moto 3 races of 2016 was 3.926 second and the average margin of victory of all the Moto 3 races of 2016 that Pawi didn't win was less than half that, 1.854 seconds. Bagnaia won the race at Sepang by 7.108 seconds. Frenati won COTA by 6.612 seconds. Brad Binder, who pretty much dominate the class and won his championship before the other two were decided, won at Phillip Island by 5.937 seconds (after he had cinched the Championship and had little to loose). Pawi won his two races by over 26 and over 11 seconds. He's easily the most up and down racer I've been aware of this season.
Pawi, along with Binder, Navaro, Bagnaia,and Quartararo (all of whom finished the 2016 Moto 3 championship higher than Pawi) moves to Moto 2 next season and it will be interesting to see how he does. Danny Kent, who won the Moto 3 Championship last year, moved to Moto 2 this year and finished the season in 22nd place, so there's is certainly no direct correlation. I'll be watching how Pawi develops.
Sunday, November 13, 2016
2016 race record
In 2016, I raced at 10 different events at 10 different tracks, one of which I had never been to before. This is the least number of events that I've done in at least 15 years. I entered 35 races and started 32 of them. I had 5 DNFs. I had two crashes, both in practice and neither of which stopped me from racing later in the day. This is a little less than my average number of crashes. I raced 6 different bikes belonging to 5 different people. I had 9 firsts, 12 seconds, 4 thirds, 1 fourth, 2 fifths, and 1 sixth. Despite running many less events and having a lot of mechanical gremlins, I won the AHRMA 350GP Championship yet again. This concludes my 45th year of racing without missing a year.
I also did the Lap of Honour at the IOM Classic TT, 4 Tiddler Tours, and one Moto Giro.
I also did the Lap of Honour at the IOM Classic TT, 4 Tiddler Tours, and one Moto Giro.
Saturday, November 12, 2016
2016 Barber Vintage Festival
I missed the pre-entry deadline for Barber because two different dates for that deadline were published in different places. Therefore, I started from the back of the grid for each of my classes (or near the back if there were post entries after mine). I raced three different bikes in three different classes: the CT1 Yamaha built by Dennis Latimer that I've ridden the last two years at Barber in 200GP; my H-D Sprint ERTT in 350GP; and a Team Obsolete Matchless G-50 that we had recently restored in Classic '60s. There is no practice on race days at this AHRMA event and riders are required to practice either Thurs. or Fri., but I decided to practice both days, riding the CT1 and my ERTT on Thurs. and the G-50 on Fri.
I went out on the CT-1 first and on the 3rd lap crashed, spinning it out in turn #5. Just as I saw the fresh scrap marks on the pavement, I lost the front end and lowsided, with little damage to me or the bike. I like to think that there was something slippery on the pavement from the previous crash, but maybe I was just pushing too hard too fast and things weren't warm enough yet. This was the second time I crashed this year, the other being early in the year at Willow Springs, also in my first practice session, but also several laps into the session, and also with little damage. This is a little better than my average of three crashes a year, but still too many.
I replaced all the friction plates in the clutch of my ERTT after the problems I had at Mosport and Calabogie, but found that it would not fully release at Barber. I though if I used it a bit it would free off, but it didn't. I eventually realize that because the plates were thicker, the springs would coil bind, preventing a full release. By this time, Josh Mackenzie had arrived after taking the Chinatown bus from Manhattan to Birmingham. We replaced one new plate with a thinner used one and the clutch worked fine the rest of the weekend.
In the mean time, I went out on Dennis Latimer's 'B' bike, but that had a slipping clutch cause by stripped threads in the crankcase for the clutch release cover. So, they installed a spare motor in the 'B' bike. I went a few laps on that, but then the motor seized. So, it was back to the 'A' bike, patched up after the crash.
I thought I could squeeze one last weekend out of the rear tire on my Sprint, but a couple of slides convinced me that I'd better change it and after practice Thurs., John Stephens helped me mount a 'take off' John Cronshaw had given me at Daytona last year.
Friday I concentrated on The Matchless G-50. This is a bike that was raced by Harry Webster in his native England and possibly the Isle of Man. He brought the bike with him when he immigrated to the U.S., but apparently never raced it here and it ended up going through several hands. It ended up with a fellow in Auburn, Ca., who began to restore it, but never finished it before he died. His widow hung on to it for years but finally decided to sell it. Rob Iannucci bought it and it was delivered to the AHRMA race at Sears Point/Sonoma Raceway and Larry Morris kindly agreed to haul it back to Brooklyn. We went through the motor, gearbox, and forks, had the fuel and oil tank painted and mounted new tires. The bike has a few interesting period modifications, the most obvious being the addition of frame tubes running from the swing arm pivot diagonally forward to the backbone. This necessitated the modification of the oil tank. The fuel tank had indentations put in for clearance with the clip-ons and the front brake has a cooling ring shrunk on. Other wise the bike is very standard and original.
We guessed pretty well on the settings and just added one tooth on the rear sprocket and dropped one size on the main jet after a couple of practice sessions. The front brake got better with use but still required a lot of force. I had some problem with the 1st to 2nd and 2nd to 1st shift, the gearbox seeming to want to stop in neutral, but we didn't see a practical solution to this.
I did one short session to the CT-1 'A' bike and one on my ERTT to check the rear tire, but the ERTT misfired badly. When I came in, I found the battery ground plug wasn't all the way home and I went out for one more lap to confirm that was the problem.
Sat. the first race of the day was the 200GP at 8am. I gridded up 39th out of 41 entries on the 10th row. I made an effort to be mellow initially in the cool conditions, remembering my crash Thurs. morning, but still was quickly into 3rd place and closing on Jeff Henise on his F-3 Kawasaki in the lead and Greg Glevicky on his Honda twin. About the time I passed Greg, Jeff threw his hand up and pulled off. It turned out the rotary valve had seized in it's case. So, I had clear sailing to the checker and won by over 2.8 seconds with a fastest lap almost 1 second quicker than Jeff's.
The 350GP raced followed immediately and here I gridded 20th out of 20 on the 5th row. In addition to starting from the back, when the 'one' board went sideways, I tried to put my motor in gear with the rear brake pedal, the Sprint shifting on the opposite side from the Yamaha. So, I left the line last by a ways. But, again I was quickly up to 3rd, behind Jack Parker who was chasing Paul Germain. And again, about the time I passed Jack, Paul threw up his hand and pulled off and I had smooth sailing to the checkered flag. I won the race by some 16.5 seconds.
What I didn't learn until later was that Germain's motor had seized and he coasted for a ways, then let out the clutch and the motor fired. He babied it for a couple of laps and thought it was running pretty well, so he wicked it up and ended up turning the fastest lap in the class (Eric Cook had the fastest lap in the race on his 350 Sportsman bike starting from the 2nd wave and ending up 3rd overall), about 3/8th of a second faster than my best.
Thurs., I had been introduced to Juan Bulto, by Hub Zemke. Hub is a passionate Bultaco enthusiast who I've know for years. Hub had arranged for Juan, the son of the founder of Bultaco, to come to Barber with the Romero brothers, one of whom had built the frames in the Bultaco race shop and the other who ran the dyno. We saw in practice that Juan was very fast and in the 250GP race, race #5, Germain went faster than he had in the 350GP on the same bike that had seized, but Juan went a good deal faster than that, winning the race. In fact, Juan's fastest lap was more than 1.5 seconds faster than my best lap in the 350GP. I was under the impression that he was going to 'bump up' to the 350 class, but he didn't Sat. Between him and Paul, Sunday's 350GP was far from a foregone conclusion.
After the 350GP race, Greg Glevicky came to me apologizing for protesting the bike I rode in 200GP. He said that he didn't really know, but he had been told that the 'cylinder head' was illegal and that he was involved in a duel for the 200GP championship with Jeff Henise and the points were important. I told Greg that there was no need to apologize, that I didn't take it personally, and that I thought protests were a good thing to clear the air and maintain the level playing field. Apparently, the basis of the protest was that the cylinder (not head) was not of the period. That protest was dis-allowed, but the referee, Tony Pentecost, asked Dennis Latimer what size carburetor was on the motor. Dennis replied that it was 34mm. The limit is 30mm, but Dennis pulled off the carb and removed the 30mm restrictor plate to show Tony and the bike was deemed legal and the win stood.
During lunch, they held the Century Race for bikes at least 100 years old and I very much enjoyed checking out the bikes and catching up with Keith Martin of Big D Triumph in Dallas. Keith had prepared the 1915 Norton of Richard Asprey and went along as support crew in the 2016 Motorcycle Cannonball, a coast to coast rally from Atlantic City, N.J. to Carlsbad, Ca. The bike is reputed to be the 12th oldest known Norton.
The 12th race of the day was the Formula 250/Formula 125/ Classic 60s and Classic 60s 650 and I was gridded 36th overall, 9th in class on the 13th row, in the 3rd wave. I got a decent launch and passed Alex McLean on a Norton Manx early for the class lead, as we sliced through the heavy traffic of the F-125 and many F-250 bikes. But, after a few laps, Alex passed me back and pulled away. He finished 4th overall and I was 6th O.A., more than 11 seconds behind him. I again missed the 1st to 2nd shift, which was only a problem in turn #5, the slowest on the track.
Earlier in the day, I had run into George Barber and we chatted a bit. He had a woman with him who was doing video interviews for the Museum archives and she asked me if I would do one. I agreed and Josh and I rode over to the Museum after our last race. After the interview, Josh and I toured the museum a bit and ran into Chuck Hunnycutt, the head of restoration at the Museum. Chuck and I go way back having competed against each other for several years and stayed in touch for the years after. Chuck gave us a behinds the scene tour and we stayed until they shut down the Museum.
Unfortunately, I forgot that this is when the awards ceremony was going on and I missed my opportunity to collect my awards from Colin Edwards III, the Grand Marshall for the event and missed my chance to thank Dave Ecker and Dennis Latimer who were there. Apologies.
Josh and I then joined the Time Warp Vintage Motorcycle Club's barbecue in the paddock. I'm an honorary member, having broken down in Knoxville, Tn., years ago on my way to Barber an getting my old friend, Butch Sprain, President of the TWVMCC, to help me there. This involved leaving my van there and renting another and then getting the van fixed on our return. This was finally finished just before the Club's monthly meeting, which we attended and were inducted. Since then I've followed the Club's many activities from a distance via their email and meeting minutes.
Sunday had the same schedule and again started with the 200GP race. Jeff Henise had replaced his seized motor with a spare and again I quickly got into 3rd behind Greg and Jeff. I got by Greg and set off after Jeff and wondering if I could catch him as he was really going well. Then the exhaust pipe blew off the cylinder of the CT-1 and I pulled off. It was a bit of a disappointment as it was shaping up as a good race, but it's better than a rod through the case.
So, on to the 350GP race. Again, Juan Bulto did not start and, in fact, Jack Parker pulled off after the warmup lap. This time I made sure I got it in gear by using the shift lever, not the brake pedal. I ran down Paul Germain in a few laps and out braked him going into turn #5, but his motor was running poorly and finally seized for good. I had an easy run to the flag for the overall win, though my fastest lap was slightly faster than Sat. and only bettered by Rich Midgely winner of the 350 Sportsman class from the 2nd wave. In fact the next 9 bikes behind me were 350 Sportsman bikes.
Paul Germain put his spare motor in for the 250GP race and kept Bulto honest and again had a slightly faster lap (0.08 sec.) than I did in the 350GP. So again, I lucked out with the 2nd 350GP win, as the cliche goes: you have to finish to win. And, was it Woody Allen who said "80% of success is showing up"?
After the long wait, we finally grid up for the Classic 60's race. At the start, Rob Hall out drags me with his 650 Triumph from the Classic 60s 650 class (his brother Jake had ridden it Sat.). I got by him for a while, but when I missed another shift he came back by. Then Alex McLean came by and set off after Rob. On the 7th lap, Dave Crussell in the F-250 class crashed and the race was redflagged and declared over. I was 6th overall again and officially 2nd in class, though 3rd in my wave, and my fastest lap was more the one second quicker than Sat.
Big events always run the risk of being ruined by their success. It gets more expensive, more bureaucratic, there are more crashes and traffic and protests. Emotion run high. But, clearly the great majority agree it's still well worth it in the case of the Barber Vintage Festival. The track is superb for vintage bikes; the level of competition is high; the amenities (museum, swap meet, bike shows, etc.) great; and the weather regularly good. While a hurricane raged to the east and kept many entrants home, we had delightful weather in Leeds.
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| My H-D Sprint in the foreground and Team Obsolete's latest Matchless G50 |
I went out on the CT-1 first and on the 3rd lap crashed, spinning it out in turn #5. Just as I saw the fresh scrap marks on the pavement, I lost the front end and lowsided, with little damage to me or the bike. I like to think that there was something slippery on the pavement from the previous crash, but maybe I was just pushing too hard too fast and things weren't warm enough yet. This was the second time I crashed this year, the other being early in the year at Willow Springs, also in my first practice session, but also several laps into the session, and also with little damage. This is a little better than my average of three crashes a year, but still too many.
I replaced all the friction plates in the clutch of my ERTT after the problems I had at Mosport and Calabogie, but found that it would not fully release at Barber. I though if I used it a bit it would free off, but it didn't. I eventually realize that because the plates were thicker, the springs would coil bind, preventing a full release. By this time, Josh Mackenzie had arrived after taking the Chinatown bus from Manhattan to Birmingham. We replaced one new plate with a thinner used one and the clutch worked fine the rest of the weekend.
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| Dave Mathews photo |
I thought I could squeeze one last weekend out of the rear tire on my Sprint, but a couple of slides convinced me that I'd better change it and after practice Thurs., John Stephens helped me mount a 'take off' John Cronshaw had given me at Daytona last year.
Friday I concentrated on The Matchless G-50. This is a bike that was raced by Harry Webster in his native England and possibly the Isle of Man. He brought the bike with him when he immigrated to the U.S., but apparently never raced it here and it ended up going through several hands. It ended up with a fellow in Auburn, Ca., who began to restore it, but never finished it before he died. His widow hung on to it for years but finally decided to sell it. Rob Iannucci bought it and it was delivered to the AHRMA race at Sears Point/Sonoma Raceway and Larry Morris kindly agreed to haul it back to Brooklyn. We went through the motor, gearbox, and forks, had the fuel and oil tank painted and mounted new tires. The bike has a few interesting period modifications, the most obvious being the addition of frame tubes running from the swing arm pivot diagonally forward to the backbone. This necessitated the modification of the oil tank. The fuel tank had indentations put in for clearance with the clip-ons and the front brake has a cooling ring shrunk on. Other wise the bike is very standard and original.
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| The frame tubes coming diagonally up from the swing arm spindle are non standard. |
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| The alloy cooling ring on the front brake drum is a fairly common period modification |
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| I think this is exiting turn #8. Nev Miller photo |
Sat. the first race of the day was the 200GP at 8am. I gridded up 39th out of 41 entries on the 10th row. I made an effort to be mellow initially in the cool conditions, remembering my crash Thurs. morning, but still was quickly into 3rd place and closing on Jeff Henise on his F-3 Kawasaki in the lead and Greg Glevicky on his Honda twin. About the time I passed Greg, Jeff threw his hand up and pulled off. It turned out the rotary valve had seized in it's case. So, I had clear sailing to the checker and won by over 2.8 seconds with a fastest lap almost 1 second quicker than Jeff's.
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| On the David's Sports Center, Dennis Latimer built CT-1 Yamaha. Nev Miller photo |
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| In turn #5 on the H-D Sprint. Nev Miller photo |
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| Waiting to go out on the track. George Roulson photo |
After the 350GP race, Greg Glevicky came to me apologizing for protesting the bike I rode in 200GP. He said that he didn't really know, but he had been told that the 'cylinder head' was illegal and that he was involved in a duel for the 200GP championship with Jeff Henise and the points were important. I told Greg that there was no need to apologize, that I didn't take it personally, and that I thought protests were a good thing to clear the air and maintain the level playing field. Apparently, the basis of the protest was that the cylinder (not head) was not of the period. That protest was dis-allowed, but the referee, Tony Pentecost, asked Dennis Latimer what size carburetor was on the motor. Dennis replied that it was 34mm. The limit is 30mm, but Dennis pulled off the carb and removed the 30mm restrictor plate to show Tony and the bike was deemed legal and the win stood.
During lunch, they held the Century Race for bikes at least 100 years old and I very much enjoyed checking out the bikes and catching up with Keith Martin of Big D Triumph in Dallas. Keith had prepared the 1915 Norton of Richard Asprey and went along as support crew in the 2016 Motorcycle Cannonball, a coast to coast rally from Atlantic City, N.J. to Carlsbad, Ca. The bike is reputed to be the 12th oldest known Norton.
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| The 1915 Norton of Richard Asprey as it ran in the Motorcycle Cannonball |
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| Keith Martin told me that the caliper brake on the front of the Norton was virtually worthless |
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| Been Rodi rode this Indian in the Century Race |
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| A Triumph Century racer |
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| This BMW ran in the 2014 Motorcycle Cannonball |
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| A H-D Cannonball bike. Note the added front brake and auxiliary fuel tank |
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| A Sears Cannonball bike with the usual mods of front brake, aux. fuel tank and route sheet holder on those wild handlebars |
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| Alex Mclean #122 stalking me after we passed the F-125 bike of Earnest Csizsmar |
Unfortunately, I forgot that this is when the awards ceremony was going on and I missed my opportunity to collect my awards from Colin Edwards III, the Grand Marshall for the event and missed my chance to thank Dave Ecker and Dennis Latimer who were there. Apologies.
Josh and I then joined the Time Warp Vintage Motorcycle Club's barbecue in the paddock. I'm an honorary member, having broken down in Knoxville, Tn., years ago on my way to Barber an getting my old friend, Butch Sprain, President of the TWVMCC, to help me there. This involved leaving my van there and renting another and then getting the van fixed on our return. This was finally finished just before the Club's monthly meeting, which we attended and were inducted. Since then I've followed the Club's many activities from a distance via their email and meeting minutes.
Sunday had the same schedule and again started with the 200GP race. Jeff Henise had replaced his seized motor with a spare and again I quickly got into 3rd behind Greg and Jeff. I got by Greg and set off after Jeff and wondering if I could catch him as he was really going well. Then the exhaust pipe blew off the cylinder of the CT-1 and I pulled off. It was a bit of a disappointment as it was shaping up as a good race, but it's better than a rod through the case.
So, on to the 350GP race. Again, Juan Bulto did not start and, in fact, Jack Parker pulled off after the warmup lap. This time I made sure I got it in gear by using the shift lever, not the brake pedal. I ran down Paul Germain in a few laps and out braked him going into turn #5, but his motor was running poorly and finally seized for good. I had an easy run to the flag for the overall win, though my fastest lap was slightly faster than Sat. and only bettered by Rich Midgely winner of the 350 Sportsman class from the 2nd wave. In fact the next 9 bikes behind me were 350 Sportsman bikes.
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| Ahead of Paul Germain on his DT-1 Yamaha before he dropped out. Nev Miller Photo |
After the long wait, we finally grid up for the Classic 60's race. At the start, Rob Hall out drags me with his 650 Triumph from the Classic 60s 650 class (his brother Jake had ridden it Sat.). I got by him for a while, but when I missed another shift he came back by. Then Alex McLean came by and set off after Rob. On the 7th lap, Dave Crussell in the F-250 class crashed and the race was redflagged and declared over. I was 6th overall again and officially 2nd in class, though 3rd in my wave, and my fastest lap was more the one second quicker than Sat.
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| Alex Mclean again stalking as he goes by #43 Henry Syphers. Henry was enter if F-125, but that sure doesn't look like his 125 Honda. Nev Miller photo |
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| #112 Aleksey Kravchuk was pitted next to us |
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| The non-original fuel tank indentations which allow the clip-ons to be pulled back a little further |
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| On the grid on the T/O Matchless G-50. Stacie London photo |
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| Loaded up and ready to head home. We actually headed to Greer, S.C., and spent the night with Henry Kelller who Josh had worked with on an AHRMA team when he lived in Florida. Henry's planing a comeback for next year. |
Saturday, November 5, 2016
Fall Giro
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| The Vermont Airone Sports |
Laurence Deguilme and I had planned to go together and share a room but, at the last moment, something came up and he couldn't make it. I called Tim Courts and offered him Laurence's entry. Tim thought that sounded like a good idea and thought he could get his old 250 Ducati race bike shaken down for the Giro. I thought Tim was a grizzled veteran of these events, but it turned out that he had never entered a Giro before.
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| Tim's ex-racebike 250 Ducati. He was conserned about the seat, which is little more than a plank, but he got a gel pad from my brother and had a sheepskin and he was fine. |
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| A late '30s DKW 100 at Nova Cycles. Rob Sigond photo |
Jesse Morris' NSU Max had blown a head gasket (which he couldn't understand as he had replaced it, heat cycled it and retorqued the head) and Peg Preble had blown up her 175 Honda side car and I offered them each the use of my TC200 Suzuki for Sunday, but they both declined and decided to run a second sweep vehicle in addition to sister-in-law and Amy with Gayle Ellis.
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| The NSU Max of Jesse Morris and, yes, I'm a terrible photographer |
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| The dealer sticker on Jesse's NSU, King Motorcycle, Brooklyn, N.Y. |
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| A 65cc Yamaha |
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| The Boiler Bar & Grill, Sunday's lunch stop. Rob Sigond photo |
the scoring of the Giros is almost entirely based on the agility test when one is given a specific time to get through a slalom of cones where points are accumulated for time over or under or for knocking down a cone, dabbing or going out of bounds; low points wins. I am consistently a high scorer, but this Giro I actually did fair. I had a total of 7.7 points and beat my Team Paleo teammate Rick Bell's (250 H-D Sprint) 10.284, but we both dragged down Team Leader Rich Hosley's 4.842, good enough for 2nd 250 and 10th overall.
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I love these Zundapp Super Sabres
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| The owner found an NOS exhaust pipe for cheap |
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| Jake Herzog's Grossa, an Ossa motor in a Greeves chassis |
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| A YDS2 Yamaha |
Sunday, October 30, 2016
Calabogie
On Sept. 9th, a week after I flew to Salt Lake City for the AHRMA Bonneville Vintage GP, I drove north to Calabogie. This was the VRRA's first event at Calabogie, near Ottawa, and it was excellent. The track is really challenging with 20 corners, many of them decreasing radius, double apex and/or blind, 3.14miles long and in excellent condition with good traction and not a single bump. It was a lot to learn and I only got 2 laps on a bicycle Fri. afternoon.
Fri evening, I rode my '68 TC 200 Suzuki into town to get something to eat. While I was waiting for my order to arrive, three racers who were pitted near me showed up and joined me. Andy D'Ornellas, who is from Guyana and rides a very clean CB350 Honda, Paddy Fitzgerald, who is from Ireland and rides a Norton Atlas, and Colin Paul, who sounded American but assured me he was Canadian and who rides a RZ350 Yamaha. They are a great bunch and represent part of what I love about Canada: it's diversity. We had a good chance to get to know each other as the service was very slow and it was a long time until we got served.
Then, Sat. morning, the ERTT didn't want to start. after futzing with the points for about 40 minutes, I finally got it running but had missed my one and only practice by then. So they let me go out in 'fast' practice on my P-1 350 with all the vintage superbikes, not knowing where I was going.
One guy showed me around for a lap, then my face shield came adrift. We had been warned that there was a strict noise ordinance at this track and I had fitted a different megaphone and pop riveted a silencer on the back with a hanger from the frame.
But, the pop rivets were aluminum and they broke on the 3rd lap and the muffler dragged on the track while hanging from the frame. I got in 1 more lap and had a vague idea where I was going.
As it turned out, no one was tested or hassled about sound. I got some steel pop rivets from Rodger McHardy and, after dollying the end of the silencer that had dragged, replaced it and I had no further problems with it.
Fri evening, I rode my '68 TC 200 Suzuki into town to get something to eat. While I was waiting for my order to arrive, three racers who were pitted near me showed up and joined me. Andy D'Ornellas, who is from Guyana and rides a very clean CB350 Honda, Paddy Fitzgerald, who is from Ireland and rides a Norton Atlas, and Colin Paul, who sounded American but assured me he was Canadian and who rides a RZ350 Yamaha. They are a great bunch and represent part of what I love about Canada: it's diversity. We had a good chance to get to know each other as the service was very slow and it was a long time until we got served.
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| Andy D'Ornellas' CB 350 Honda, one of my competitors in P1-350 |
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| Paddy Fitzgerald with his 750 Norton Atlas |
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| Colin Paul heads out on his P-4 F3 Yamaha |
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| I'm #71 in the VRRA |
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| I lashed on a silencer for Calabogie |
As it turned out, no one was tested or hassled about sound. I got some steel pop rivets from Rodger McHardy and, after dollying the end of the silencer that had dragged, replaced it and I had no further problems with it.
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| The silencer replaced with steel pop rivets after dollying the leading edge |
When I started the bike for the P-1 350 heat, I knew right away that I had a clutch problem, but had no time to do anything about it. By the end of the first lap it was slipping badly, but I stayed out because I needed the practice. Back in June at Rd. Am., my shift linkage came apart while in 4th gear and I severely abused the clutch finishing the race. After I fixed the linkage, the clutch seemed fine. But, at Mosport, one of the friction plates delaminated and I replace it with a NOS plate and, again, it seemed fine. I should have replaced all of the friction plates after the event, but didn't and one failed at Calabogie. Luckily, Dick Miles had given me a whole set of used friction plates at NJMP, so I put them all in at Calabogie with the help of Gary McCaw, who wasn't racing.
So the bike worked well in the heat for the bump up class, P-2 Lightweight and I got a 3rd in the (wet)heat, definitely still learning.
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| This is probably from the P-2 LW heat on Sat., probably turn #16 Tim Voyer 840 leading Dave Mascioli 103 and Stan Nicholson 70 with just my helmet showing. I got by Stan and finished 3rd. Norm Voyer photo |
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| exiting the last turn. When I see photos on me on the bike, I always think that I look so big and the bike so small, but it doesn't feel that way when I'm riding it. Nev Miller photo |
After Sun. practice, I geared it up and won the p-1 350 final and was 2nd to Tim Voyer's well ridden, fast CB350 in the P-2 LW. The motor does stumble on the exits of hard cornering, which I figure has to be related to the remote float and I've tried to stabilize it and various float heights, but without success and I just ride around it.
As near as I can figure, Calabogie represents the 116th race track I've ridden on and it probably rates in the top five along with VIR north circuit, The Ridge, and Mid-Ohio (in the dry).
As near as I can figure, Calabogie represents the 116th race track I've ridden on and it probably rates in the top five along with VIR north circuit, The Ridge, and Mid-Ohio (in the dry).
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| another view of Paddy Fitzgerald's Atlas |
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| The flowers add a homey touch to this sidecar pit. |
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| A nice original G-80 Matchless |
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| A beautiful Seeley G-50 that didn't get to race because the magneto failed in practice |
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