Pembrey is at http//www.barc.net/pembrey.htm
Getting the bike prepared was a bit of a drama, with welding of new brackets to the frame (which meant it had to go to the welders totally stripped down) a new exhaust, dyno runs, tank painting and making up of loads of bits and pieces for this and that, including all the brackets and clips for the new fairing, all combined with a busy work schedule and my wife's demands for a bookcase to be built sometime this year
By 7pm Good Friday I'm done and ready to load up car and trailer, and by 7.45 I'm off for the 3+ hour drive to Pembrey
Finally pull into the paddock about 11.30. It's drizzling and cold. Not a good moment for pitching a tent, so fold the passenger seat down, climb into a bag and reflect that it's more comfortable than AA across the Atlantic and there's no-one to wake me every couple of hours to go for a wet.
Morning.
Rain's stopped but the cold hasn't. I contemplate going for a shower. I have no idea what the facilities are like at race circuits in other countries but I'm damn sure only the Brits would put up with what's provided over here. Pembrey shower block has two (2) only showers for the 400+ in the paddock. The showers are the electric instant-heat variety and appear to be supplied with a generous 1KW or so of power. More lukewarm sprinkle than hot shower. Anyway, i do the right thing, and am shaved and scrubbed, with bike unloaded, and ready to sign on at 7am opening time.
Scrutineering is a breeze and I park it up, put the tent up, then get some numbers and backgrounds from TGA stuck on the fairing and spend the time till practice worrying about what i can't remember not having done and going over it with spanners and hex keys tightening everything up
Practice is uneventful save to say that the new fork internals make it feel very different and i have no idea how well it will work. Motor's much improved now with new exhaust and ign timing right, and pulls cleanly from 4.5k.
Turn up to the collecting area and stop by the SYT (it's classic racing - everything's scaled accordingly) to get the randomly selected grid position. Pole. What am i going to do with that? An OK start but I'm 3rd into the start of the hairpin and 4th coming out, 5th by the next corner and hold that till the start-finish straight when 2 come past convincingly and a third who is close enough for me to get him back on the brakes into the hairpin. Race settles down to him passing me on the s-f every time and i get him back at the hairpin, plus a couple of repeats elsewhere, but I'm in front every time over the line. Half a lap to go and he's been showing a wheel and like a complete twat i take too wide a line into Brooklands hairpin and he's through and holds it round Honda curve to the line.
8th. best lap 1.21 av speed 63.52
Full results at http://www.crmc.co.uk/results/Pembrey04/6.pdf
Forks are so much better than last year - there's loads of bumps at Honda and the Esses. Last year they were really disturbing, but now they seem to just happen somewhere underneath without upsetting anything. A revelation!
In the collecting area i notice that the swinging arm pivot pin has moved and is sticking out on the left by about 1cm. I thought and pretty much decided to scratch, but couldn't quite bring myself to do so. So i did the warm up, checked that the pin hadn't worked it's way back in, and pulled off to the pits. Dumb
Couple of pieces of feeler gauge inserted between pin and clamp and all is well again
Spent the next hour pondering more permanent fixes. When I bought the bike the swinging arm was seized onto the pin, which was therefore rotating in the clamps on the frame as the rear wheel moved up and down. The clamps had clearly worn as a result and were no longer holding the (new) pin tight enough. Seems like some more permanent packing with shim steel plus a couple of end caps screwed to a rod through the middle would work - which is also part of the approved mod for improving lubrication to the load bearing surfaces anyway. Job for next week
Back of the grid due to not starting in race 2. Much safer. Fair start but the rev counter's packed up so I take it a little carefully at the top end. Someone in front has a moment at Honda curve, so i back off "in case" and immediately 2 pass me before I realise it was an opportunity, not a problem. Starts to falter a little at the top, but keeps going well enough to have a successful dice with Mike Harrison and I finish a comfortable 10th. I realise I could go into Honda curve flat out, but i just can't bring myself to do it (yet?)
10th. Best lap 1.19 av speed 64.1
Full results at http://www.crmc.co.uk/results/Pembrey04/7b.pdf
Back in the paddock i see the bell-mouth has come off and is dangling by the lock wire. Knew it was there for a reason. Re-attach and tighten the grub screws but it's pretty futile as the carb mouth is starting to crumble. Tank has also started to leak down near the l/h tap, but the paint's holding it in. Mostly
Rev counter is a mystery
Then the Rankins wandered up and we strolled round the paddock looking at some of the exceptional machines. Particularly impressive were Mike Harrison's Ducati 250 and the EEK! Racing Norton outfit (Model 18 rigid frame and with girder forks), not to mention several stunning Triumph triples, the numerous Manx Nortons, and not quite so numerous 7Rs and G50s. Walmsely were there with a brand new "Seely 7R" that had just had it's first outing
Pictures of the EEK! Norton (no 99) from last year are at
http//crmc.co.uk/gallery/Cadwell-Park-2003/amp
and
http//crmc.co.uk/gallery/Cadwell-Park-2003/acc
And since you're there already, the Author (also no 99) is at
http//crmc.co.uk/gallery/Cadwell-Park-2003/aaj
Gene spots Neil and Julia Amesbury so greetings are exchanged and we take a look at another guy's wheelchair attachment - turns it into a battery powered trike, complete with twistgrip and handlebars. Fixing it on lifts the wheelchair's font wheels off the ground and it counterbalances this by having the battery mounted half way down the forks. Motor in the front hub. Very neat, stable, maneuverable and quite quick.
Bellmouth falls off on the sighting lap. 3rd row but poor start.
Hold my own into the hairpin but if anything it's now faltering worse. I worry about it seizing, but Press On because I convince myself it's not mechanical, and I'm being watched.
I'm also checking the tank leak to make sure the tyre isn't getting any. Down on power, I can and do get Mike Harrison going into the hairpin at the end of the straight on lap 2, but he's straight back past me on the way out, so I follow and show him a wheel round Dibeni bend but he's quicker and pulls away 20 yds or so on the straights.
Next lap I go for it and take him round the outside round Dibeni and get a bit more aggressive on the corners and manage to hold him off.
Very big grin and wind him up afterwards about not having paid enough tribute to Maxtons.
10th. Best lap 1.20 av speed 63.08
Full results at http://www.crmc.co.uk/results/Pembrey04/18b.pdf
Compared to last year's best lap of 1.21 Could do better!