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AltoVyrus - Snetterton - September 2009
This tough Norfolk circuit should be hard for us without a full fairing but as we have proved in the past we can use the bike to the max on its long long corners and minimise the losses on the very long straights. Thus we came to Snetterton with a much fitter rider and a package we thought could be fast enough to run at the front.
For this round we had also fitted the new suspension sensor specially made for us by ########. We have tested with it but never run it in a race. Now we thought we had enough confidence in the data to try it for real.
This sensor allows us to see the pressure going through effectively, the tyre. No other bike with normal forks can do this and I leave it to you to work
Saturday Practice:
Dry track and warm if a little overcast. We managed to get Phil 2 practice sessions to give the rebuilt engine some mileage. Phil put in some relatively fast laps and got used to the circuit again. The bike looked stable and quick enough, but you never know until its race time really.
Saturday - Race 1
Second on the grid and Phil made it clear of his intentions. Goodbye!!!
A very quick jump to the front from corner 2 and although the pack chased, his lap record on lap 3 was enough (raised by 2/10ths of a second. I cant say watching Phil circulate on his own, at lap record pace was boring....but I was glad to see the chequered flag. Points in the bag, job done.
Only on return to the pits did we find out the bikes electric water pump had packed up on lap 3 and he had completed the race of 10 laps at record pace on a dry engine running at 115degrees. Thank you Oerlikon...I am certain with out the DLC coatings we would have failed to finish.
Result Race 1: 1st position (raised lap record by 2/10ths.)
Tucked in but would be better with a fairing ( a mod for next year)
Saturday - Race 2
Second on the grid and again and Phil was quick leading into turn 1. The powerful but not so good handling Laverda of Russ Joiner out ran him down the back straight and pulled enough to hold the position going into turn 3 and 4. It is pretty impossible to get past until the chicane then and Russ who weighs less than a packet of crisps was late on the brakes everything sideways.
Phil was all over him like a rash and 2 laps later you could see someone was going to get hurt. Phil, garry Budgen (Honda 600) and Steve Jordan (Suzuki 700) were all over the back of the Laverda. Dicing to get past and getting VERY impatient.
At Russells chicane Phil had enough and just through the Vyrus under the Laverda....to everyones surprise (and my relief) it stuck like glue and Phil was away. Unsettled Russ made a mistake and the following 2 riders needed no invitation...they set off after Phil.
Aarron had reported earlier that fighting behind Russ had caused the rear tyre on Phils bike to have a nasty line going around the edge. Clearly where Phil had tried to get on the power very early the spinning tyre had over heated and looked...well not too good. Could he finish the race?
Budgen and Jordan put 0.5 of a second on the Laverda after getting past so you can see how power can help at Snetterton. They caught the rapidly rubber chunking tyred bike of Phil but he wasn’t going to give it to them that easy.
4 laps later and Budgen had to break the lap record again by 1/10th to get past and thats how they stayed...Budgen 1 , Phil 2 and Jordan next?....but no he had disappeared after a last st nd lap dash and took himself across the grass somewhere...he came in 5th.
Result race 2: 2nd Position
Phil spent all weekend under here...even on the power (see front wheel).
We sat down and looked at the data from all our sensors. The bike was still running hot so we changed the water pump for a new one entirely.
We found a small hole in the fuel map we thought could be significant as it is where Phil first gets on the power, and we altered the Nitron shock settings a little for damping.
Sunday Warm Up.
We didn’t do warm up. Aware the motor had been boiled, and that the Sunday races were even longer, we decided to save the motor.
Sunday - Race 1
We knew we had a better package than Saturday. We knew the wind down the back straight was with us and yes we even carry an anemometer to measure wind speed (we took another tooth off the rear sprocket in anticipation). It is attention to detail we feel makes the difference.
Phil was buoyant and we had a good amount of sponsors and friends watching on. Phils start was classic.
By the end of lap 1 he was already 6 to 8 bikes lengths in front, by lap 3 he was circulating inside the old lap record consistently and on lap 4 he SMASHED it to pieces with a lap 1.5 seconds quicker than ever before. He then circulated at a similar pace until the end and finished so far in front he was nearly 1/3rd of a lap in front of the second placed man.
When we get the bike right it isn’t quick now it is devastating. We can run speeds normal forked bikes can only dream about. This bodes really well for the new superbike and with the modifications we will make to that bike we feel we can really build a fast competitive superbike.
Result race 1: 1st position - smashed lap record by 1.5 seconds.
Man and machine in harmony and a bit too quick to catch
Sunday - Race 2
The tyre from race 1 (we are running the softest Dunlop tyres you can imagine) looked ok but not perfect so we changed it and made a small suspension modification. I would say we were all confident.
Phil made yet another faultless classic start and again by lap 2 he was so far clear you would have thought the others were not trying (trust me they were). Lap 5 and Phil was reported missing...he returned to the pits the bike smoking badly.
Inspection found the outrigger bearing and casing were no longer attached and the whole lot had smashed.
Further inspection back in the workshop found a dead main bearing was to blame. Nothing we could do our first real engine DNF in 3- 4 years so not too bad. We suspect the boiled engine on Saturday was the cause.
Result race 2: DNF.
Championship position : 2nd
The engine is stripped and will be rebuilt. The new sensor is simply fantastic and now we would like to try the same on the rear....how fast can we go?
The loss of another 25 points makes the championship difficult (we are 55 points down with 150 to be won) but you never know in racing so we shall fight to the end.
The last 2 years show the design works. The mileage we are getting testing our new ideas for the next project are well worth the effort too.
Now more than ever I am willing to say.....we have a new machine and some new ideas, which will be even quicker...keep watching this space we are sure we still have some surprises to show everyone.
