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AltoVyrus - 4th Round - Croix en Ternois - June 08
Pre Race
Croix en Ternois, a circuit in northern France, simple to look at in the Google earth photos but a very technical track and, best of all, a handling track..
We had already decided that a day testing there with our competition would be a good idea so on Thursday afternoon we set off for Euro tunnel.
Late on Thursday evening we had set up, brewed tea, eaten a meal and got ready for Friday. Rain was forecast but we had tyres and plenty to test, wet or dry, warm or cold. Friday the skies turned blue, the track warmed, perfect.
On with the dry tyres, warmers up to temp, check everything over and measured amount of fuel. We had no data at all for this circuit so guessed on gearing (its going to be somewhere near a Mallory park we guessed). First session ship Phil out and let him learn the circuit. After 3 sessions we were tweaking the gearing, and suspension, gradually dialing the Alto Vyrus onto race pace.
By the end of the day we had a fuel strategy, suspension set up and fueling map we liked, and better still Phil liked. Time to fit a new set of Dunlop slicks and bed them in. Phil did 3 laps and came in... fastest in testing by our watches.
We went to bed not too over confident, the other top teams are no fools and they may be playing with us, they have been here before.
Saturday 14th
The grey cloudy skies slowly they cleared enough for us to get a tan....and then burned.
Practice went as planned and we started in 5th position (second row) as is our championship position.
Race 1: No changes made... fingers crossed but with a fairly hopeful outcome anticipated. Lights out and the paddock leaned forward... Simon Peyto series leader, Garry Budgen, Gyles on the mighty Guzzi and then Phil, his style is so easy to spot... smooth and easy. By the end of turn 4 Simon had Phil seriously up his backside and they stayed like this 1 and 2 for 2 laps. Phil, clearly held up, decided to go past and lead... the gap opened. 1 second, 2 seconds, 3 seconds... lap after lap the gap opened, then the worst mechanics nightmare, no phil.
Aarron radioed he could see him and then we saw him coming round arm up and cruise into the pit lane. A seized fuel injector had robbed us of our race.
Once stripped we realised we had a serious issue. No spare and no chance of another...this is a formula 1 style injector in a system we have made ourselves. Nothing to do but try and fix what we had. By making an exoskeleton frame and pulling the injector into shape and some careful drilling we got it working again. Possibly even better than before.
Race 2: So running for the second race it suddenly hit us... a DNF means rear of the grid as the 2nd race places would be allocated by race one finish. Super competitive bike and stuck at the back... bugger! (Well that was one of the words).
Phil had a glint in his eye and a rye smile as we pushed him out for the race... least fuel we could get away with and finish and the latest we could send him (tyre warmers still on) and still be allowed on the grid.
Revs up... lights out and... Phil in 7 on the first corner th from 20th. From the side of the track it looked to all of us as if he hadn’t even applied the brakes he went in so hard... he leaned and we all waited for the metal to tarmac noise, the speed he was carrying was simply impossible... but he made it, ok a little ragged but still made it. Dunlop/Nitron we owe you one... now I need a pace maker.
Phil kept the pressure on as he caught and slowly passed the faster riders... 6th, 5th, 4th, and then 3rd. Outstanding result and a tired rider came in to a happy pit crew. Phil’s Dad Phil Read MBE turned up and we all went for a meal... after changing the oil, and sorting suspension and tyres... fuel map and refueling. Covered over and shut down the pit garage. Bike first... always.
Sunday 15th
Race 3: After a solid nights sleep we made tea (now you know why we have a permanent boiling tea urn ), and sorted out the bike. Warmed her up and sent Phil out in the morning warm up for a test of the mods we thought would help.
We decided on another 2 clicks for the high speed compression at the rear (we are still learning set up remember).
3 on the grid, 4 into the first bend no heroics today points are rd th really important now, up to 3rd and then... someone falls off. Lap after lap after lap the yellow flag is shown and Phil can not overtake... meanwhile Simon Peyto the series leader is pulling away. By the time the flags come in Simon is 9 seconds down the road with 5 laps left... Phil does his beast but its to much Garry has made his Honda 9 miles wide and by the time Phil gets past and clears off... we have settle for 2nd place. Still out best result so far. Phil complains the bike is not handling as well and the data logging confirms this... we remove the 2 clicks of high speed. We have a working base setting!
Race 4: One hour before the race the heavens open and the rain pours and pours. We leave the tyre choice to the last second as the wind picks up and rain stops... even some sunshine 10 minutes before we go out. Not enough and the track stays damp with running small rivers... wets it is.
2ND on the grid and when the lights go out we have one mission... only one mission. Phil’s body language says it all, he doesn’t want anyone to follow or be in front of him, this race circuit is his and the Alto Vyrus’s. Within 3 corners he leads and that’s all they saw of him... by lap 3 he had a 3 second lead and once opened to 4 seconds we used the pit board to allow him to keep the gap.
Numero uno... first and totally in control.
The Alto Vyrus is easily the best handling and braking bike on the circuit. We set the fastest dry race lap time and the fastest wet race lap time over the weekend for the Thunderbike UK series.
Phil Read Snr took it as a brilliant fathers day gift and presented Phil with a bottle of Champaign which we all got to wear... including the bike. A brilliant and hard earned result. Possibly a little quicker than we anticipated too.
Thank you to everyone for your parts, services, money and most of all... support. To Ascanio for his vision to let us take his bike and make it ours.
Now the tough reality... the others WILL raise their game and the faster circuits will suit the more powerful engines. We have work to do, because we like winning... a lot.
