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AltoVyrus - 5th Round - Cadwell Park - June 08
A circuit team Alto Performance have raced many times before. This time though we come with a new bike and no idea where to set the bike.
This Lincolnshire circuit is unique and always demands the most of any team. The blend of high speed corners, slow speed hairpins, off camber sections and the mountain so famous for its ability to launch bikes high into the air. This is one of the most difficult and dangerous circuits on the calender...and most loved by all the riders. The challenge of this circuit is almost exactly the same as 40 years or more ago. How refreshing is that in this modern “wrap every one in cotton wool” world we now live in.
Saturday 28th June 2008 and the grey cloudy skies slowly clear leaving a dry day..maybe a little overcast but warm.
Practice was 15minutes with our Croix settings followed by 2 hours working out how to fix all the problems with the handling. Understeer, bottoming out, you name it we had problems with it. Having looked at the data logged suspension we sent Phil out on our best working out.
Race 1: Starting in 4th position (second row) as is our championship position. Inside I could feel the knot tighten as you know your rider is about to set out on the most demanding track....and fight hard....but did we do enough, did we miss something...Lights out and they shoot up the straight and disappear from site over the hill.
Ages go by and then..Phil emerges in 4th. He disappears and then back into view all crossed up jumping the mountain desperately tying to get the power down...he gets 3rd under the rider in front...and my nose. I inform Pitlane of the pitboard settings on our radio. 3 laps later he has grabbed 2nd position.
Last lap....Phil in a comfortable 2nd....and the race is red flagged. Result is taken 1 ½ laps back, so we lose 2nd and get a 3rd. Phil takes it ok...but I know we all feel the same...cheated. It’s the same for others...but thats the rules so get on with it.
Result 3rd position.
Race 2: The data logging shows we are using 1/3rd more suspension travel and the lower part of the bike is getting touched down. The times show we need 1 sec per lap to be winning and Phil says the decking out is compromising his speed through some corners.
We stiffen everything up as we judge necessary after reading the data and getting Phils input. 3 on the grid he gets away well....almost straight into second by the end of the lap and for him a fairly boring ride. He gaps the bike behind and the lead rider is lapping 3/10s quicker.
Result 2nd.
Better as 3/10ths of a second is much closer especially over a 2.2 mile long circuit. Having changed the oil, Tyres and cleaned the clutch and general service needs, we paw over the data logging again.
We decide a little more high speed bump...the bike is still decking out on 2 corners. We also wonder if a lower gear may give more punch and change the overall setting.
Sunday 29th June 2008.
The sun greets us through the cloud and although grey, looks very promising.
We warm the bike and Phil goes out in the morning warm up for a test of the mods we thought would help.
Phil reports... “still decking out” and not really able to say good or bad the tracks cold....and looking at the data logging its inconclusive.
Race 1: 2 on the grid....flyer of a start (I get a radio message “he crept forward on the start....but not over the white line”). He leads....but by the time he comes around to us..that same fast rider we battled with is in the lead and we are 3rd...we really need more power.
He settles moves up to second...ad stays there unable to make inroads on the front guy...its going to be Peyto’s weekend.
Lap after lap Phil sits in 2nd..but the 748 Ducati is not far behind. Coming out of the last corner on the last lap...2nd but beaten to the line we get 3rd. Just power.
We look at the speed through the corners and the gearing has not helped...we remove the lower gearing.
Result 3rd.
Race 2: Still front row of the grid we line up in 3rd. We have struggled with the suspension setting all weekend.. We need corner speed. The problem isn’t high speed compression, maybe its spring as here the bike has to change elevation so quickly and heavily.
Phil is willing to try something off the wall...just to test our thoughts and suffer a horrid handling bike if that is the result. Now that’s a good development rider. We have to stop thinking of normal...this is an Alto - Vyrus and maybe something unusual will help. Forget forked bikes we are developing something much different.
He does the warm up...at pace. Shrug of the shoulders is him telling us...inconclusive. Off the line and again a great start....by lap 3 he is clearly not getting the great smooth fast turn in we normally see...less scraping but the bike looks more of a handful. Times are slower too..but enough to get 2nd and we learn another lesson. Phil is hot and sweaty, he has worked for this one.
Result 2nd.
Well done to the team who worked very hard. With every ones input and a lot of hours we now have 3rd position overall in the Thunderbike UK national championship.
Until the faster engine is ready we have some quick fix’s up our sleeve for Snetterton this weekend. This super high speed circuit is not what we needed until the new engine was complete...but it what we have. We will do our best but with more powerful bikes able to stretch their legs, its damage limitation.
