Is it better to have raced and lost than never to have raced at all?....

Well I guess it's time for the wash up meeting. As mentioned previously, there was an issue, as thought, with the front cylinder spark plug. With that replaced all seemed well and Friday evening's practice was upon us and we were ready to go. So it did until we had a call from Wayne in Ramsey, the message was that there was oil everywhere, not good news. Speculation was from big ends to just an oil line, so off in the van via Laxey with Tommy to collect the stricken Emily and see what needs to be done. As stated she was fairly liberally coated with oil that appeared to have come from the breather and had splashed around the air box and over the sides. Back in the pits, as if we weren’t there already, we started to access the damage and clean up. She still turned over by hand and nothing really seemed to be amiss until we checked the compression, rear 160psi, front 0psi, sorry zero psi!! Not even a breath of compression what the heck is going on?

So off with her head I hear you cry, yes we were nearly crying too when we looked inside.

Detonation I’m told, or pinking if you’re old like me. Possibly caused by our use of pump 97RON fuel from the island or maybe something else yet to be determined. At this point all seemed lost, I don’t have a spare engine on a stand (plan for next year) let alone a piston lying around, it all seemed over.

But never say die, I made a call to Tony who we were staying with as he used to own an 888 SP4 and just maybe he had a part lying around. Blimey, he said he might but would have to go to the shed for a look. As it was getting late, I asked Liz to take Harriet back and see what Tony could find. When it rains it pours! I get a call from a landline on the island 5 minutes later, the van has stopped very quickly and won't go. I ask Wayne to nip down and see what's going on, he returns to inform me it looks like the cam belt has gone. Well that's all we need, I honestly can't believe it. I go back with Wayne and we tow the van to a local car park near Quarterbridge where it remains for several days, we have other tasks to complete.

Moving on, WE HAVE A PISTON!! OK we have a piston but it's not identical to the other, one is cast, one is forged, they don't weigh the same and the crown is different, the gudgeon pin is a different length but hey
WE HAVE A PISTON!! 

The bore of the barrel looks fairly good, the Nikasil plating has survived as all the piston and rings have exited upwards and not past the skirt. This has of course left its mark on the head. There are a few bits of ring and a load of pits to be cleaned. Rich Llewellin dives in with gusto and a small ball peen hammer and other tools to flatten and fettle the head into better shape. It's not pretty but it really is s*it or bust. 

Things do start to come together but there are still a few things to sort, the height of the piston means we really need a set of base gaskets to set the deck height, we don't have any and can't fettle the entire head away to stop it hitting. The gudgeon pin should be 60mm long, we have a 50mm one, so we have a nose around. Did you know that the pin from a Matchless G50 is 20mm diameter and 52mm long, you do now, and it has a tapered lead into the bore to save weight. Well that kinda works for us, less weight is good and longer would be better but it really is s*it or bust. Talking with the old boys around, back in the day you could use PTFE slugs either end of the pin to stop float, but you can use cork! Liz enquires at the Egli Vincent garage next door if, as they are French, they might have a wine cork going spare? After choosing the cheaper of two bottles we have some cork and a 4mm slug is made to fit between pin and circlip.

As for the head clearance problem, when we arrive in the morning (by bus) Rich is making a head gasket from sticky silver tape, but just before I left the house Tony had wandered in saying would this be of help? Holding a head gasket in his hand! Yes please, and placing this with the original one gives us just the right amount of squish to run. 
Now I know this is not ideal, but it is still s*it or bust you know.

Emily is duly re-assembled and cleaned as oil seems have gone everywhere. Timing belt adjusted, battery box refitted and fresh oil with a new filter. She certainly turns over by hand so at last two new spark plugs are installed and the fuel tank refitted. A boost from the battery pack and .........she runs! Awesome.

We go through a heat cycle and all seems well, in fact she sounds quite chipper all considered. Final checks are made, lock wiring is completed and just a day or so after a disaster she is ready to go complete with fairings. Quite remarkable really.

Earlier a photographer who passed our garage had asked where the other Ducati was, he'd been tasked with getting a story on a Ducati, well Alf's Motorcycles had failed to attend for the 2nd year so if we could get Emily running that would be a story, as he gazed upon our old piston and snapped our donation tray. The good news is we raised £19.37 which we donated to the Injured Riders Fund.

So with a running bike Wayne and Emily had a photo shoot to attend, Wayne complete with his leathers looked resplendent with a nervous smile in the evening glow of the pits.

Late on the Sunday the Egli Vincent team gift us a few litres of 101RON fuel as does Ian Sinclair, we have just enough for about a 50/50 mix of 101 and 97RON for the race. All we can do is prepare as if all was normal. Monday dawns and we arrive at the paddock to find that due to a communications fault all sessions are delayed, in the end about 4 hours are lost on a beautiful day for racing. Wayne goes through his preparation once and then again, it is very frustrating, but then that's the island for you.

Finally we get the start time and go through scrutineering for the last time, apart from a small piece of lock wire on an exhaust spring Emily has passed every time with ease, can she beat the course?

We set her up in Parc Ferme and apart from bit of fuel overflowing in the heat all is well.

When the 30 minute warning goes we are allowed to fill the hoppers in the pit lane and go through a final brief with Tommy and Gab. It's all a bit of a rush as we have to be here to fuel and want also to be Parc Ferme warming the bike and just checking one last time. Still all seems good and escort Wayne as far as we can towards the start line, a last good luck and Tommy and I leave Wayne to do his thing.

No going back now I guess, and we can only watch from the sidelines as Wayne gets off to a cracking start, I can see the front wheel hover as he set off towards Bray Hill.

Sadly the end was not far away. After coming out of Ballagarey Corner, Wayne feels that the power is dropping and the temp is high, so he does the right thing and pulls off at Crosby. Wayne suspects the old head gasket has failed, if there was an Achilles heel the island will find it. A shame but this is the most unforgiving place on man and machine. So we pack up and we go home courtesy of the RAC, but that's just another chapter in the story, we'll be back if the island will have us, bigger, better and a little wiser.

My thanks go to everyone involved, but in particular to Wayne, Richard, Liz, Harriet, Tommy, Jason and Gab for putting up with a grumpy old man.

Finally some solid laps......

Well, along with the poor weather there have sadly been a few incidents that have seen Wayne and Emily only getting in one lap in before tonight and that was under yellow flags from just after Ramsey. Today has finally seen some fine weather forecast for the whole of the evening session, of course we were not due to be out tonight except the powers that be, knowing that our race is Monday, have seen sense to get the Classics out where the Manx GP lads will have time to get theirs in. As a side note, I must say that the organisers have finally cracked the crap situation which used to occur during scrutineering where the whole paddock turned up en mass. Calling each group is working a treat and we were through in about 15 minutes. 
So in tonight's practice, it's free reign in the holding area as bikes are called by number group to the road to start. The plan was, in our hour long session, to attempt to get 3 laps in. With Emily brimmed with fuel, the engine was warmed and Wayne did his final checks on the tyre pressures ready for the off. The Marshals were in place and the first bikes were away at 18.20, we got away around 18.27. 

Happy to go

 Time to focus.

Wayne flew though Glencrutchery Road at about his expected time, I say expected as it's just up to Wayne how hard he pushes as he gets to know Emily. Tommy and I pop down to the holding area to get ready with 10 litres of fuel and spare visors and cleaner. Wayne arrives on time and we are in plenty of time to start a third lap. Having seen him off we retire with the paddock trolley to tidy up, sadly just after we finished Wayne coasts up with Emily to the garage. Emily has developed a misfire so instead of pushing on he's dropped back in the return road and met us at the garage, this is something I've had before at Cartagena and a swap of spark plugs cured that. After a few tests the front plug appears to have given up and once replaced all is well. Too late to get out again, but we now have three laps of five under our belt and with fair'ish weather should see the rest away with no problem. We've made a couple of tweeks to the suspension this evening and may change the rear sprocket in the morning.
But to finish it's not all bad news as Wayne and Emily have broken the 100mph lap with a lap of 104.762mph. 
Hopefully in time we'll get some action shots of the duo from the many snappers on the Isle.

We have arrived...

Well after what was quite an early start at 4am on Friday, we arrived in Liverpool with plenty of time to spare having avoided the rush hour through the M5-M6 interchange and the Manchester area. The trip over was pretty much as normal with Steam Racket, you arrive early to be loaded almost last and are then greeted with huge queues at the food hall, thanks guys. We arrive after a slightly choppy crossing and with the paddock in a state of flux we decided to opt for plan F and unpack the bike on Saturday. This turned out to be a good idea as we are now sharing a fixed garage in the A paddock with Ian and Alex Sinclair and their Matchless G50, this has also enabled Wayne to extend our garage at the rear with a 4.5m x 3m gazebo so we have a very nice private area complete with fridge and urn. Quite a luxurious affair really.
Our day has been fairly straight forward, which, looking at some of the other teams still fitting rain lights, race numbers and sorting electrical faults it almost worries me that we should have more to do. So for us it's just been a day of the planned jobs of fitting a new seat pad, adjusting the foot controls and popping a few decals on Emily. 

Sunday is a day of rest, other than adding additional weight with more decals we just need to add fuel. I think we'll just do an engine test in the morning and decant away for a Sunday lunch. 
Harriet has started getting to know her new camera so for today as practice has been cancelled due to poor weather I shall leave you with a selection of pictures from today.

 All tucked in 

 Room for two

 Made to suit

 Assume the position

 Looking good

 Great shot Harriet.

 A brief briefing

 Just tinkering

 I want a motorbike licence

 The stoppers

 Mechanics 101 with Liz

You said it

It's nearly that time already.....

Just days away now from the ferry out of Liverpool and it's all very odd. This time last year, relatively speaking, we were down at Louigi's still sorting out the forks and fitting fairings. A year on and all I'm waiting for are some decals and a product delivery from a new sponsor. Oil filters from John McCann of Moto Merchants are going direct to our digs for this year in Ballagary, thanks John. So nothing that should stop the show now, touch wood.
Last weekend I did the last small jobs that needed to done, this included changing the starter sub loom. This was supplied by Peter at Oronero and now incorporates a relay to mitigate the 11amps that were going through the OEM kill switch, this is normally rated to around 3-5amps and I'd noticed that the connecting wires were becoming warm during the recent test run at Castle Combe. So not quite Corse (copy) now, but hey I don't have the Ducati Corse part!

 Not a lot of room

 Work in progress

Other small jobs included the adding of titanium bolts to the suspension rocker, I'd noticed that the head of the original cap screw was just kissing the crankcase breather hose as it goes into the underseat airbox, I think made the fitting come loose last year, so with less weight and a shallower heads that fixed that. The rain light required for practice only is also now in place, the bracket was made a year ago but in the end was not required but this year it is. There have also been changes to the pit stop regulations, no paddock stand for this year along with no visor for the fueler but new higher rated overalls for the fueler are required. So the overalls for last year are now not correct, I can only assume money grows on trees.
Emily has made a couple of appearances recently, at Calne Bike Day and just last weekend at the Popham Megameet. I must say she certainly did draw a lot of attention and anytime we were near that were plenty of questions to be answered about her and some very complementary comments about her looks. Some of the PR was done by last years pilot Stuart.

Sadly someone appears to have lost interest.

When we get to the Isle of Man on Friday Wayne has a new piece of foam for the seat, just a tad thicker than the show piece in the picture above. I'll go through the bike with him as a final check to make sure I've not missed anything, we can adjust the foot controls and if he's happy to go play roll on Saturday. Just the van to pack now complete with my daughter Harriet who going to join us this year as team photographer for those behind the scenes candid shots, that's of course if Liz and her aren't off horse riding together.

Wish us all luck, and I'll post a link to the live timing for the race if the organisers are using it for the Classic TT for those who'd like to follow the action on line. #59.

Here we go again......

Indeed here we go again, after last year with all the trials and tribulations, finally getting in a lap, qualifying and ultimately finishing the race this year, Stuart didn't get an entry. So after both of us investing time, effort, cash and Stuart hanging it out there on the toughest track in the world we got two fingers from the TT committee.  A lot of people have said you need speed to get an entry, well I'm curious. 
A. how do you pick a newcomer? 
B. If it's said it takes 3 years for a rider to get up some really good pace, where is Stu's 2nd year? 
It would appear to be a lucky dip for an entry, unless your name is a famous stout or a brand of tyres. I could rant on for a few more paragraphs but it won't change 'owt as they say oop North.

Still Emily was built with one job and course in mind the Isle of Man TT 37.73 miles of fury. So when I was contacted by another rider with an interest in taking Emily on, the first person I spoke to about it (apart from Liz) was Stuart, after all she was built for Stu and we are a team. Although massively disappointed to not be going himself he did say she's an expensive ornament to be at the back of the garage. So with his blessing I got in touch with this year's potential rider Wayne 'Ciderman' Axon. Wayne rode Louigi Moto's F2 bike last year after Alex Sinclair broke his thumb in practice and Wayne won his class as well. Wayne is also fresh back from the 2015 TT where he competed on his supertwin and finished a very nice 30th with a lap of 109mph. Wayne had met Emily briefly last year at the Classic but obviously we needed to get the two together so we arranged to meet up at Weston Bike night.

  
So Wayne got to grips with Emily for the first time, and he seemed pretty happy during a chat over dinner. Unlike last year where we were building down to the wire, this year we have an almost ready to race bike so the next plan was to get together at the North Gloucester race meeting at Castle Combe. There was a set of Classic parade laps during the days so I invited Rich Llewellin and Wayne to ride Emily over the weekend. Rich on Saturday and Wayne on Sunday.

Rich and Emily.

A relaxed Papa Louigi always smiles for the camera.

Not many things are quite as unnerving as waiting for good riders to come back and critique your bike! Happily all that Rich wanted adjusted was the clutch lever and gear lever, other comments were that the fuelling was spot on and all was good, phew.

Wayne got his turn on Sunday and it was pleasing to hear that he is happy as well, just a few tweaks on suspension and seat height.  Reports were positive again and that she pulls and brakes well and handles fine. Hooray, let's go racing.

Things to do are not many but one of the first was an oil and water refresh and the wheels are off as they are at Avon tyres for some new boots for this year, I look forward to trying them myself later in the year. I have to change the rear spring up to 11NM and I'll change the footrests to the carbon set and race shift for the gearbox.

I'll leave you for now with some video of the recreation of a classic start at Castle Combe. Well worth a watch, enjoy.

Emily has her new dress.

Well, taking the opportunity this weekend as the weather was fair I popped on Emily's newly adorned fairings. I just have to add the #9 to the seat unit and renew a Celeres racing decal, then finish with a final wax on, wax off for the upcoming show at Shepton Mallet on the 7th - 8th February.

35th-Carole-Nash-Bristol-Classic-Motorcycle-Show 

I've also replaced the modern black rev counter with another one in white for that classic look. As part of the show regulations I've drained the tank of fuel although my new fluid syphon device decided not to play so it was back to plan A, even petrol fumes leave an awful taste in the mouth. I also had to disconnect the battery which turns out to weigh about the same as the entire bicycle that Richard Hammond was riding in tonight's edition of Top Gear, around 800 grams. She'll be on display on the Ducati Owners Club stand there and Liz and I will be there on and off all weekend, I have a limited amount of photos from the Isle of Stuart and Emily in action to give away so make sure you find us to get one. 
See you there I hope.

 

Time for a winter refresh.

Well the old track bodywork is off and a little bit of cleaning is required, mostly just brake and clutch dust along with bobbles of tyre rubber.
We will of course most certainly be applying for a slot again at this year's Classic TT so I took the opportunity to get some of the required shots you need with your application. You need to add photos of your bike with and without fairings along with an action shot. Last year we had just the photos you can find at the very beginning of this blog. Now we have plenty!

Occasionally the cat seems to take a shine to the nose fairing that has been on the conservatory table during the off season.

Finally for now we're all off to the Bristol Classic Bike show at the showground Shepton Mallet soon so it seemed like a good time to unveil the new livery for this year. I may have to change the race number but live long Giancarlo the Lion of Jesi.