And now the good news

Woohoo. Tucked away I came across a fitted Scottoiler. Great.
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Streetfighter aaargh moment

Having put the ignition barrel back on after new keys for ignition and tank plus oil change and filter I picked up the new battery. As soon as the terminals went on it was Blackpool illuminations ! An unexpected 2nd horn went off, the indicators went 4 way and the headlights flashed. No idea what to do so Googled Datatool Veto. It is an early and unloved monster that is too sensitive and goes off all the time when it is not killing the battery. So its gotta go. Alarm specialist will whip it all out this week. Let's Keep It Simple Stupid.
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Having got this far maybe it is time for this

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Streetfighter one step closer

Aha ! Under the tank, under the air filter, under the airbox is the plug for the ignition barrel. Yeehar now we are talking. Next stop locksmiths for some keys.
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And that's it for tonight

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Good 1st nights work

Plenty done tonight. Tank off, battery out and on charge, oil drained, filter out. Best of all ignition barrel unbolted. Just have to extract wiring and its off to the locksmith for keys.
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Streetfighter all bathed, shaved n kissing sweet mmm mmm

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Streetfighter before her bath

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The ZX6Rs dirty little sister

Enter the Streetfighter as delivered. Lots of work has gone into this. Tapered bars, bug eye lights, digital dash, hugger, mini LED indicators, datatag, braided hoses. Doesn't look neglected just very shabby from long standing. Last road tax ran out 2007. Tyres good but will be junked due age but have not been shagged at the edges. Came with Micron rear stand and a few bits but no keys ! Will have to take the tank to local locksmith to pick and make key. Good news is that keys are universal so with luck well have an ignition key too.
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Final for the urinal - Silverstone VJMC 13 / 14 Oct 12

Woohoo ! just got confirmation that the VJMC / CRMC parade is on for Silverstone 13 / 14 Oct 12. Great ! Here's a thing. The ZX6R Streetfighter I have bought unseen is due to arrive this week. Be great fun if I can get it going to turn up on that. Who knows ?

Jawa rally Achterhoek Holland

Some pictures from the recent Jawa rally in Achterhoek Holland

Snetterton snippets

Being in a pit garage was an eye opener. It was actually for Shaun Emmett but somehow the VJMC had wangled its way in. It turns out that his Suzuki RG500 is the bike that Paul " loopy " Lewis rode in the European championships back in the day. Funnily enough I was at Brands Hatch one day all those years ago when Lewis, on a dark green RG500 , lived up to his " Angry Ant " nickname as he hopped off the bike and berated his crew with much arm waving.

If this is the same bike then things have not changed much. Emmett rode back into the garage having won a race complaining that the bike was all over the place. What did grab my attention was the ease and speed with which the tank and exhausts were removed and the plugs whipped out. Often wondered why expansion chambers were held on by springs. It all makes sense now.

What the Manx is all about

Enjoying French hospitality in chic French style with Claude and co. Note the cereal bowl - no glasses available.............. 

Wonderfully quaint but current IOM VMCC bulletin

http://www.vmcciom.org/Vintage%20Mann/201209.pdf

Its a cruel game alright

On the day that Ryan Farquhar is to receive a tribute on his retirement at Scarborough it set me thinking. When I first visited the Isle of Man in 1979, Hailwoods final appearance, standing at Bedstead Corner, Tommy Robb and Fred Launchbury were circulating close together then Robb came by on his own. 31 years later on my next visit, standing at Windy Corner, Chris Bradshaw and Jamie Adam were doing the same then the red flag came out. The next year Adam Easton went missing then Wayne Hamilton had a catastrophe 300 yards away at Westfield. Then this year Trevor Ferguson no longer came round. The point of this is that I feel like an intruder into the final minutes of the lives of all these people, none of whom I knew, and that I should not have been that close to them at that time.
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Snetterton CRMC

I noticed great piles of duvets and pillows in the back of vans and on the garage floor of our French neighbours. It only struck me later that people are sleeping in cold vans and concrete floors on an old Norfolk airfield. Old school it my be but I wouldn't want a cold, restless sleep to wake up dirty then try to go racing. The paddock campsite was rammed full of tents and vans - I reckon that could be more civilised than the imagined prestige of a pit garage.
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Bikes at Snetterton

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Those Michelin Pure tyres again

I still have not got used to the grip these tyres give on track after a couple of laps. They stick so hard that they pull the bike down into the turn. Never ridden on anything like em. Just at the point where standard tyres let the bike go light and you think whooa these clamp to the road. The answer is to go in faster and just chuck it round. Doing it as the tricky bit.
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Out on track at Snetterton 200 circuit

This layout is the closest to the original with the key difference that what used to be a right hand swoop onto the mile long back straight now how has a mickey mouse tight right left onto a half length straight down to the Bomb Hole. The upside is that exiting the left in 2nd gear I could bounce the front wheel off the floor in every gear going into the red and could just see red in top before praying that the new HH front sintered pads would work. Had fun with the LC boys. They would scream past in a bunch with lines all over the place going into corners but the ZX6R would smoke em all down the straights. Glad I watched some on bike videos and decided that the long right hander before the start straight that used to be called Corams could be counted off in seconds 1 - 10 thus I could try to get the entry right then power on all the way round. Trouble is this is followed by a tight little left hander onto the straight and one lap I overdid it and had the back end hopping about going in. Oops. Funny to hear fellow VJMC members saying - my bike is too long for this track - or - all those new bits have spoiled it. Dunno where they were, at the end all I had in front of me was a bunch of 4 LCs and I was right on em. Woohoo. Can't wait for Silverstone.
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VJMC Snetterton

Great fun today. We were scheduled to have 3 laps but got 4 in, We parade in the lunchbreak and were told that time was short thus few planned laps. I later realised why. It turns out a car club called Fressingfield Oily Rag Club had somehow infiltrated this Championship Classic Bike meeting to drive cars on the circuit after us. The way I see it is what the fuck are they doing here ? Go to a car meeting. You lot cost us 3 laps. Just to add insult to injury their club secretary got on the PA and actually said how good it is to see some cars after all these bikes. No it is not - fuck off. Perhaps its the growing desire of classic organisers to try and ape Goodwood. Don't bother. I'm not interested in watching big name has beens turning out on bikes they never rode when they were racing. I love the old style open paddock environment where you can drop into a garage and have a friendly chat with people who are in this for real.
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BMZRC 250 MZ,Snetterton 200, 8th September 2012, Race 1

This is the Snetterton 200 circuit we'll be out on tomorrow for the VJMC Parade. Glad I watched it as I didn't know about the left hand flick after The Ugly Tree right hander leading on to what used to be the Norwich straight. Also hope no bonkers moves like those in this clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0nOrS3LC-E&feature=youtube_gdata_player


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The great Bruxelles Satnav mystery failure solved at last

Back in May on my way to the Flyingbrick rally as I rounded Bruxelles the Satnav suddenly showed an image like an empty can on its side and the screen went blank. I thought it had righted itself but the other day it dawned on me that it had to be switched on at the unit rather than upon being clicked into the mount. An experiment with it in the separate mount in the van showed it fired up as soon as connected to 12v. Aha. So it had to be either the bike cable or the bike mount as I had now wired it to connect to the on board 12v socket, which when tested with the tyre pump worked ok. Upon connecting a new mount to the old cable it lit up straightaway. I now have a spare new cable, 1 x dud power socket + 1 x new non power socket for the ZX6R. Too bad I didn't work this out sooner as I would not have needed the last item. Pictured is the guilty party.
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Snetterton is on !

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Manx 2012 memories - failed Vikings

Standing at Douglas Rd Corner one morning just before road closure 2 Norwegians pulled up. One had a Triton with a serious fuel leak from a split seam on the alloy tank above the right rocker cover. The other had a Laverda 750 SC twin with his own problems. Triton Viking was quite agitated about crossing the road to get to the Mitre pub. I suggested that first of all he stopped the motor then get the bike away from the circuit. A good move would be to take the tank off the Triton, drain the fuel into the Laverda, then jump on the back with the empty tank and take the back roads to the paddock to seek help. After all it is full of alloy tanked classics so at that moment could be the best place in the world for help. By the way I said to Laverda Viking please switch your bike off with all this petrol pissing out. I can't he said - its got a flat battery. In the end they pushed both dead bikes across to the pub and were last seen smearing sticky goop onto the tank.
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Go Ethel go ! Yeehar Ethel on track at Jurby 2012

http://www.manxphotosonline.com/2012-Festival-of-Jurby-Photographs-26th-August-2012/slides/FOJ-2012-8-26-191.html

 

http://www.manxphotosonline.com/2012-Festival-of-Jurby-Photographs-26th-August-2012/slides/FOJ-2012-8-26-242.html

Snetterton weather looking good for next Saturday's ZX6R parade at CRMC

http://www.myweather2.com/Motor-Racing/United-Kingdom/Snetterton-Circuit.aspx?sday=5

Ethel at Jurby courtesy of Repko Lap - thank you

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From: 

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Subject:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltfC-3M5Xas

Watch Ethel on Jurby

Tributes paid to MGP rider Trevor Ferguson

RIP Trevor Ferguson. It was only just before the start of the Supertwins race that someone pointed out to me a change of rider and that TF would be on a KMR Kawasaki. The first 2 bikes, both KMRs, came round Douglas Rd Corner very fast but tidy and close together for the first 2 laps then only 1 appeared on lap 3. I had no idea that a disaster had happened until after racing. I had spent a lot of time studying a KMR bike at Jurby and was struck by how beautifully it was put together and with the standard of finish you would expect of a full works bike.

This article may be of interest to you.

http://www.iomtoday.co.im/sport/isle-of-man-tt-manx-grand-prix/tributes-paid-to-mgp-rider-trevor-ferguson-1-4887216

Looking back at Jurby

Last years on board video showed where I was miles off line. So this year I watched the lines taken by the Past Masters and decided to try and copy them. Also last year saw much of the lap in 2nd and 3rd gear. This year I decided to leave it in 3rd wherever possible. Poor old Ethel was nevertheless still doing 7k revs much of the time. The upshot was a much smoother ride using all of the track and catching and passing loads of people. Also the ride at Donington helped a lot as I just got on with my ride and let everyone else get on with theirs.
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ZX6R Streetfighter project

Just agreed to buy this. It is on SORN, has stood for ages but comes with all paperwork and keys. It is declared as a poor runner. Who knows. What really interests me is the streetfighter front end so if it turns into a money pit to get running I'd be tempted to keep the front end and sell the rest of it.

Race guide image

OK then they've all got hats on - I'm in the middle with stripey pants !
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Of all the bars in all the world....

Amazed that out of 37 miles and 220 corners the photo in the Manx 2012 programme on marshals should include me, in the hat, at Douglas Rd Corner.
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Manx 2012 memories

One evening I was asked to marshal a practice lap at Westwood at the 13th Milestone as they were short. I went to Westwood 2 which is a fast downhill blind
entry lefthander through a tree tunnel into an uphill left hander out to the straight leading to Douglas Rd Corner and Kirk Michael. It is inaccessible to spectators and we were in an entrance lane to holiday chalets protected by dry stone walls lined by recticel barriers. One of the first riders through was Ryan Farquhar on the Paton. You could hear but not see him coming until he burst into view, knee skimming the road as he took both bends in one smooth curve and was gone. Others were visibly slower with some taking a couple of bites at the two bends. By chance I stood next to the builder and owner of the Honda 4 cylinder 500 ridden by Chris McGahan. This was the bike featured on a website designed to document progress on the build but which site fizzled out. Apparently the owner had predicted this but bowed to enthusiasm by the erstwhile webmaster who of course ran out of time to update it. Anyway the concept is to build a 4 cylinder 500 for £20k ready to go by comparison to £150k for an MV relica or, here it comes, £100k for a pattern Paton. The bike is configured to bark not drone but is a work in progress. So we awaited the arrival of Wingnut McGahan with interest. Then here he was barking his way round as predicted. A little while later a mobile rang from a team spotter who had him stopped with a dead bike. Then another call this time from the rider to report an oil leak. Ah said the owner we keep increasing oil pipe diameters but the joints don't hold.
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Manx GP what did it all cost then ?

Just went through the bills. 7 nights homestay with breakfast + packed lunch £199.50 fuel £57.00 food £69.34 other £57.45 ferry £212 Total £595.38 or £74.43 per day for 8 days of ride, eat, buy whatever you want whenever you want.
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Simson front ratio changer box

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Simson ISDT 75cc bike at Murrays Museum

After my friend Wolfgang told me in Suhl that this bike had a clever way of engaging higher gears for road sections of the ISDT I had to go back to Santon for another look. The left handlebar grip can be unlocked and twisted like an old scooter gearchange. This engages a higher ratio front sprocket much like a bicycle does.
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Douglas Bay

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Douglas Bay on a beautiful afternoon

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Lunch is served

Spaghett arabiata with salad olives and warm fresh bread at The Italian Job Douglas
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Just having lunch before the ferry later

The Italian Job on Douglas prom very nice location
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