Friday, December 30, 2011
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Friday, December 16, 2011
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Writers block
While I still need to do a Spa report life goes on......
Plans are taking shape for a new engine. Here's the starting point:
Bought it on ebay and the seller tried to charge me $185 to ship it which is a bit of a rip off. After much wrangling and huffing and puffing he relented and only charged me $70. Which was still twice as much as it should've been.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Bikers Classic OK indeed!!!!
I'm still formulating my race report. Homework was never my strong point.
In the meantime: got the bike back last week. Here it is at Ralphs shop. Anything steel was rusted due to salt air from it being shipped back via ocean. More protective grease next time. Bike was torn down last Friday and everything looks good. I had a broken oil ring on the left side. Hence the oily deposits on the piston top. More soon.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Pistons
I'm about to order some pistons for the racer from Mike Rich Motorsports. These are modified V11/ Sport 92mm and are a drop in for these models as they are the same weight as the stock items. Actual compression is raised to 10.25:1. Mike is trying to put together an order of 12 sets so if anyone out there in Guzziland needs some here's your chance. $495 a set.
His phone # is 570 676 4785
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Team Guzzi Nerd in the news
The latest edition of Classic Bike has an article about Spa and we have some coverage:
Thanks to Dave Shaw of Finebau Forge for cleaning up the scan and posting the image on his website. Also Greg from Benzina Magazine for spotting it and sending it to me.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Monday, July 11, 2011
Team effort
In no particular order I'd like to mention the cast of characters who made this whole effort possible:
My younger brother Mark who you definitely want on your side. I arrived in Belguim not knowing if I was actually entered in the race even though I had sent my application and money months before (long story). Mark called the head of Spa and had a 'chat'. I was officially entered an hour later. Did I tell you Mark works for the President of the European Commission. Nice!!
Rick, who rode halfway across Europe with his wife Beth in 1 day to help and support us. He manned the timers brilliantly.
Chris, my riding partner. I never worried about him. In an endurance race that is everything.
Patti, Chris's wife who put a huge effort into running pit-stops and re-fueling.
Beth, Rick's wife who manned the fire extinguisher.
Ralph, the genius fabricator who makes anything possible.
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Super Hero
The man in the leathers is our new friend Mark George from Team Marlin, a UK endurance team. We were very fortunate to share a garage with him as he an his compatriots were absolutely the nicest guys you could meet. Obviously he's a dapper gent but the left hand in the leathers has a practical purpose: the day before he broke his collarbone in practice. Here he's celebrating finishing 9th place.
Now that's a man!!!
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Pit lane pix
I'm about to go out for the 3rd hour. Just cleaning up a minor fuel spill. Patti and Beth are on fill and fire prevention duties.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Monday, July 4, 2011
SPA
Just a quick update. Having a beer in Brussels writing this.
We managed 18th place out of 70 starters. The winning Guzzi was disqualified which means we were the 1st Guzzi home.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
1040
Is the weight in lbs of a crated Moto Guzzi heading to Brussels.
After a very long weekend of late nights the bike is finally on its way. What was supposed to be a final last few things on Saturday turned into a 3 day stress fest.
Ralph was kind enough to let me bring all my stuff to his shop to prepare everything as we were going to pack and ship from there. Actually I think it was more a case of me telling him that I was coming over with all my stuff and not giving him much of a choice. What are friends for if not to impose on? In usual Ralph fashion he was more than accommodating and I wouldn't be doing this without him. Thank you Ralph.
The bikes shipped a day late as there was a bit of a scare yesterday when Ralph thought that he may not have had his application accepted. Luckily that was resolved in true Gallic fashion where everyone saved face and today was a much happier day. I have been useless all day from lack of sleep. Ralph filled out all the shipping paperwork while I tried hard to not let him catch me falling asleep in his office. Thank you again Ralph.
Highlights:
A quick tire change turned a 4 hour ordeal where we (literally) tried to blow up an Astralite wheel. Skinny race Avons, Astralites and starter fluid apparently don't play well together.
Eating large amounts of Ritz crackers.
Getting the bloody thing in a crate so we can actually start thinking about racing.
Race number.
Ralph and his GS.
Bastardlite. Dastardlylite. Cleaned up beads and resealed. I should be a painter. Oh I am.
This blog was almost called Big Hammer Racing which would've been more fitting. It's a beauty. There's a certain joy in large blunt instruments.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Monday, May 30, 2011
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
2 months to go
It's been a month since I did a 2 day track day at Thunderhill in Northern California.
Chris my riding partner for Spa came down from Portland and we each had a day's instruction from ex AMA champion Doug Chandler. I was beginning to think I had bitten off more than I could chew with Spa but the track time, instruction from Doug and very helpful suspension set up from Catalyst Reaction have given me a whole new confidence.
The bike ran great and the changes to the bike worked.
Pictures here: Trackday
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)