more power but less performance!

n the 4 weeks leading up to this event the problem with engine performance became more obvious. Thanks to Alf at Alf's Motorcycles, who kindly ran the bike on his dyno, we were able to check exactly how the engine was performing. The R6 was not only way down on power, only 97BHP, but reached that peak power 2000 RPM before it should. At last I could see some sort of explanation for my lack of top speed and drive.

The following week I travelled up to the Lydden Hill circuit in Kent for several reasons including seeing the track for the first time and to watch Alistair race there, but the main reason was to meet up with tuner Phil Seton, a guru on Yamaha engines amongst other things. Phil originally built this engine for me and when I showed him the dyno graph, he was less than impressed. He knew exactly what needed to be done and with the correct modifications and set up he was confident I would have more power from the motor. I also hadn't helped matters by running totally the wrong gearing too!
I picked up the new look bike from Phil's Colchester workshop the week before Snetterton, now with 107 BHP and several kilos lighter. I couldn't wait to try it.

This weekend Gazza was travelling up with me and would be there all weekend to make things a lot easier and less stressful. We left on the Thursday lunchtime so that we could get set up in the daylight and relax for the evening before the Friday test day. The Friday practise was going to be used to learn the bike set up and reacquaint myself with the incredibly fast Snetterton circuit. I was out in the same group as the mini-twins class so I really couldn't gauge how competitive I was but something didn't feel quite right with the bike, or was it just me?

Saturday race 1

It turned out that I didn't have the pace to be competitive. We had made a gearing change to help with drive out of the corners and on to the straights, but it seemed to have developed a misfire. Apparently, according to some spectators the bike was sounding like a machine gun driving along the straights! With this problem only only managed to finish in 27th with a fastest lap of 1.26.2 which was 2 seconds slower than I had managed here 3 years ago.

Saturday race 2

Having spoken to Phil, it was thought that the problem was electrical and the ignition pickup was singled out as the most likely culprit. We sprung into action and changed it for the spare I had. The main issue with this problem was that it only occurred at certain revs and under-load, so there was no way of testing it other than getting on the track. I was confident we had solved it but no, the misfire reappeared which meant I would just have to live with it throughout this race. I finished the race is a lowly 23rd with an even s;lower lap of 1.27.4

Sunday race 1

Apart from the obvious bike issues I had this weekend was turning out great, with weather you wouldn't say no to in the middle of summer. Having missed morning warm up because of a low oil level in the Yamaha, the first race was going to be interesting. Problems never fix themselves but you never know it may have! We had tried a couple of fixes over night but the misfire was still there throughout the race. My lap times were still understandably down with a fastest of 1.24.9, with a finishing position of 26th.

Sunday race 2

For race 2 I had a plan that I would increase my corner speed and brake later to try and gain the time I was losing down the straights. It was working but became increasingly frustrating as could catch and pass fellow competitors on and going into corners but as soon as we got onto the straights they came speeding back past me with ease. At least I did have a race this way though and manage to achieve my fastest lap of the weekend on the very last lap of the weekend with a time of 1.24.5, finishing in 26th again.
The next round of the championship is back at Brands Hatch in two weeks time. I have a lot of head scratching to do between now and then with a fair bit of Phil Seton advice.