Group W Racing

Wow, was that cold or what?

Saturday found a few brave souls (idiots?) out in the rain, snow and hail trying to get a few laps in with the novices. After 4 laps, my hands were numb. Thankfully, the new fairing was nice and cozy to tuck behind.

It took me at least 2 hours to clean all the muck off the bike and get it ready to race on Saturday night. But I was confident in NOAA’s report of sun by race time, so it seemed like time well spent.

Sunday was relatively warm and dry all the way from Port Orchard to Highway 18. But, when we crossed the Green River bridge, it seemed like we had just crested Snoqualmie Pass! SNOW! WTF?

I sat out the morning practice. Too cold. I am a wuss. I watched at the bus stop for 3 laps, but even watching got too cold.

By afternoon, it was sunny and the track was dry. Birds were singing and Spring was in the air. Lets RACE! Got a decent start and tucked in behind the GT750 headed for turn 1…until I realized I was going 20mph faster than he was! That was close. Passed all but 2 Open Vintage bikes, and settled into a decent pace. The engine was pulling strong, and the suspension was a dream. About the end of Lap 3, I saw Bobby motioning me from the infield that there was a gap behind me, so I snuck a look coming out of the bus stop. I didn’t see anybody, so for a few seconds I thought maybe they red flagged the race and I didn’t see it? But, at start finish there was no flags, so I just eased up the pace and kept looking back. By the end they were reeling me back in at a furious pace. Looked like a good dice!

Race 2 was only an hour later. The start was even better, and I railed around all but one of the Open Vintage bikes in turn 2. Then when I rolled on the throttle down the hill…disaster. No power, back firing, and then the tell tale trail of smoke. No win in the cards for the piece-mealed ,tired engine that I threw together last week. I can still here myself wondering aloud how long it would last as I assembled the old tired parts….

A quick forensic exam in the pits revealed a nicely ported piston crown. Oh well, It was fun while it lasted. My timing couldn’t have been better, as I just bought 2 new sets of NOS pistons off Ebay. Now I have about 4 weeks to put another engine together, so I can come out and play again. I think it will take some extra effort to come back from this points defecit! GAME ON!

TimO

I know a lot of you folks have videos of 160/175 racing – post your links up here and I’ll collect them all in the Video Links Page (or post them there yourself if you’ve been upgraded to Editor status).   Let’s build a big collection of cool video links to share with the world and show how fantastic our racing is.

Michael

For those of you that weren’t there this weekend, these were the track conditions Sunday morning:

Michael

Here’s Bradford’s report from this weekend’s racing:

 Intrepid souls they are up North.

There was 1 inch of snow when we showed up at the track at 7am yesterday. It was 34 degrees, but the precip had ceased.

Practice had the track colder than Julie, my girlfriend in 7th grade, ice was till in the cracks and it was rather damp elsewhere, though we were assured that the “ice had been cleared”. WTF? ICE!?!? Bridgestones heated up and did well, but Simon found his chunky Avon snow style tires to be splendid, though lavallee got by him on Bridgestones, an ominous tell of the future of the day…..

Our race was at 130, the sun was shining, the track was dry, and it was a balmy 44 degrees, 54 in black leathers. God help those in white leathers, brass balls are hard to swing in the cold. Excellent race, I think nearly everyone of the 15 entries finished. TimO showed us how to win, and Lav and Simon battled for 2nd and third. Me n cogs battled, then me n Eddy battled and we finished 3,4,5 respectively.

2nd race was filled with drama, my bike died on the grid and by the time I had paddled it started, the last bike was making it around turn 1. I gottem just where I want ‘em I thought. Got past the first guy on turn three, another on for, one on the outside of six, and so on. Shellie MAtthews and I had a solid battle for a lap, and Mike Howell and I battled for the last three laps, multiple passes multiple places multiple ways. He pipped me at the line, and  we finished fourth and fifth respectively after Lavallee, Simon and Eddy. Dramas abounded in this race with Fowlinski finding the limit of the bridgestones in four, Marr found it in 5/6, TimO punched a piston and Cogs had unusual issues that put him in 6th. Zounds!

All in all a great weekend, it was good to see Joel out there (cannot wait for that fast bike so we can battle), Bobby looked 20 years younger without his beard (looks about 15), and Fowler’s house is the coolest place ever!

Thanks you guys for a g reat weekend, Jeff and I had fun.
Best
B

Well – the first race is in the books.  Something like 15 intrepid 160/175 riders braved the snow to make it to the first race of the season – WMRRA round 1.  I made it out for the first time in years – great to see everyone, and great to meet all the new faces.  I was able to show off some new parts to folks and came up with a new nickname for my box of goodies – “Parts you don’t need that you can’t afford…” 

 I’ve got some new stuff I’m working on – aluminum exhaust clamps, extended swingarms, ultralight clipons, etc.  Most are detailed on the Bateman Racing website – I’ll work on getting more details up “soon.”

 I’ve got Pertronix ignition setups in stock now – complete and ready to bolt on to your racer.  Race sidecovers are on the way in the next month.  I’m also working on adapting sidecovers for oil coolers for the Portland guys who will be having to run 12 laps without expiring.  Clutch basket lightening is on sale still – and camshaft degree adaptation is still on sale as well.

Several guys are waiting for parts to come in – they were supposed to be here last week and I’m still waiting.  Hopefully they’ll be here this week and next round will see big motor bikes from Joel, Tom etc.  This season is shaping up to be a good one.

 Bradford Duval wrote a good report for the weekend, so I’m going to reproduce it here for him.

Cool Blog, Mike!

So, it is 2 weeks before the first race, and my bike is a frame sitting in the garage with pieces scattered all over Western Washington. Being that this is the second year I have built a bike this way, I would have to say this is totally normal for me!

The big change this year will be a fairing, and an extra 10 pounds around the riders middle! I will be venturing to Casa Bateman in a few days to do the fairing mounts. Oh, and I will be replacing the seized piston from last season too…

I had all these pie in the sky plans after last season and didn’t make any of them happen, so I am hoping nobody in Seattle has raised the HP bar, otherwise I am in trouble. I guess we will see in 2 weeks.

The other news is that I have a new number this season. This is rather amusing to me, but it is a bit of an inside joke. For those of you who don’t know me, I am a firefighter in Seattle. I drive the fire engine, Engine 29, in the Admiral district of West Seattle. So, in registration for the 2008 season, I requested any number I could think of that included the number 29. Instead, WMRRA officials assigned me a number. 220. This is PERFECT, as the radio “code” in Seattle that police and fire use to identify a psychotic patient is 220, i.e, “Dispatch from Engine 29, we have a 46 year old male 220, request SPD assistance…”. Too funny. I think I will have to keep that number!

TimO, 46 year old male 220…

Well – it’s just about race season and everyone’s working on their bikes.  Parts are on order but not here yet, unexpected problems crop up, either with the bike or with normal life.  Some folks are probably doing the old “charge the battery and change the air in the tires” tune up on the same old racer, others are working at getting something together that’ll be a bit faster than last year.  New racers are trying to figure out how to do this-or-that in order to get their bike done in time. 

 How’s your progress coming?  As for me I’ve made zero progress on my own bike while I try to get parts in to finish up everyone else’s projects.  Carbs are showing up in the mail, intake manifolds are being made, dealer applications are being filled out and approved, etc.  I’ve got a batch of Pertronix units coming that should be here mid next week – I’ll be able to offer complete units ready to bolt on.  I’ve found a really good deal on a nice valve spring compressor kit – looks like it’ll retail for $40.  Kibblewhite valves are “on the way.”  Spring and retainer kits are “on the way.”

 Nothing like just before the season starts. 

 Michael