National Championships
The Best Sport In The World
The 2012 Motorcycling New Zealand Superbike Road Race Championship . Round 5 Taupo Raceway Taupo March 24-25.
At 5am we were heading off to Taupo in the dark avoiding hedgehogs along the windy lanes full of excitement with the prospect of three full days of messing around on motorcycles ahead of us. We were prepared for the prospect of a wet weekend, as we approached Taupo the verges and fields were strewn with the debris of fallen trees, obviously there had been a significant storm in the week. We arrived at the track in the rain, conditions were cold and a little windy, but there were signs it would clear up later. Terry and Jamie Gallway were already set up in the pit garage and helped us unload and set up in somewhat of a relaxed manner. There was a friendly buzz in the air and the excited anticipation of the arriving teams, as they stepped from their vehicles, was palpable.
A quick brew and then down to business, trye decisions, warmers on, fuel up and then team talk. See “Heat Exchanger Update”
The weather dried up and Blayes was out on track, the bike was running well after a week of fettling. Blayes was running lap times in the 1:45 bracket on 15/48 gearing racetech tyres at F27, R29 with the stock pipe, Mobil Racing 4T 10W40.
Saturday AM, dive into the shower, great to have hot clean showers on site, thanks to Taupo Motorsport Park. Breakfast cooked on the side of Terry’s trailer, bacon butties with HP sauce and hot tea, wicked. Blayes went out for first practice with a grin on his face and was quickly back scowling.For some unknown reason the bike had decided to go into Limp mode and would not rev over 12000 so we swapped to the Gallway’s 2007 bike. Blayes Qualified with a 1:41.416 It was a successful day and Blayes was happy to be constantly improving his performance.
After diving into Taupo for a takeout we returned to the pit garage to spend a wonderful evening with friends chewing the fat, listening to an array of amusing race stories from the people who drifted in and out of the garage during the evening and finished off seated around the laptop watching the 2011 Ulster Grand Pre with all of us exclaiming at the antics of Guy Martin and the Dunlop brothers. Then unable to stay awake any longer we bedded down in the back of the van, listening to the hypnotic drumming of the rain on the roof We finally surrendered to erehwon .
Sunday Am, awoke to abysmal weather, we were definitely looking at a wet race. On with the wets and a 2 lap scrub in which Blayes enjoyed. The rain poured down for the first races and by the time we were out on track it had subsided and there was blue sky on the horizon. The boys went out on a wet track. Jamie was doing fantastic moving up to 5th place ahead of Jaden Hassan and then the track quickly started to dry out which took it’s toll on his tyres and he slipped to eighth. Blayes was running really well and thoroughly enjoyed being out in the wet on the Dunlop wets which gave amazing grip. Race 2 was dry Blayes had a good race and finished happy a little less tired this time bringing the bike home with no incidents yet again. Unfortunately our team mate Jamie had the unfortunate and very frustrating experience of his heat exchanger blowing on the first lap. Fortunately due to the fact that the boys re-sited his catch bottle on Saturday evening he was able to see the problem occurring and managed to pull off track avoiding a crash and spilling an oil hazard all over the track, well done Jamie.
All in all a most enjoyable way to spend a weekend, we made some good friends and are looking forwards to next season with our bikes sorted.
The official points showing Blayes’s placing after competing in two rounds only.
| Superstock | |
| Jake Lewis | 217 |
| Johnny Small | 179 |
| Dan Ornsby | 166 |
| Mike Lee | 107 |
| Dan Kempthorne | 58 |
| Blayes Heaven | 30 |
| Cameron Jones | 29 |
| Stewart Smart | 26 |
| Paul Koot | 22 |
| Andy Stewart | 13 |
Heat Exchanger Failure
We were racing at the Nationals here in New Zealand this weekend and one of fellow riders, Jamie Gallway had a heat exchanger blow, in the second race, the same thing happened last weekend at Hampton Downs, he was riding a 2011 bike which is supposed to have been modified to prevent the problem. This was very frustrating and disappointing as Jamie was doing well in the first Supersport race.
“Last year Triumph said they had a kit to fix the heat exchanger problem, they also modified all the 2011 onward bikes. The kit never came out as it was deemed to expensive!” ” (Si Westwood, Triumph Race Support”)
Terry Gallway decided to test the oil pressure after the oil pump and found it to be well over 100psi, at 8000 rpm. These tests were on two, 2011 bikes and one 07 bike which is running the engine from Paul Dobbs bike ( engine No: 6278677). The recommended pressure is 75-80psi which is what the Japanese bikes are running. Subsequently the oil temp on our bikes was ranging from 112 to 200 celsius after a 15 lap race. After a lot of discussion with some vert technically savvy people we concluded that the problem is oil pressure not the heat exchangers themselves. It appears that the Factory knows these bikes are making too much pressure because the oil pump outputs oil too fast, and I am told that the Factory solution is to offer a replacement gear and chain to slow the pump and reduce the volume and pressure output. It is rumored that sometime in 2010 the Factory was close to recalling all the 675 bikes.
In our opinion it is a design fault recognized by the factory and therefore should be their responsibility to rectify the problem before someone is killed.
It would be sensible for all the owners who are experiencing this problem to group together and make a presentation to the Factory.
There is a lot of talk on the forums about this problem:
http://www.triumph675.net/forum/showthread.php?p=804747#post804747
2012 Castrol Power One New Zealand Superbike Championship Incorporating the 76th New Zealand Tourist Trophy Titles at Hampton Downs MotorSport Park on 16-17-18 March 2012
A great weekend of racing was had. Blayes put in an outstanding performance considering he was working with a bike down on power by 15horses and low torque figures.
We had a huge amount of help and encouragement freely given, from the people around us, especially Terry and Jamie Gallway and Robert Taylor from Kiwi Suspension Solutions, without whom we would have been in a hole. Thanks guys you taught us heaps.
Testing on Friday and Saturday. Blayes was experiencing sliding from the rear tyre and a vague response from the front. It was observed that his rear wheel was skipping in the turns. The culprit was the suspension which we have been running so far on factory supplied settings was far too firm, especially for Blayes’s weight. The rear shock was revalved over Saturday night and the spring swapped with an 8.5 and the same with the front forks replacing the springs with 8.5’s and reducing the oil, the valves need replacing to finish the job. This resulted in quicker turns, holding the line better and less wear on the rear tyre.
Blayes qualified with a 1:15;7 On race day we ran a 15/48 set up on ‘Metzler Racetechs’. Blayes achieved a time of 1:13 in race 1.
We are at Taupo next weekend for the final round of the championships.
teamamadora 